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ISSN 2195-3171

Pentecost 6, 07/20/2014

Sermon on Matthew 13:24-30,36-43, by Allison Zbicz Michael

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And 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?' He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let 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.'" ... And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! -Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 (NRSV)

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When we moved into the rectory, we were given a full map of the gardens around the house so that we'd know where everything was planted. The previous residents were avid gardeners, and we were excited to be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. The reality was not so straightforward. Even with those maps, by early summer, we had mistakenly uprooted several lovingly-planted-but-not-yet-blooming flowers, thinking them to be weeds. How were we to know? These were not plants which would have survived the heat of summer in the other places that we had lived.

Our problem was mild compared to that of our Gospel farmer.

The weed mentioned in the Gospel lesson is probably the darnel plant which typically grows among wheat in that part of the world. Darnel is sometimes called "false wheat" because the two plants are so difficult to distinguish. They're essentially the same color and size-it is only when the time comes for the wheat to ripen and bear fruit that the "false wheat" can be easily distinguished. Add that similarity to the intertwined roots below the surface, one can appreciate the dilemma. It would have been painstaking to weed this field, and attempts to do so would probably have done more harm than good to the wheat.ⁱ

Weeds and wheat. Inextricably intertwined, impossible to distinguish prior to the end. A tangled and tender mess.

Welcome to the Church.

It is always tempting to try to sort out the weeds from the wheat in our own time. How many times have Christians, assuming themselves to be pure wheat and others to be the pure weeds, set out to establish the perfectly pristine community? Think of the Puritans, known for their rigid rules. John Winthrop's fellow-travelers crossed an ocean to try to create the perfect "City on a Hill," to protect themselves from the influence of both riff raff and hypocrites. It worked for a time, but as so often happens, the next generation was not so enamored of their parent's vision of utopia. Not every child had a heart-warming conversion experience. Some went through a wild phase. Others questioned the rigidity of Calvinist theology. Community elders would not easily relinquish the "perfect community" that they had worked so hard to build, and so these leaders (and their heirs) elevated the destructive obsession with purity by persecuting those who failed to conform. The Salem Witch trials were but one example of a misguided attempt to create a field free of weeds.

How much wheat was mistakenly uprooted by over-zealous prosecutors? How many other roots have been damaged by the attempts to untangle the knotted mess that once held them firmly and safely in the soil? To this day, a great many people point to the Inquisition or the Salem Witch trials or the unending hostilities between Christians as a scandal which makes it difficult for them to take Christianity seriously. Damaged roots, indeed.

This is not how the Master in the parable responds to the impurity within the field. Indiscriminate destruction is not the Lord's response to the "scornful wonder" of the Church, this mixed and messy lot of sinners and saints.

This Lord is patient. He watches and he waits until the time is ripe, until the tiny stalks have grown into their full stature. There will be good fruits, even in a field filled with weeds.

This Lord is patient. He does not wish to cause the destruction of the smallest stalk of wheat in order to clear out a bundle of weeds. He does not calculate collateral damage, playing with human life and spirit in some grand utilitarian scheme. The children of God are collected with tenderness and care.

This Lord is patient. He gives the tender shoots time to fufill their intended purpose, and perhaps he even showers grace enough on the weeds that some of them will turn into wheat, too. "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, till he has brought justice through to victory" (Matt. 12:20, Is. 42:3).

The Son of Man is patient because he recognizes the fragility of earthly life, the fragility of faith, and the confused webs of relationships that are the very fabric of human communities and lives. He could possibly have destroyed the whole crop and started over, but he doesn't. If the good in our world and in our lives is to be saved and redeemed, it must be handled with the utmost of caution and care. This patience is grace.

Because this One who is perfect and just in his judgment exercises such patience, surely those of us who are half-blind and deeply flawed in our judgment of ourselves and of others should aspire to patience all the more. The final fate of the accused in Salem would have been better left to God than to torture-induced confessions and the whims of hostile judges. Impatience is not only futile (there will be no weed-free field or human heart prior to the great harvest), it can also be a force of great destruction.

One further point ought to be made about the nature of the sower's patience. His patience is neither apathy nor detachment, and cannot be an excuse for ours. The sower's zeal for the good of his wheat continues unabated. Likewise, Jesus' zeal concerning Truth and Charity and Justice continues in the Church. The sower continues to tend the wheat, to give them the things they need to grow and to flourish, just as Jesus continues to feed his people with Word and Sacrament. Jesus is not oblivious to the sorry condition of his Bride; he tends her wounds. Jesus is not lazy; he is ever-diligent in his care.

This Lord is patient.

The work of untangling those "tangled webs we weave" is slow going-impossible, even for those of us whose roots are a part of those webs and who are unable see the full picture. Those intertwined roots continue to be fragile. Straightening out the mess requires meticulous attention and caution. It requires perspective and impartiality. It also requires time. How blessed we are that Jesus embraces the tedious task instead of leaving our tangled lives in the same trash can with so many knotted messes of fishing twine and old Christmas tree lights, and the odd twisted slinky. He could have given up and started over. How fortunate we are that he waits. His patience for all of us, is grace.