July 19, 2020
The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat
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.’”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. 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!
Thursdays are my sermon writing day. I went down to get some water before settling in at my computer to find both boys chatting in the living room. Cooper playing a video game and Parker lifting weights. I expressed by uncertainty for my sermon topic and Parker offered preaching on the wisdom of wearing masks. He said that when you wear masks, they protect you, much like your faith in Jesus will protect you. I joked with him, “Look at you pontificating!” He laughed and wanted to know what that word meant. I said “preaching,” even though it has a more pompous and dogmatic feel. His action is no surprise since both of his parents are preachers. But he got me thinking about this morning’s passage.
First let’s set the context for what we read and heard. Jesus had just preached the parable of the Sower. You know the one, where seed falls on the path, the rocky ground, among thorns, and good soil. Three of the gospels tell this story, but only Matthew has the parable about the weeds that we read today. It follows directly after the parable of the sower. The parable of the sower is addressing the many ways we as Christians respond the word of God, the seeds of faith, that are sown in God’s world. But the parable of the weeds is addressing the reality that sometimes evil is at work in the world pulling us away or competing for our attention. Weeds are unwanted and intrusive, ask any gardener. Weeds grow up right alongside our faith and make it difficult for our faith to grow fully. A side bar to this: between telling the parable and interpreting it, Jesus tells three other parables including the Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. So, the seed and agrarian theme run throughout.
Preaching professor Tom Long declares this parable is “an agrarian tale that applies to the ministry of Jesus himself, to the life of the church, and to the future judgement at the end of the world” (Feasting on the Word, A3, p.261). We will explore this passage using these three areas.
First hearing that there are counter forces at work while Jesus is trying to plant his seed must have been comforting to Jesus’ disciples. All of them are working hard to plant God’s seed, but they faced opposition. The persistent criticisms, challenges, and hostility in the midst of his ministry were the work of an enemy, not a deficiency in what Jesus was doing. The Master saying, “an enemy has done this” (v. 28) testifies to other forces. Remember Matthew was written for Jewish Christians, and making the transition from Judaism to Christianity must have felt like weeds growing up all around.
This parable also speaks to the reality of the church. Like that field where there grows healthy wheat and destructive weeds, the church can be a mixed bag. People who are motivated and grounded in faith are at work right alongside of people with agendas. In Bible study this week we talked about how grateful we are that we do not have great dissension within our church. Our weeds are few. But that is not true everywhere. Some churches spend time debating who is in or out, who is saved or not, rather than planting good seeds. But getting rid of the weeds, excluding people, would uproot the people of faith, we are told. Weeds can be anything from constricting theologies, to dogmatic teachings that choke off the life-giving love and faith Jesus came to plant and share.
This parable of weeds can also apply to the final judgement. The people of faith and the those following the evil one will live side by side until the final days, until the harvest at the end of the age. This says as much about God as it does about our circumstance. One commentator writes, “The text points us to a God who does not merely tolerate endlessly a world that is a mixture of good and evil, faith and faithlessness, triumph and tragedy, but who finally in God’s own good time, acts both to judge and to redeem the world…. for the sake of this hurting and impatient world, and through Jesus Christ our Lord, God’s realm will at last be complete and revealed in all its fullness” (Feasting on the Word, A3, p. 263). So the comforting word to us is that no matter what we are going through God will prevail in the end!
As we seek to apply this parable today, what does Matthew have to say to us? The weed that is growing up in our society right now is the idea that wearing a mask infringes on people’s rights. That masks are not effective. Or that the government is trying to take away our independence. Those thoughts are weeds. They strangle the scientific reality we are all facing; that the only way we can get through this pandemic is together. Where we take seriously that we are interconnected and what one person does greatly affects how all of us will get to the other side of COVID19. I realize I may be preaching to the choir here, but I think putting this in Biblical terms may help us to take it out of political maneuvering. This is not a red or blue conversation it is a simple fact: masks save lives.
If we take Japan as an example, we can see how wearing masks makes a huge difference. I realize that theirs is a different culture than ours, where community is placed higher than individualism but maybe that is why they never had a mandatory shutdown, only a suggested one. They also have a history of wearing masks. Japanese people began wearing face masks more than 100 years ago during the 1919 flu pandemic and they have never really stopped. If you get a cough or a cold in Japan, it is expected that you will don a mask to protect those around you. Maybe that is why Japan has had about 23,000 cases and less than a thousand deaths. While we have about 1,000 deaths per day. Masks save lives.
Soon we will come to Christ’s table. May we be unified in our faith and united as a community, for together we will traverse this challenge known as COVID19. May we testify to the promise of God. That God will resolve all the good and evil in the world and through Christ we live that promise. We are united in the body known as the church, we are united in the community of faith, we are united in the comfort of our faith and the promise of eternal life. Amen.
