7th Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 11A July 19, 2020
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Panzer Liturgical Service
The bible is a remarkable piece of literature and an inspiring portrait of a wonderous God. In the creation stories, we see God as gardener, God as potter, God as creator and giver of life. Throughout the journey of the Hebrew people, we see a God who chooses unlikely prophets and teachers to bring them along the way. Sometimes they brought a message of joy and hope; other times, disapproval and judgment. Even so, the people of God made both good and bad choices. And in the end, God saw no other option but to come to walk and talk among us. That’s when we meet Jesus.
In the gospels, we meet a great teacher who moved among the people, telling stories and teaching about faith in a new way. Each of the gospels has a different perspective and a different audience. Matthew wrote for a Jewish audience, those who were waiting for the new Messiah, as promised by the prophets - a victorious king, come to reclaim his people and overthrow their oppressors. In hindsight, we can see that Jesus wasn’t exactly what they had in mind, so the writer Matthew frequently explains how Jesus really does fulfill all that had been promised.
Today’s parable continues with farming metaphors. Previously, the parable of the sower was uplifting – seed, soil, and sower coming together to bring a bountiful harvest. This week’s parable of the wheat and the tares is more challenging. For many, it is frightening and confusing. After all, any story that includes the phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” doesn’t seem like something we want to be a part of.
Biblical scholars describe the culture of that days as antagonistic, that is, hostile and conflict-oriented. People were often set against one another, seeing their differences, not the things they had in common. Today's parable is an illustration of this.
An enemy has sowed weeds among the wheat. While this feels weird to us, Jesus' audience understood this perfectly. When you were born into a family, you not only inherited the family’s honor and status, but also its friends and enemies. Who knows why families become enemies, but the consequences were always the same. Feuds develop and persist over long periods of time. Think Hatfields and McCoys, or Romeo and Juliet. You may not remember the exact nature of the original fight, but the need to continue to conflict remains the same.
Once the premise has been established that the weeds didn’t get there by accident, we go on. In this story, the weeds are planted soon after the wheat seeds are sown. They do not reach maturity and become clearly distinguishable from the wheat until almost time for the harvest. The natural desire is to pull the weeds once you recognize what they are. But this poses a significant risk to the desired crop. The roots of the weeds have grown next to the roots of the wheat. The very act of pulling the weeds from the ground will uproot as many wheat plants as it saves. Additionally, pulling the weeds is time consuming and causes the trampling of the very crop you are trying save. Jesus teaches that it is better to wait until the time of the harvest to separate the two different plants, in spite of the desire to take action sooner. In the end, the righteous will shine and evil, in due time, will get its just reward.
As much as we might want to, we cannot deny that evil exists. In fact, it seems to be alive and well in the world, living nearby. Now, we definitely want to be on the side of Good, because Evil doesn’t fare so well in the end. And yet how do we know which is which? We want the world to be black and white, but there is a lot of grey in between. And that is what Jesus knows…that as much as we want it to be our job to judge others, the responsibility belongs to God alone.
As the church grew from its early beginnings, the disciples were concerned that the “right kind of people” follow Jesus. The book of Acts details conversations and arguments among the remaining disciples on who could be a part of the church. From that time on, we have periodically bought into the idea of the church as exclusive community, not the inclusive body that Jesus demonstrated it to be.
In her book, Amazing Grace: a Vocabulary of Faith, author Kathleen Norris talks about how much her grandmother loved this parable, and how as a child she could never figure out why. She thought it odd and creepy that someone could actually be waiting for the day when the weeds were burned with a fire that would not die. She says, “The idea of judgment, of being called to account for the way we have live in the world, is solemn, and terrifying. But as I began to read and mediate on the gospel story, I could appreciate the way that folk wisdom and ancient agricultural know-how were being used to convey about how the human mind works. This text does not justify our judgment of others. In fact, the parable warns against just that.[i]
Jesus gives us three reasons why we should not take that kind of judgment on ourselves. First, such attempts are premature. In the book of Ecclesiastes, the writer tells us that there is a time for every purpose under heaven. Jesus reminds us time and again that God’s timing doesn’t always make sense to us. Waiting is difficult. When others ask, “Why don’t you do something?” we are often called to wait. In times of dissent, we are at the mercy of our friends and acquaintances to support us in our waiting. Our reputations might suffer… we might feel alone, we might keep asking why, but still we wait.
Second, such attempts to weed out evil as the first course of business often result loss of the faithful, even as we seek to eliminate the unfaithful. Preacher Tony Campolo tells the story of a woman he met in an all-night diner in Honolulu as he was in jetlag recovery. About 3am, a group of eight women came in, laughing and talking loudly. He learned from their friendly banter that they were “ladies of the evening,” finished with their work and checking in before going home. Eavesdropping a little more, he realized that one of the women would be celebrating her 39th birthday the next day.
After the group left, Campolo got an idea. He talked the diner owner and his wife into throwing a birthday party for her the next night. 24 hours later, the diner was decorated with streamers and balloons, other customers staying around to help with the surprise. As the ladies entered the building, everyone inside shouted, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Agnes was in shock, and while everyone was dying for a piece of cake, she begged them to let her to take in home whole to share with her kids, and as a reminder of the wonderful day. As shocked as they all were, they couldn’t think of a good reason to refuse her request, and so she left with the cake intact, an unexpected, precious gift.
Campolo broke the awkward silence by saying, “Why don’t we pray?” and without hesitation prayed for Agnes in her life, asking God to bless her on her birthday, bring peace into her life, and save her from all that troubled her. After the “Amen,” the owner said, “You didn’t tell me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you preach at?” Tony thought for a minute and said, “I preach at the kind of church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at three o’clock in the morning.” To which the man replied, “No, you don’t. There is no church like that. I would join a church like that.”[ii]
Third, the task of judging between good and evil belongs not to us, but to Christ. Matthew reminds us throughout his account of Jesus’ life that God is the ultimate authority of our lives. In Matthew 7:1, we hear, “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” This parable deals with a practical problem. In the church, we find bad mixed with good. Every congregation has members who some assume don’t measure up. Each of us, at times, falls short of the glory of God. You name it … it happens. Christian congregations and their members are not immune to the sins of the world.
But in this parable, Jesus calls us to patience and faith -- patience with those who fail to meet the standard (as voiced in the parable itself -- vv. 24-30) and faith that God will deal with them at the right time (as heard in the interpretation -- vv. 36-43). Jesus calls us to withhold action against others so that we don’t create more problems than we solve – or destroy the good with the bad. Unlike God, we cannot know a person's heart. Nor can we see where people's lives might take them -- their potential for redemption.
God has not equipped us with the vision and insight necessary to weed the garden as we see fit. As wonderful as it would be to have a "pure" church -- a church without sinners -- Jesus tells us that only in the harvest is such purity possible. Attempts to achieve purity now will prove disastrous, destroying the church.
So, what do we do? Matthew tells us a little later on in the 18th chapter, that we are to use the time we have to work for reconciliation and forgiveness, without reservation. It is not easy and takes a lifetime of practice and very hard work. And often happens in unexpected times and places.
In 1943, there existed in the south of France an oasis. It was not the kind we usually think about, with palm trees and beautiful pools of water. Instead, it was a haven for those being persecuted by the Nazi occupation. In the Huguenot village of Le Chambon du Lignon, over 5000 Jews were saved. They were hidden and smuggled, given new identities and new hope, and for the most part, the Germans left them alone. No Jew was ever turned away from Le Chambon. Many people in the town, including their two Protestant ministers and the school teacher, were arrested and held in an interment camp near Limonges, but this did not deter the villagers from the work of saving Jews, not the work of supporting their arrested friends.
The peoples’ faithfulness to their town leaders overwhelmed the other camp prisoners as packages arrived almost every day. Soon the three share the things that were sent to them, and began to lead worship in the camp, winning over Communists, Catholics and non-believers alike. They preached and taught a gospel of love, compassion and non-violence, showing with the witness of their lives that resistance to the violence of the Nazi and Vichy regimes could be as daring as militant fighting or a simply sharing love to friend and stranger alike.[iii]
The actions of the villagers were puzzling to those who looked in from the outside. When the police came to arrest her husband, Marie Trocmé offered and fed the two policemen dinner. When asked how she could do such a thing, she replied, “What are you talking about? It was dinnertime; they were standing in my way; we were all hungry. The food was ready.”[iv] Instead of thinking as themselves as brave, the people merely thought of themselves as faithful.
Many years later, when speaking to a group in Minneapolis, Philip Hallie, who researched the village’s story, was approached by a woman who witnessed the villagers’ bravery herself; they saved the lives of her three children. She proclaimed to the room full of people, “The Holocaust was storm, lightening, wind, rain, yes. And Le Chambon was the rainbow”…the sign that God never gives up, and a promise that living, not killing, will have the last word.[v]
Paul speaks to this in today’s lesson from Romans. I could preach another whole sermon linking these two passages together, but I will end with this brief reflection. Paul wrote to a community where it was still illegal to be a Christian, and many people were killed rather than renounce their faith. They understood their fate. But they stood strong, knowing that whatever troubles they were going through in these days were insignificant in comparison to the glory that God would bring in the future.
Our hope is built on the belief that our suffering is not futile. Like the work of giving birth, we have hope in a better tomorrow, filled with the love of God as we are claimed as God’s true sons and daughters. And evidenced in those same fruits of the Spirit that I spoke of last week… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, perseverance and self-control – they are the very foundation on which we are called to live.
Jesus didn’t teach easy things. His words challenge us every day to live our lives in ways that matter, drawing people in rather than pushing them away. In Matthew’s gospel, we learn important lessons, that small things matter and are integral to the fabric of our existence. Ultimately, Jesus calls us to open the kingdom of God to all, and trust God to take care of things in the end.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did not leave us to our own devices. You came to us, bound yourself to our humanity, reached out to us, taught and healed us, and showed us the way to life. Even when we turned away from you, you refused to turn away from us, suffering even death on a cross because of us. Therefore we come to you in worship and prayer, knowing what lengths you have gone to in order to come to us. For your never ending love for us, for the unbreakable bond that you have forged with us, we give you thanks and praise. Thank you for the right comfort of knowing that nothing can separate us from you. Amen.
[i] Norris, Kathleen, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead Books, 1998, pp 316-7.
[ii] Campolo, Tony, The Kingdom of God is a Party, Word Publishing, 1990, pages 3-9.
[iii] Hallie, Philip, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed, Harper Torchbooks, New York, 1994, pp 26-38.
[iv] Ibid, pg 20.
[v] Ibid pg xvii.
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