Waiting for the Harvest
For Meditation
Advent and Christmas is about waiting. We look back on the ancient people of God who waited for the promised Messiah, and we look forward with all the saints to the day when the King will return to renew all things.
The book of Matthew is the introduction to the whole New Testament and one of the earliest introductions to Jesus. Matthew’s portrait of Jesus is that he is long-awaited Messiah, who brings the Kingdom of God to earth and is the fulfillment of God’s ancient promises.
In this series, we are focusing on the theme of “waiting” for the Messiah King. In the first 3 Sundays of Advent, we’ll focus on “waiting stories” that Jesus tells in the book Matthew, most of which focus on waiting for the second coming of the King, when he comes to fully inaugurate the Kingdom of God. On Dec 22, we’ll shift to the first coming of the King, how the ancient people waited for him and how we are still waiting for him today.
This first Sunday of Advent, we’ll look at a story Jesus tells about waiting for the harvest. Whereas many of Jesus’ followers expected him to launch his Kingdom immediately, Jesus teaches us an important lesson here about how his Kingdom works. Jesus teaches that his Kingdom is coming and will be a radical and comprehensive revolution to the current order of things. At the same time, however, Jesus teaches that his Kingdom will advance gradually and incrementally, and there will many times when we look around and see as much evidence of evil as we see of good. The faithful person will practice “patient, active waiting,” refusing to pre-empt the harvest and play the judge before the appointed time, while also seeking to engage thoughtfully with the world, knowing that Jesus’ Kingdom has already won and will soon be inaugurated.
As you prepare for worship this week, pray that the Lord will give us patient, longing hearts!
Matthew 13:24–30
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”