Wheat and Weeds

Psalm 139; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

This week we have another parable of Jesus that is based on seeds. Last week, seeds were abundantly thrown all over the place, and where they landed defined how well they did. This week, we hear that the kingdom of heaven is like a field where good seeds were sown, seeds that would bear good fruit, would bear wheat, but an enemy came along and also sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.

The weeds came up, as they do, right alongside the wheat, and so the slaves asked if the master wanted them to go pull out the weeds. But then Jesus’ story takes a strange turn, as his parables were known to do. The master, Jesus tells us, instructs the slaves to “let both wheat and weeds grow together – until the harvest.” The reason is “in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.” But there is an end to the time that they will grow together. At the harvest, the master will instruct the reapers in the separation of the wheat from the weeds.

Now if you came upon this parable while reading through the Gospel according to Matthew, and you had reached chapter 13, you would see that this is the second of four parables in a row told by Jesus. The first was the parable of the sower and the seeds, the one we talked about last week. After this second parable, there are two more – “the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed”, and “the kingdom of heaven is like yeast mixed into flour”. All of these are intended to tell us, in various ways, what the kingdom of heaven is like.  

And after all these parables have been told, and Jesus leaves the crowds and goes into the house, the disciples come up to him and say, “could you please explain the one about the weeds?”

We can really relate to the disciples at this point, don’t you think? It makes me wonder whether they even heard the next two parables… you know how you are going along, listening to something on the radio or on whatever news show you might be watching, and all of a sudden your attention gets caught up in one story, and before you know it you have missed whatever was said about the next two or three stories? Apparently “somebody” caught the next two parables, since they were included in this gospel, but isn’t it interesting that this one in particular gets a closer look, a deeper unpacking in this gospel according to Matthew.

Jesus’ explanation to the disciples reads like a set of definitions:

·      the one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;

·      the field is the world;

·      the good seed are the children of the kingdom;

·      the weeds are the children of the evil one;

·      the enemy who sowed them is the devil;

·      the harvest is the end of the age;

·      the reapers are angels.

Put it together and this is what you get, says Jesus: “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!”

Then, just in case the disciples (and we) need additional explanations, three more parables are offered as descriptions of what the kingdom of heaven is like:

·      a treasure found in a field which is so valuable that it is worth selling everything you have to buy the field;

·      a merchant finding a pearl of great value, worth selling everything in order to buy;

·      a net full of fish of every kind, which will be sorted into good and bad at the end of the age.

At the end of all this, Jesus says to them, “do you get it? Have you understood all this?”

What do you say? Whether or not their heads were reeling at that point, they look at him and say, “yes…..” And Jesus accepts that – although of course he knew that they barely understood – and they continue on together.

So what are the key messages in all this? There are so many. Here are just a few for us to consider today:

·      God intends good for us, not bad, not evil. The good seeds, the wheat are sown for the kingdom. The weeds come into the kingdom, into the field, because they are sown by the enemy.

o   So God does not cause the sorrow in our lives or the lives of others. God’s will is for good. Was, is, and is to be.

·      God is still God, despite the presence of evil. God is the master of the field, the Lord of our lives. God will manage the separating of good and evil at the time of the harvest.

o   There will be a day of judgment for all. And God will take care of it.

·      Until then, the seeds of good and evil will grow together.

o   We are not called at this time – or any other time -  to be pulling out the weeds. We are called to bear good fruit in the field where we are planted, to be the yeast that leavens the large batch of flour, to be the salt that seasons the meal, to be the light that shines in the darkness.

§  It matters not if we are a seed as tiny as a mustard seed – we can grow as big as a tree, and make homes for many birds.

§  It matters not if the amount of yeast equals that of the flour; our leavening changes the whole batch.

§  It matters not if the weeds outnumber the wheat; whatever fruit we can provide is the harvest of the kingdom of heaven.

When we think about wheat and weeds, about good and evil, there are a number of ways to look at it.

·      Good and bad things happen. They happen to everyone. Nobody can escape sorrow and trouble in this world. And everyone can tap into joy and hope in this world. And God says, let it be. One day I will sort it all out. God does not wave a magic wand and take away our cancer, our job loss, our pain and our sorrow, the weeds of our lives. They coexist with the wheat, the good fruit, no matter how much or how little it seems to grow.

·      We make good and bad choices and decisions, each and every one of us. Everybody sins. From the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, throughout the Bible, and in all aspects of our everyday lives, we can see how God wants good for us, and how when we take matters into our own hands, we create brokenness. There is evil working on us and in us all, individually and collectively, and that produces the weeds of this world.

o   The events of recent weeks remind us all too well of this.

§  The plane brought down in the Ukraine.

§  The increasing conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the effect it is having on so many people, on both sides of this conflict.

§  The humanitarian crisis as tens of thousands of young people flee Central America, trying to escape recruitment into criminal gangs.

o   And these are just a few of the innumerable situations, large and small, around the world, that remind us all too well how hard it is, actually how impossible it is, to clearly separate good from evil.

Can we separate the people involved in any of this into “good” and “bad”? Can we know if the ones who appear “bad” will or won’t someday be known as “good”? Can we predict if the “good” ones won’t someday be overcome by evil and “go bad”? Is anyone really “all good” or “all bad”, for “all time”?

We heard Psalm 139 just before the gospel text today. This Psalm is an interesting one, because when it is read, as it was today, there is a section cut out of it. It’s a troubling section – it’s difficult to read, to hear, and to understand, especially when it’s combined with the rest of the Psalm. I read all but three verses this morning – I’m going to read them now, along with a few from the beginning and end again, in order to remind you of the overall tone of the rest.

Psalm 139: 1-6

O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Psa. 139:19       O that you would kill the wicked, O God,

                        and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—

20       those who speak of you maliciously,

                        and lift themselves up against you for evil!

21       Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?

                        And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22       I hate them with perfect hatred;

                        I count them my enemies.

23       Search me, O God, and know my heart;

                        test me and know my thoughts.

24       See if there is any wicked way in me,

                        and lead me in the way everlasting.

Pretty difficult words, right? Why are they in the middle of this beautiful Psalm, talking about God’s steadfast love and care for us, no matter where we are in our lives, God’s intimate knowledge of us from the beginning. Why would the Psalmist spew such anger in the middle of that? I’ve heard it preached that these verses fit the rest of the Psalm very well, once we recognize that we have good and wicked within us, and that God knows that too. We can express our wish that the wickedness within us be killed. We can express our outrage for our thoughts and deeds that oppose God’s will, if we acknowledge that they are there. God already knows that they are there, because, as the Psalm says, God searches and knows all our thoughts, and sees if there are any wicked ways in us. This Psalm is about the wheat and the weeds in our hearts, in the fields of our lives, and how God knows them, and God lets them be, and God will take care of them in God’s time.

God desires that we all “should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God will judge us all one day.

We pray, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”, because we know that we cannot keep ourselves or others from the evil ways of the world. Our lives are fields of wheat and weeds. Our choices, our circumstances, our outcomes, always fall short of perfect, always have weeds mixed in with the wheat, darkness as well as light.

And God says, let them grow together until the harvest. God has offered us redemption, free for the taking. God offers us redemption from every weed, every sin that we experience and that we cause. God tells us to give up everything else to be part of the kingdom of heaven, to recognize and take hold of that treasure, that pearl of great value.

God calls us to be salt, be light, be yeast, be mustard seeds, be wheat, to bloom where we are planted, to focus on the good we can bring to the lives of others, and to trust God to take care of the rest, in God’s time, when the harvest is ready.  May God grant that we be ready when the harvest time is here! Amen.