Reverend Ref +

SERMON
9 PENTECOST
PROPER 11A

Jesus, in many ways, was a product of his environment, like all of us. He may have been a carpenter for most of his life, but he lived in an agrarian society and he probably understood alot about farming. So it's no surprise that most of his parables had to do with agriculture in some respect; last week was the sower, this week is the wheat and weeds (or, for those who prefer the King James, the wheat and tares), next week we get the mustard seed. So we are going to spend some time in the field here.

Do you remember last week's sermon? And do you remember what I said about the sower? It's out job to sow -- that's it. It isn't our job to determine good seeds from bad, or to inventory the good seeds, or to even wonder why some seeds produce 30 shares while others produce 100 shares.

Today though, we move from sower to slave. We are now charged with working in our Master's field and with caring for the seeds he has sown. Now it becomes our our job to help drive the birds away, to live in a way that places a higher priority on God than on the world, and to help develop a strong root system for the seeds in our care.

The birds, remember, represented the evil one who snatched away anyone who didn't understand the word. It is now our job to help them understand what this is all about.

It is also our job to help people understand that this isn't about keeping up with the Jones', so we need to model the concept of giving and tithing and other behaviors that put God first.

And it is our job to continually teach and explain this thing called Christianity and the Church; because the more they understand it, the less likely they are to fall away.

So getting back to today, we are the slaves working in the field, doing all that I have just mentioned, when suddenly we find weeds growing up where they shouldn't be. What's our first inclination? If you're like my grandmother, we want to rip them out.

I heard a definition of weed once: it's a plant that grows where you don't want it. Think about dandelions, for instance. Dandelions in your yard . . . . weeds. But a plot full of dandelions to be harvested for soup, salad, wine or Guinea pig food . . . . crop. And dandelions presented to you in the hand of a child . . . . bouquet. The point is this: we may not always know what a weed is and what it isn't.

Because we think they dont' belong, we want to rip them out. But if we do that, then we may cause more damage than good. The wheat won't have a chance to grow and develop and produce fruit, and it's entirely possible that the master might actually use some of those weeds to his benefit.

Think about the weeds in our own lives. Are they people who sing off-key? Don't come to church? Go to the wrong church? Sit in our pew? Are they terrorist who blow up buses or fly planes into buildings? We live among weeds every day.

God said, "Leave them alone and let them grow together." We are the slaves, and our job is to tend to the crop. So we water both wheat and weed, and we drive the birds away from them both. In the end, God will instruct his reapers as to the difference between weeds and wheat and what they should do with each.

There are many factions today, however, who seem to think that they know the difference between weeds and wheat. Not only do they think they know the difference, but they are intent on ripping the weeds out before the harvest is ready.

This presents at least three major problems. The first is that by claiming to know the difference between weed and wheat, they are claiming to know the mind of God. I don't know about you, but sometimes I don't even know the mind of my own daughter. It must be nice to have a direct link to the mind of God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

The second problem is that it eliminates God's ability to use those weeds in a positive way. Remember the dandelions? God created everything, even weeds. By fanatically ripping them out, these people are telling God what is good and what is bad, what is worthy and what is worthless. They are forgetting a key refrain from Genesis 1: And God saw that it was good.

The third problem is that by ripping out the weeds, they are also uprooting the wheat. How many people have been scared away from the Church, never having been given the opportunity to grow and produce fruit, by ultra-conservatives who are giving Christianity a bad name? How many people have been driven out of churches, in effect uprooted, because they don't agree with the fanatical "moral" majority? More damage is done, I think, by trying to rip out and eliminate what we see as 'weeds' than by trying to live peacefully with them. Note that the writer of Wisdom in today's lesson said that God cares for all people. That includes weeds.

God is ultimately the one who separates the wheat from the weeds, and we are not part of that process. We are asked to tend to both, not to separate them. Let's not ever forget that.