Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds

Isaiah 44:6-8 p 587
6Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.7Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be.8Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.
This is the word of the Lord…thanks be to God
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 p. 794
24Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”36Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

This is the word of the Lord…thanks be to God


Last week we heard the parable of the sower and the seeds. The Sower casts wonderously, extravagantly, generously- and the seeds fall where they will.
In this parable, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a field that has been planted—with good seed, we are told, but an enemy creeps in, in the middle of the night, and sows bad seed- tares, or bearded darnel, a weed that looks like wheat, at least on first glance, and is not only a weed, but is poisonous as well.
And the farm hands are given these instructions: don’t pull up the weeds, but leave it, until the harvest. Let them grow together. At the end, at harvest time, the farm owner will have workers collect the weeds, and bundle them, and burn them. But the good seed, the wheat, will be gathered into the barn.
So, the first surprise, at least for me is this-- An enemy sneaks in, at night, and…..sows more seeds? Of all the things an enemy could do, why would they sow seed- why not burn the field? Why not plow salt into it, the way that ancient conquerers did to their enemies.
But this is the way evil enters into our world and our lives…quietly, silently, not with a bang, or even a whimper, but…..without our noticing. While we are sleeping.
In many ways, this parable is about evil—and theodicy, a fancy word for why bad things happen to good people. “You sowed good seed, didn’t you, master?” the slaves ask the house holder. “Where, then, did these seeds come from?” But, much to our dismay and frustration, the house holder never really answers this question. All we get is “an enemy has done this….” Basically, a shrug. It happens, the householder seems to be saying.
The householder doesn’t seem upset, doesn’t seem anxious, doesn’t seem to feel a need to take any action—a this time
And that’s the next surprise—“let the weeds grow up with the wheat.” Really? We in America spend a great deal of time weeding—we pull, we spray, we mulch, we plow between the rows.
And the weeds keep coming back. Maybe that’s why the house holder doesn’t seem too fussed about all this—he knows what weeds are like—persistent. Sneaky. Very clever-the darnel, the weed, looks a lot like wheat. And its roots become entangled with the wheat, some say—so pulling out the weed will also damage the wheat crop.
The householder is wise enough to know to let the weeds grow along with the wheat—because the householder also knows that, in the end, there will come a judgment, and a separating—the weeds to be burned, and the wheat to the storehouse, the barn.
His barn—not just any barn. But it is not those workers, the ones working in the field right now, the ones asking the question of “shouldn’t we DO something?” who will be the ones to gather, and sort, to burn or store.
That will be God.
There is judgment in the Gospel of Matthew. There is a real sense of evil, and sin, in the world and even among the faithful, and judgment. So this passage not only asks about theodicy-why bad things happen to good, “righteous” people, in the faith community, but also asks questions about our selves—
Where does our sin come from? Do we have weeds, or wheat, growing inside us? Will there be judgment—and what will it be like?
Rob Bell, a famous pastor and preacher, at least in the evangelical. Emergent church crowd, famously wrote the book earlier this year “Love Wins”. And he has been hammered for it—for in it, Bell writes that the overwhelming message of God in and through Jesus Christ is love. Not punishment. Not judgment—not eternal fire. Love. And many people did not like that, did not want to hear that.
So what are we to do, then, with this passage?
Jim tells the story of visiting a church in the Czech Republic. During the days of the Cold War, the days of the Soviet Regime, a pastor was holding services. Which was dangerous. To be a believer was not a good thing. And one day, the pastor found a list of names, left on a pew. Someone had been coming to worship, and writing down who was attending church. The pastor had an idea of who the writer might be. Because turning people in to the Soviet sponsored government was one way to get ahead.
But, in the years after, the grip of the Soviet block weakened, and was eventually overthrown. So now, there were files, that were now open to the public. Not only with names of who had been targeted, but also names of the informers. Members of their own congregations! What will the church do? Will the church weed out those who conspired against them? Will the church decide, like South Africa, to live out forgiveness and reconciliation? Will the church wait—knowing that God is our judge? What will the church do?
For this parable is first and foremost a parable about the church. The community of the faithful, gathered in Christ’s name, to worship God. The explanation in the text, given after the parable, is written for the Matthean community—the early church, asking what do we do with people, our own members, who are evil, who are sinful, who disagree with us, who cause trouble, who are hurtful to others—what do we do??
And the less than satisfying answer is “wait”. Wait. Take the long view—because, in the end, it is God who will sort it out. The same God who made the world, who rules over it now, will bring it to completion at the end.
Now, this is not a “don’t worry, be happy” kind of answer. It instead, rests on trust in God. The Psalmist wrestles with the same problem. In Psalm 36, She writes of evildoers: “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in their hearts….the words of their mouths are mischief and deceit….they plot mischief while on their beds; they are set on a way that is not good….” But the answer is this: “Your steadfast love”, your chesed, your trustworthiness. Lord, extends “to the heavens” that is, it fills the universe. And then, a final plea from the Psalmist to God: “Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me, or the hand of the evildoers drive me away.”
The Psalmist knows, as we say “Our help is in the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
But what are we to do, in this between time? What are we to do, when we want to take action, we want to root out evil, in our hearts, in our communities, in our churches? What are we to do—we want action!
We are to wait: in trust, because we trust God. We are to wait: because we might be mistaken about the difference between what is truly weed, and what is truly wheat. And we are to wait, because digging up the weeds might endanger the wheat.
As you might know, the Presbyterian church has struggled- for a long time about how to deal with our differences. Do we live with others who disagree with us, who think differently from us? Where is the line in the sand? Last year, some major changes were made to the PCUSA Constitution, including those that changed language for those seeking ordination in the church. Faithful people, on both sides of this issue, struggle about when to stay, and when to go- is the church so broken that we need to leave? Is the disagreement between us so large that I cannot in good conscience stand with you? Do we need to root out those who disagree with me?
Many congregations struggle with people who are hurtful—in action, in words, in intent. Where is the line between being the church, the body of Christ, and being hurt and abused? Where is the line in ourselves, between wheat and weeds?
The parable calls us to wait. But in our waiting, we are not to be passive: we are called to grow and thrive. We are called to shine like the sun.
“Bloom where you are planted” is an old saying. I don’t really like it: I think it is too simplistic, too cheery, that it is a quick, Hallmark card kind of answer to what are some of life’s deep and intricate problems.
But, apparently, this is part of what this parable teaches. For this parable is about the kingdom of God—the community of God.
A kingdom that is like a field, in which not just one type of plant grows. Where good and evil exist—at least for a time—together.
I saw a glimpse, a little bit, of what that kingdom looks like. And I saw it at Camp Whitman this past week.
Camp Whitman has been rocked by the death of one of their counselors. He died doing what he loved: snorkeling. And here is the kind of person Graham was: earlier in the summer, Graham had a few campers who were frightened of the water, and had what was for them a scary and difficult experience in the water. Graham asked for extra waterfront time with them, so that that scary experience would not be the way they remembered camp. He wanted them to love the water and camp as much as he did.
But his death has rocked that faith community, causing people to ask why did this happen, and why did it happen to Graham? Where was God in all this? Why wasn’t he saved? Didn’t they pray hard enough? Was Graham not faithful enough? Why did death and evil rear its head at camp, of all places?
And yet-here is where the glimpse of the kingdom of God was. At camp. At talent show night, of all things. The camp had made the decision to go ahead, and try and make this past week as normal a week for the campers- campers of all ages and faith development and races and backgrounds, campers with developmental disabilities, campers with not much talent, frankly, some of them- all were welcomed at the talent show. And there was joy—even in the midst of soul shattering grief, and questions about evil, and God’s action or lack of it.
Those campers sang—and danced—together. They laughed and they hugged, and they all clapped for everyone’s talent- what ever it was. They bloomed where they were planted—even in the midst of death and grief and evil. They shone like the sun. Thanks be to God. Amen