Today we continue our journey with
kingdom parables. If you remember from last week, I said that
Matthew uses the word “kingdom” more than any other gospel, and
because of that, how he presents Jesus' lineage, and his telling of
the birth narrative, we refer to Matthew as a kingdom gospel. All of
the parables we hear in this three week period have as their basis,
“the kingdom of heaven is like . . .”
Last week's parable was about the sower
scattering seed over a variety of landing places. Today we hear of a
farmer who plants good seed only to find out later that an enemy has
sown a weed in the midst of his crop. If Jesus were from Hagerstown,
those parables may have been less agrarian and more along the lines
of, “The kingdom of heaven is like a hub that draws to it all
manner of highways and railroads,” or, “The kingdom of heaven may
be compared to a city held hostage by an enemy army.” But he
didn't, so this is what we've got to work with.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared
to a farmer who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was
asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. When the
plants came up, the slaves were astonished to find weeds mixed in
among the wheat and they ask the farmer if they should pull up the
weeds. “Let them be,” says the farmer, “otherwise you will
uproot the good with the bad. I will have my reapers separate them
at harvest time.”
Like last week the lectionary skips
over several passages in order to focus on one parable. Unlike last
week, what was skipped over today will be heard next week with
another grouping of parables. And like last week, we also hear
Jesus' explanation. The sower, he says, is the Son of Man, the field
is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom of
heaven, the enemy is the devil, the weeds are the children of the
evil one, the reapers are the angels, and the harvest is the end of
the age.
What's going on in this parable?
First is that both here and in the
kingdom of heaven we are being asked to live with people who differ
from us. This is easier said than done. It's difficult living with
weeds when we ourselves are beautiful flowers. It's difficult living
with prickly weeds when we are gentle to the touch. It's difficult
living with people who seem to have no redeeming social values as
opposed to ourselves who are morally upstanding individuals. It's
difficult living with people who have the wrong ideas about church,
liturgy, and theology, when we ourselves have the right, correct, and
orthodox ideas that have been handed down for generations.
But this is precisely what God is
asking us to do. He is asking us to live with those we consider
weeds. He is asking us to share our resources with those who are
different from us. He is asking us to be patient with those prickly
people who annoy us to no end. The reality is that we don't always
get along, even with flowers of our own species – just ask anyone
who has been married or serves on a vestry. God knows this. God
knows we are different. God knows there will be friction and
competition for resources. And God asks us to live with weeds. Are
you willing to obey God and wait until the end of the age, all the
while living with the tension of difference?
Besides this issue of learning to
tolerate the other, we need to understand that it is not our job to
pull weeds. In this parable, the farmer tells his slaves that the
reapers will gather and separate the wheat from the weeds at the
harvest. If he let the slaves remove the weeds, all they would do
would be to pull up the good along with the bad, and then the whole
crop would be ruined. Removing people who differ from us is not our
job because we just might destroy the kingdom. The job of separating
the two will be done by the reapers, the angels, at the appropriate
time.
And yet . . . we try anyway. We can be
so firmly convinced of our own righteousness or rightness that we see
anyone who thinks differently, acts differently, interprets
differently, as a weed that must be pulled up and tossed aside. And
while we think we are doing the Lord's work, the reality is that we
are destroying the Church.
This happened during the Reformation
when reformer after reformer broke away because the one before wasn't
right enough. Luther was followed by Calvin who was followed by
Zwingli who was followed by another who all decided that the previous
reformer didn't go far enough and wasn't right enough because they
still held to some doctrine that the next reformer found to be
problematic at best and heretical at worst.
It happened in England when the
Puritans tried to cleanse the church of all things “popish”
including candles, vestments, wedding rings, icons, and organs.
And it is happening today in the
worldwide church over issues such as full equality, environmental
protection, biblical inerrancy, the place of women, healthcare,
patriotism, and a growing intolerance for anyone dubbed “other.”
The desire to pull up those we see as weeds in order to keep us pure
and undefiled is strong. But that desire to pull up those we label
as weeds will ultimately result in pulling up the good as well and
leaving behind a barren patch of ground where nothing grows.
The kingdom of heaven is apparently
like a big garden with sowers, seeds, laborers, and reapers. The
kingdom of heaven has both wheat and weeds. In today's parable, we
are asked to live with the weeds, to live with those different from
us, to live with those whom we determine are detrimental to the
garden, until the end of the age. That is a long time to put up with
someone we deem worthless.
So here's something to consider: just
exactly what is the definition of a weed? A weed is nothing more
than an unwanted plant. We used to rent a house that was a veritable
jungle of all kinds of plants and flowers, but no grass – because
the owner thought grass was a weed. A weed, then, is in the eye of
the beholder.
Sometimes weeds and wheat look awfully
similar. St. Jerome noted this and said, “The Lord therefore
advises us that we should not be quick to judge what is doubtful but
should leave judgment up to God.”
Instead of spending our energy looking
for weeds and then tearing up the garden trying to get rid of them,
we should be spending our energy putting a stop to those things that
are actively destroying the garden. We should be ever vigilant and
on guard for those who claim to know the difference between weeds and
wheat and have not only assigned themselves the role of reaper, but
have promised a garden of only plants they approve. We should watch
out for those spraying spiritual RoundUp in an effort to eliminate
the unwanted.
In the beginning, God created plants of
every kind, and he saw that it was good. Let's let God determine
when to cull weeds from wheat, and let's spend our time ensuring that
all the plants in the garden are healthy and growing.
Amen.
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