He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 
Matthew 13:37-38 NKJV 

Did you know that around 70% of America’s wheat is planted in the fall and then spends the entire winter sitting around under drifts of snow? Boy, that reminds me a lot of how things are in our neighborhood. We invite folks to church, share our testimony of how God has worked in our lives and yet not much seems to come of it. It feels discouraging to keep planting in what feels like a frozen field. But then I came to today’s verses, and something clicked. Though I have loved, read and reread this passage, multiple times, I didn’t think it important, because it appeared as if Jesus was simply repeating the parable of the four soils from the beginning of the chapter. But when I looked closer, I discovered that this story is completely different. In the first, Jesus is the farmer who plants the seed of His words. In today’s verses, Jesus is a farmer planting people. Who were those people? Well, we can start with Matthew, Mark, John, Andrew, Peter and the rest of Jesus first disciples. They are the ones who received His word in good hearts. But Jesus didn’t just whisk them away to heaven. Instead, he planted them in the hostile and corrupt world that they lived in. Later an enemy (we know who that is!) planted other folks with different messages. Some preached conquest and war, others the lure of prosperity, sensuality or political power. From Mohammed to Joseph Smith, the list seems endless, the fields of the world look like a mess, and the harvest a total loss. But Jesus tells us that God is not worried. His wheat remains wheat even when planted in fields filled with tares. Our job as Christians is not to separate ourselves into spiritual ghettos, but to continue being the seed sown where God plants us and to keep planting His message even when the ground is frozen. Why? Because winter is the best time to plant! Good seed has power under the snowbanks of indifference, hostility and rejection, because soon it will be spring. Then when the rain falls and the sun warms the soil, some of that seed will grow in the hearts of those who today are dormant and sleeping. Our job is not to pull up the weeds, but to keep on planting and trusting God. He will gather His wheat into His barns. When Jesus comes, He will do the sorting out at harvesttime, and we and all those who love Him will be with Him forever!