THE GREAT AND FINAL HARVEST

The Great and Final Harvest – Rev Kofi Amissah

Dear All

Greeting from Ghana.

I trust things are working well with all of you and your families.

Please see below the link to the pre-recorded service for Sunday 19 July and the attached, the written reflection.

https://youtu.be/THhsV5PVcKM

THE GREAT AND FINAL HARVEST
Text: “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the
good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,
and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the
harvesters are angels (Matthew 13:37-39).

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

For am building a people of power – MP 151

It is interesting that in a time when we are struggling with life and how to be fruitful, we are
being invited to reflect on fruitfulness and harvest. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the
wheat and the tares. The farmer, Jesus himself has planted his children as the true and good
seed in his church and in the world. The enemy, the devil also comes to sow tares. The easiest
way would have been for the farmer to command his servants to clear all the tares. However
due to the difficulty in distinguishing the wheat from the tares, Jesus invites his church to
have the patience that Jesus himself has for us, until the harvest. At the time of the harvest,
the difference between the wheat and the tares will be obvious. Here, the tares will be
bundled and burnt first before the wheat will be harvested and stored.

COVID-19 could be easily described as an enemy, sowing seeds of illness, death, fear, and
panic among us. We are therefore justified to ask God to remove it from among us. Strangely,
God has patience for even an enemy’s mischief. The harvest time will come one day, and
COVID-19 will be uprooted and burnt. There will surely be healing of the people and the
land.

The parable also challenges my understanding of grace. On one hand the farmer graciously
allows the tares to enjoy the nutrition of the soil and possibly cross pollinate with the wheat
till the harvest, just as God allows both the sinner and the righteous to coexist until the
judgement day. On the other hand, it looks as if the tares are allowed to grow only to be
thrown into fire. Without stretching the parable too much, I will like to think that those of us
who may think of ourselves as the ‘wheat’ are being invited to actively influence the ‘tares’
so as to bring them into the kingdom of God.

But more importantly, we need to reflect on ourselves as seeds sown in God’s Vineyard. Are
we wheat or tares? Surely the end will come when God will judge every human being in the
great and final harvest of the new age. Will we be tares gathered into the burning fire or will
we be wheat gathered into the storehouse of the master?

Stay blessed and stay safe

Kofi