Jersey Islanders had their first encounter with the Nazis on June 28,
1940. An air raid over St. Helier killed ten of their citizens and
injured many others. Some time before this raid, the United Kingdom had
demilitarized the Channel Islands. Unfortunately for the residents of
Jersey, the UK had not revealed this demilitarization to the Nazis.
Otherwise the Germans would have not seen it necessary to send an
air raid, and the lives of the Jersey Islanders would have been spared.
It would have been easy for the Jersey residents to blame the deaths on
the British government, but at the same time, the British hadn't wanted
the Nazis to think that they could freely overrun the British Channel
Islands situated so close to France.
By December 1940, about
1,750 Nazis solders were placed in Jersey. Within a year, the number had
multiplied more than six fold. There was, in fact, about one soldier for
every four islanders. A bit of overkill, don't you think?
The islanders were surprised at first by how nice the German soldiers
were. They swarmed the Jersey stores, buying numerous presents for their
families and themselves. Germany no longer had the luxury of having so
many goods in one place! They felt like tourists and the Islanders were
happy to have the extra income. In fact, it seemed that the Germans were
truly a blessing.
Sooner or later however, these Jersey Islanders
would eventually discover the truth about their enemy: Curfews were
imposed, radios were confiscated and food would be reserved for the Nazi
army.
It's so much like what we experience at church. There are
members who seem very friendly. They smile, and at times they are very
helpful. But sooner or later, we discover they have quite a different
agenda than loving others like Jesus did.
Jesus warned us about
these in his parable found in Matthew 13:24-29. On the day that Jesus
shared this parable with the crowd, He provided many parables,
illustrations of what the Kingdom of God truly is like. One of them,
however, stood out in the mind of his disciples: A sower went out and
sowed good seed, but in the night, the enemy went out and sowed weeds
among the wheat. The sower didn't want to remove the weeds, however,
because doing so would injure the wheat. His instruction was to wait
until the harvest, and then the wheat and the weeds could be easily
separated.
This parable seemed difficult for the disciples to
grasp. What did it truly mean? (See Matt 13: 36)
Jesus'
explanation blew their mind, starting with the very fact that the sower
was Jesus: "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man." (Matt
13:37, NIV2)
The ones who sow hope in this world are sent from
God Himself. They sow in the name of the Lord, without any thought of
being remunerated. Anyone proclaiming hope in his or her own name is
nothing but a fake. Even if they proclaim to have been sent by God
Himself, they are nothing but a sham (See Acts 19: 13-26). The Good
News, after all, is provided only by God. Who else would be willing to
die for ungrateful humans so that they could find their way into the
Kingdom of hope? It's a message from God Himself.
Next we
discover that the field is the world: "The field is the world" (Matt
13:38a, NIV2). The Good News is not reserved solely for the righteous;
rather it is for everyone, young or old, rich or poor, sinners and
criminals. All of us, no matter who we are, need hope!
Notice God
sows good seeds, which refers to the people of the kingdom: "The good
seed stands for the people of the kingdom." (Matt 13:38b, NIV2). God's
only purpose is to bring the hopeless to the doors of His Kingdom, where
hope is truly fulfilled.
In all reality, however, not everything
is sparkling clean in this world's assembly of believers. Some just
don't seem to fit in. Jesus revealed where they come from: "But while
everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat,
and went away." (Matt 13:25, NIV2)
The subtle enemy will do
anything in his power to throw a monkey wrench into God's plans. He is,
after all, a specialist in this: "The weeds are the people of the evil
one," (Matt 13:38c, NIV2)
The weeds that spring up in our
congregations do not come from God, but from the evil one himself, who
is trying to thwart the hope God provides, trying to bring doubt to all
those in their surroundings. Their mission, even though often they are
unaware of it, is devastation (See John 10:10). They are the ones who
give us the reputation of being hypocrites.
What should be done? Next time we will discover the amazing conclusion
to this dilemma. God, after all, has everything under control. We truly
have nothing to worry about and because of Him, we are able to
completely relax in His presence.
Those Nazis are sure friendly!
Are you so certain about that?
Rob Chaffart
