"The Dangers of Weeding"
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Matt. 13:24 - 30, 36 - 43
October 4, 2009
When I
was young, we kids had chores to do around the house. One
of my least favorite chores was weeding my mom’s rose garden. It
was hot work, and the crabgrass which comprised most of the weeds
was so deeply entrenched, I’d usually have to pull with everything
I had to get it out! But the worst part of the job (besides
the fact that my younger brother never had to do this chore) was
that there were often thorns hiding in those weeds that would stick
your hands while you were weeding. I hated that job!
I wish I had known Jesus’ parable
about the danger of weeding back then. Since my family had a high regard
for the Bible, I might have gotten some good mileage out of it! Let’s
look at it together. It’s about the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom
of God, which you all know by now was the major theme of Jesus’ teaching. (Read
Matt. 13:24-30)
24 He put before them another parable: "The
kingdom of heaven may
be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds
among the wheat,
and then went away.
26 So when the plants came up and bore grain,
then the weeds appeared as well.
27 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?'
28 He answered, "An enemy has done this.' The slaves said
to him, "Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
29 But he replied, "No;
for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along
with them.
30 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.' "
The situation described
here was a real one in Jesus’ day. There was a mildly poisonous weed
called “Bearded Darnel” which was sometimes sown in wheat fields
by people who held a grudge against the owner of a field. The practice
was widespread enough that there was a Roman law making it illegal! What
made it especially difficult to deal with was that darnel looks almost exactly
like wheat when it first grows. By the time you can tell it from wheat,
their roots have become intertwined and you can’t safely remove it without
damaging the wheat. The only thing you can do is wait until harvest. Then
you can easily distinguish the two plants. Women were often paid to separate
the wheat from the weeds. The darnel was then usually burned for fuel. That’s
what the parable is about.
But what does it mean? Usually,
it’s left to us to try and figure out the meaning of Jesus’ parables,
but in a couple of cases, Jesus helps us out by interpreting the parable for
us. That’s the case here. (Read Matt. 13:36-43) 36 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."
37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son
of Man;
38 the field is
the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the
children of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil;
the harvest is
the end of
the age,
and the reapers are angels.
40 Just as the
weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of
the age.
41 The Son of Man will
send his angels, and
they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and
all evildoers,
42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in
the kingdom of their Father.
Let anyone with ears listen!
Strong ending, isn’t
it? But, let’s look at Jesus’ explanation of the whole story. The
farmer represents Jesus (the Son of Man), who sows wheat which represents children
of the kingdom of God. The enemy is the devil, who sows weeds which represent
his children. The children of the kingdom and the children of evil are
left to grow up together until the final separating is done by Jesus himself,
followed by appropriate punishment or reward.
So, we’ve heard
the parable and Jesus’ interpretation. All that is left is to figure
out what all this could possibly mean to you and me! The first thing I
notice is that the parable assumes the reality of evil in the world. Over
the last century some people have tended to minimize or deny the existence of
evil. The classic liberalism of the early 20th century believed humanity
was on an upward trajectory which would lead to a kind of utopia. They
attributed what we’d call evil to misunderstanding, or ignorance. Then
WWI came along and that optimistic view of human nature faded away.
However, in the mid-20th
century, so-called third force psychology attempted to make evil a psychological
or therapeutic problem. Some even began to assert that there is no real
evil in the world, just different perspectives. Then came 9/11. And
while there is certainly misunderstanding and psychological dysfunction in the
world, we were reminded that there is also real evil. We’ve clearly
seen it at work in places governed by evil dictators like Robert Mugabe, Sadaam
Hussein, Fidel Castro, Joseph Stalin, and Sudan’s current president, Lt.
Gen. Omar al-Bashir- as well as in places ruled by street gangs and drug cartels. There
is a ruthlessness, brutality, and callousness toward innocent people that is
breath-takingly evil in such places. We’ve also seen evil in places
with centuries-old conflicts like Israel, Iraq, and India where people would
rather nurture old hurts than work for a peaceful, productive, secure future
for their children. That is simply evil.
And evil operates closer
to home. It operates where politicians seek their own personal benefits,
when they could be making a significant difference in the lives of those they
serve. Or, when they allow their fear that the other party will somehow
benefit to keep them from addressing the real ills and problems that we face. Evil
operates in families when spouses and children are physically, sexually, or emotionally
abused. And evil can even operate in churches! When people gossip
about or slander others, or refuse to forgive. And when people deliberately
obstruct the work that God is trying to do. That is evil, too.
So, a good question at
this point in the sermon is this: Are there times when you are an agent
of evil? In your workplace, in the neighborhood, in your family, or even
in your church? Evil is real, and none of us are immune from its effects
or its influence.
The second thing I see
in the parable is that there is an intermingling of good and evil in the world. And,
like the similar appearance of the wheat and the weeds, it is often difficult
to distinguish one from the other! There’s an ancient Chinese story
about a man who lived on the northern frontier of China who was skilled in interpreting
events. One day, for no reason, his horse ran away to the nomads across
the border. Everyone tried to console him, but he said, “What makes
you so sure this isn’t a blessing?” Some months later his horse returned,
bringing a splendid nomad stallion. Everyone congratulated him, but he
said, “What makes you so sure this isn’t a disaster?” His
young son loved to ride the new stallion, but one day he fell off the horse and
broke his hip. Everyone tried to console him, but he said, “What
makes you so sure this isn’t a blessing?” A year later the nomads
came in force across the border and every able-bodied man took his bow and went
into battle. Because of the son’s hip damage, he was unable to go. The
Chinese frontiersmen lost nine out of every ten men. It was only because
of the son’s injury that the father and son were left to take care of one
another. Truly, blessing turns to disaster and disaster turns to blessing. The
mystery cannot be fathomed.
There are mysteries in
our world and some of them result from the intermingling of good and evil all
around us, and the difficulty in discerning which is which. For example,
it is often difficult to discern whether a particular political movement or social
program will result in good or evil, or both! Will the horrible costs of
a war result in a greater good? Will the health-care reforms being considered
right now result in better, cheaper care for more people, or will it be an expensive,
wasteful exercise? The same principle applies to possible courses of action
at our places of work, or in our communities. Jesus’ parable reminds
us that good and evil will continue to exist side-by-side. And we need
to learn to live with that ambiguity. Now that is extremely difficult for
people who tend to see everything as black and white and are confident in their
ability to distinguish evil from good and to root it out. Jesus’ parable
cautions us from being overconfident in these matters!
And evil doesn’t
just exist alongside good in the world. It also happens in the church! That’s
what verse 41 means when it says that evil will finally be rooted out of the
kingdom of God at the end of time! And we see that reality in the church
today. We’ve seen sexual abuse by clergy. We’ve seen
churches engaged in abusive behavior toward women, African-Americans, as well
as gay and lesbian people. We’ve seen churches and preachers distort
the good news of the gospel with religious legalism or a feel-good prosperity
religion. This is nothing new! In New Testament times, churches
were plagued by openly-practiced incest, heresy, unresolved inter-personal conflict,
and deep divisions over matters of worship and morality. Evil and good
exist side-by-side in the church, too!
Again, this teaching is
very hard for those who expect absolute purity in the church. But
that is not a biblical expectation! Someone once said, “If you find
a perfect church, stay away from it! As soon as you join it, it will no
longer be perfect!” The Presbyterian Church is not perfect. Our
last General Assembly reminded us once again that we are in serious conflict
over some matters of sexual morality. Some people are calling on traditionalists
to leave the denomination. Some have already left. Others are blaming
our denominational leaders, saying we should just “throw out the bums.” None
of this should surprise us. Jesus said that good and evil will exist side-by-side
in the Kingdom of God until the end. And it is dangerous for us to go too
far in trying to root out that evil.
Now there’s a tension
here with other parts of the New Testament that call the church to be pure, to
live distinctively from the rest of the world. That’s what those
parables about Jesus’ followers being light and salt are all about. But
here Jesus warns us about going too far in our attempts to maintain a pure church.
Finally, the parable says
some important things about judgment.
The topic of judgment makes many modern people uncomfortable, particularly people
who live in affluent, stable societies like ours. Let me encourage you
to hold onto those concerns about judgment, because we’re going to devote
an entire sermon to that topic in about four weeks. For now, let’s
just note that the parable teaches that sorting out the wheat from the weeds
can be tricky business, and we shouldn’t try to do it ourselves. That’s
Jesus’ job to do at a later time.
A drunken man got on a
bus one night, staggered up the aisle, and fell into a seat next to a woman who
was clutching a Bible. She looked at the impaired man and said, “I’ve
got news for you, mister. You’re going straight to hell!” The
man immediately jumped out of his seat and shouted, “Oh, man, I’m
on the wrong bus again!”
That woman should study
this parable. It reminds us that we should be slow to judge others- we
simply don’t know enough to do so. Was the man on the bus a habitual,
mean drunk, or was he a follower of Jesus who was unwisely trying to numb the
pain of a devastating loss? We simply don’t know enough to judge
his heart. We can judge people’s actions, but not their hearts. And
we certainly don’t know enough to say what the final verdict will be for
anyone! Only Jesus can do that, and thank God, one day he will be the one
to judge all of our hearts.
This parable teaches us
that evil is a real presence in the world and that it is often intermingled with
good. Even the church is not exempt from this mixture. To prematurely
attempt to separate good and evil can be destructive. But one day Jesus
will do the final separation, and we can count on him to do it right.
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