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SERMON for JULY 19, 2020
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WEEDS
Text: Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
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Last Sunday we focused on the Parable of the Sower and the bountiful harvest that comes from sowing seeds everywhere – even in places where it may not take root and grow - in shallow, hardened, and thorny soil – yet the sower continues to sow extravagantly without counting the cost. Jesus offers another sowing and reaping metaphor in today’s lesson. The focus is on the seeds being sown in fertile fields where we anticipate a bountiful harvest – but we discover that best laid plans are deliberately and intentionally thwarted by an enemy.
“An enemy has done this,” the householder quickly deduces when the slaves inform him that weeds are growing among the wheat. Once again we are reminded that our Lord and Savior is fully grounded in reality. Jesus of Nazareth well understands nature and the human heart. The work of the disciples will be challenging and difficult – Jesus knows this truth all too well. Jesus knows that the faithful will risk persecution and their very lives to sow seeds of faith, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, to work together to reap a bountiful harvest for the glory of God. Perhaps for their own good, the good Lord wants to burst any bubbles of naïve optimism. Jesus knows that hearts and minds and motivations are mixed – not pure.
People are mixed – never pure. The church is made up of people, people who are mixed. Consequently, the church is never pure. No matter how much we hope for the church to be pure, and it is important to aspire to truth and holiness in our personal lives and in the work of the church, still – if we expect it to be pure and perfect – we will be sorely disappointed – so much so that it could discourage the faithful from persisting through challenges.
Perhaps Jesus does not want the early church to become obsessed with purity and cleanliness, a preoccupation of the Pharisees and Sadducees, a focus that distracts them from more important matters like justice and mercy. Congregations, like people, are a curious of mix of saints and sinners, the righteous and the unrighteous, the clean and unclean. They are like wheat growing in a field in which weeds have been sown, and wheat and weeds will grow up alongside one another.
The wheat does not stop growing just because there are weeds. Farmers do not give up on harvesting a crop of wheat because there are weeds in it. Pastors and church leaders do not give up on congregations just because there are members more weed-like in nature than wheat-like in that curious field of faith that we know as the Church. In the Church, we do not give up on anyone because we recognize that within our own human hearts, wheat and weeds grow alongside each other.
Even as disciples work together to reap a bountiful harvest, within our own lives, we will notice weeds growing in the corners of our minds – thoughts that are far from pure, just, and merciful. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans, chapter 7: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” [Romans 7: 15, 18-19]
Not only do disciples need to watch out for deceiving ourselves by believing that we are pure and holy and that the fields of our hearts are bearing wheat alone and no weeds - worse yet – we have to guard against establishing rules and practices to separate the wheat from the chaff in the world, our country, and in our churches. “If only we could weed out those bad people – our communities would be better, purer, holier!” Do you recognize the risks in such lines of reasoning – the dangers in trying to determine what individuals and groups are good seeds and which ones are bad seeds? Let us never forget history of the mid-20th century and what can happen when law-abiding, religious people work together to weed out from society groups of people who are deemed as undesirable, impure, and inferior in nature.
In this parable, Jesus cautions against a rush to judgment. Consistently throughout His teachings, Jesus cautions against judging others, and He highlights the fact that final judgment belongs to God alone. At the same time, let me clear – Jesus does not present an “anything goes” kind of faith. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus offers a model for discipline in the faith community, for Jesus understands that faith communities, comprised of people, are mixed in nature. Discipline is necessary, too.
Jesus concludes the parable with words of promise and hope:
“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!” [Matt. 13: 41-43]
Today we gather as a curious mix of saints and sinners, with good and evil in our hearts and minds, bearing fruits of the Spirit from seeds of truth and justice, and bearing the burdensome consequences of our sin. Whatever we have done in the past, however we think of ourselves in the present, the good Lord invites us to His table today to be fed with the bread of life and the cup of salvation. As we commune virtually today, the good Lord blesses us with spiritual food and nourishment for the hungry heart and the thirsty soul. We can come to His table not on our own merit or because we are more like wheat than weeds, we can come to the Lord’s Table because He has already done the plowing, planting, and reaping for us – in His life, death, and resurrection. Thanks be to God – for what the good Lord continues to do for us. Let anyone with ears – listen!
Text: Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Sunday we focused on the Parable of the Sower and the bountiful harvest that comes from sowing seeds everywhere – even in places where it may not take root and grow - in shallow, hardened, and thorny soil – yet the sower continues to sow extravagantly without counting the cost. Jesus offers another sowing and reaping metaphor in today’s lesson. The focus is on the seeds being sown in fertile fields where we anticipate a bountiful harvest – but we discover that best laid plans are deliberately and intentionally thwarted by an enemy.
“An enemy has done this,” the householder quickly deduces when the slaves inform him that weeds are growing among the wheat. Once again we are reminded that our Lord and Savior is fully grounded in reality. Jesus of Nazareth well understands nature and the human heart. The work of the disciples will be challenging and difficult – Jesus knows this truth all too well. Jesus knows that the faithful will risk persecution and their very lives to sow seeds of faith, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ, to work together to reap a bountiful harvest for the glory of God. Perhaps for their own good, the good Lord wants to burst any bubbles of naïve optimism. Jesus knows that hearts and minds and motivations are mixed – not pure.
People are mixed – never pure. The church is made up of people, people who are mixed. Consequently, the church is never pure. No matter how much we hope for the church to be pure, and it is important to aspire to truth and holiness in our personal lives and in the work of the church, still – if we expect it to be pure and perfect – we will be sorely disappointed – so much so that it could discourage the faithful from persisting through challenges.
Perhaps Jesus does not want the early church to become obsessed with purity and cleanliness, a preoccupation of the Pharisees and Sadducees, a focus that distracts them from more important matters like justice and mercy. Congregations, like people, are a curious of mix of saints and sinners, the righteous and the unrighteous, the clean and unclean. They are like wheat growing in a field in which weeds have been sown, and wheat and weeds will grow up alongside one another.
The wheat does not stop growing just because there are weeds. Farmers do not give up on harvesting a crop of wheat because there are weeds in it. Pastors and church leaders do not give up on congregations just because there are members more weed-like in nature than wheat-like in that curious field of faith that we know as the Church. In the Church, we do not give up on anyone because we recognize that within our own human hearts, wheat and weeds grow alongside each other.
Even as disciples work together to reap a bountiful harvest, within our own lives, we will notice weeds growing in the corners of our minds – thoughts that are far from pure, just, and merciful. As the Apostle Paul writes in Romans, chapter 7: “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” [Romans 7: 15, 18-19]
Not only do disciples need to watch out for deceiving ourselves by believing that we are pure and holy and that the fields of our hearts are bearing wheat alone and no weeds - worse yet – we have to guard against establishing rules and practices to separate the wheat from the chaff in the world, our country, and in our churches. “If only we could weed out those bad people – our communities would be better, purer, holier!” Do you recognize the risks in such lines of reasoning – the dangers in trying to determine what individuals and groups are good seeds and which ones are bad seeds? Let us never forget history of the mid-20th century and what can happen when law-abiding, religious people work together to weed out from society groups of people who are deemed as undesirable, impure, and inferior in nature.
In this parable, Jesus cautions against a rush to judgment. Consistently throughout His teachings, Jesus cautions against judging others, and He highlights the fact that final judgment belongs to God alone. At the same time, let me clear – Jesus does not present an “anything goes” kind of faith. In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, Jesus offers a model for discipline in the faith community, for Jesus understands that faith communities, comprised of people, are mixed in nature. Discipline is necessary, too.
Jesus concludes the parable with words of promise and hope:
“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!” [Matt. 13: 41-43]
Today we gather as a curious mix of saints and sinners, with good and evil in our hearts and minds, bearing fruits of the Spirit from seeds of truth and justice, and bearing the burdensome consequences of our sin. Whatever we have done in the past, however we think of ourselves in the present, the good Lord invites us to His table today to be fed with the bread of life and the cup of salvation. As we commune virtually today, the good Lord blesses us with spiritual food and nourishment for the hungry heart and the thirsty soul. We can come to His table not on our own merit or because we are more like wheat than weeds, we can come to the Lord’s Table because He has already done the plowing, planting, and reaping for us – in His life, death, and resurrection. Thanks be to God – for what the good Lord continues to do for us. Let anyone with ears – listen!