Spirited Word
By God's Word proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in God's grace in Jesus, when and where he pleases. Sermons by Pastor Adrian Kitson, Lutheran Church of Australia.
St Petri Lutheran Church, Nuriootpa, Barossa Valley, South Australia.
www.stpetri.org.au
Spirited Word
The Weeds
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Sunday 19 July 2026
Sometimes I wish God would deal with all the injustice of the world. Sometimes I wish the Church could be so much better, especially when Christian people do some really silly and bad things.
What do we do with the frustration we feel about all the suffering and trouble in the world? What does the Lord do for us when the church gets it wrong and we get it wrong?
We are in rapid-fire parable territory this morning. In this little section of Matthew’s gospel there are seven parables in a row. Jesus says every one of them speak of what living with faith in his presence and promises are like for us.
The focus today is number 2 of the seven – this picture of a paddock with both wheat and weeds being planted and growing together. The picture comes with a prohibition for us: “Don't try and pull up the weeds!”. In fact, “Let the weeds grow".
Why on earth would we do that? We don't do that with real weeds. We get rid of them with hard work or hard chemicals!
Apparently, this is not the way in Jesus' way. In pulling up the weeds we may disrupt the wheat. This is not our job. But it is someone's job.
All very mysterious. I wonder how you are navigating growing in Jesus among those who aren't?
Pastor Adrian