Trusting in God’s Harvest
Matthew 13:24-43
"24He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And 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?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let 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.’” 31He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 33He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” 34Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. 35This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.” 36Then 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.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Howard's Sermons and Article Clippings.
About Me
- Howard
- Im a Mainline protestant minister who loves serving in multicultural and urban contexts. I'm very interested in how liberation theology and existential-humanistic psychology are applied to the praxis of pastoral care and counseling. My most profound encounters with God come as we sojourn as brothers and sisters seeking the inbreaking of God's reign, here and now.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Trusting in God's Harvest
After several years in CA, I am grateful to be back in Minnesota where we can enjoy the green lawns of summer. Instead of green grass the CA landscape is filled with dead grass because the rains only come in the fall and winter months. In many parts of our nation, we face waters shortages and many people are resorting to rock gardens and artificial lawns. For those of who still have real grass in our front yards this parable of the weeds is readily understood.
Any gardner or anyone trying to keep a nice lawn knows the struggle with weeds. They seem to crop up no matter what we try to do. When you pull out the weeds you often uproot the grass and leave holes in your yard. It’s amazing how strong these weeds are between the cracks in the sidewalk. Lets not throw our backs out in the process! We spread poisons around and keep our pets safe until the coast is clear. These toxic and traumatizing efforts to keep up with the Jones’ lawn next door take their toll.
Sometimes our perfectionism with our lawns is analogous with how we live as a church. We are tempted to try to weed out the imperfections in the church. We can get puffed up and presume that we are wheat while others are clearly the weeds that need to be removed from the fellowship. This was a struggle for Matthew’s church because the gentiles, tax collectors and samartians were seen as weeds that do not belong to the Jewish Christian fellowships. Jesus’ ministry challenges us to examine our prejudices and preconceptions. Who are we labelling as weeds that do not belong in our fellowship? We are merely workers in the field and God is the landlord directing the farm. Our job is to nourish the wheat that is growing and ensure that there is room for further growth.
One of the interesting word studies in this passage is the word “darnell” that many translations read as “weeds.” Without the word darnel we loose some of its meaning. The rural peasants in ancient near East would appreciate that the darnell weed is tricky because it looks a lot like the wheat. The implied meaning here is that we can be mistaken in the removal process and not know the difference. The weeds among us can be deceptive and go undected. Our Good Shepherd knows the difference and in the end there will be a reckoning.
John Calvin the founder of the Reformed faith saw this parable only applying to the church not the world as a whole. This is a point of departure for many theologians. Does this parable only apply to the church or the world as a whole? This parable of the weeds has been source of debate for generations. In an earlier era, our Puritan ancestors debated with other radical reformers whether it was possible to pull the weeds out among us. In colonial times, the separatists like the anabapists sought to break away and form a more pure fellowship. John Cotton and Roger Williams had a public dispute whether the church can remove the weeds among us without harming the fellowship in the process.
One of things we need to remember as we reflect on church history is that the times we were most certain of ourselves is when the church was the most harmful. In our Western Civilization courses we learn of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Religious Wars and the Salem Witch trials. The powers that be forgot about this parable and Jesus’ warning. We need to remember our place, we are not God, we cant judge between the wheats and weeds. We need to practice grace, patience and humility. We need to remember our history and seek not to repeat the negative object lessons. We will leave the harvest to God.
The truth of this parable is that only God is able to distinguish between the weeds and the wheat and this will only come in the final harvest. Reformed theologians make this distinction by defining the visible and invisible church. The church of Jesus Christ is the visible church, a sign of God’s Spirit moving in the world, even with all our shortcomings we are still representatives of the Body of Christ. In God’s harvest, there will come a time when the invisible church will be known, this is when the weeds will be removed. It’s a mystery and only God knows who will remain to shine bright in the New Jerusalem. Many of you have heard the jokes about the different denominations in heaven who think they are only ones who made the final cut.
Karl Barth once said that “A preacher prepares a sermon with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. ” It does not take much time or effort to see how far we miss the mark of God’s kingdom when we read the paper or watch the evening news. We live in a world filled with weeds. We continue to struggle with the prevalence of weeds.
God where are you, how can you let this happen? These weeds are not from God, all this evil and suffering does not come from God. The enemy has come in the night planted these others seeds while we were sleeping. In spite of all the evil in the world, God’s Spirit is present with us in our struggle to endure and overcome the weeds that threaten to entangle us. We are called to help build the kingdom of God here and now and we leave the weeding to God in God’s time.
In John’s gospel Jesus proclaims, “I have come that all may have an abundant life.” One of the most pernicious weeds is the greed and indifference that blinds the rich and powerful from their obligation to the poor and vulnerable. We can put a probe on Mars and a 14 million dollar toilet in the space station but every day 35 thousand of people die of malnourishment. Too often we settle for token charity when God’s calls for us to do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.
The Weed parable has some parallels with the Sheep and Goats parable in Matthew 25. I like to call this Matthew’s other great commission, “What you do to the least of you do to me.” In the end, Jesus will sit on his throne and judge who has been compassionate and served the people the hungry, naked and imprisoned.” We can see this continuity with the Hebrew Bible and the numerous prophets calling for us to embrace “the widow, the orphan and the stranger.” God is gracious and patient. There are weeds among us who have the potential of becoming wheat. We are given time and opportunities to come around.
In Jungian psychology we have both good and bad in us and in order to become mature we have to own some of the shadow elements of our selves.
If we are honest with ourselves we will find that we have both wheat and weeds with in us at the same time. One of the questions to ponder, can God’s Spirit transform some of our weeds into wheat. Jesus preached about the yeast and the mustard seed. In God’s grace, is perhaps there is some cross pollenziation that can transform these weeds in our lives.
Tookie Williams is one poignant example of someone who was transformed. For many years he sat on death row before he was executed. He was the founding member of the Crips gang in LA. I understand that the Crips gang is active here in East St Paul. On Death Row, Tookie had a conversion experience. His new calling was to reach out to young children and stir them away from the path he and millions of others have taken. His children books are read throughout the world. In the slums of South Africa, young children who were on the verge of joining the life of weeds have remained wheat in God’s harvest. Tookie was nominated for the nobel prize and Jamie Fox received an Oscar for portraying Tookie Williams in the movie Redemption.
In our birth and baptism, we bear the mark of God on our lives. This does not mean that we will never have to contend with thrones in our flesh. We wrestle with our shortcomings and addictions, and feel like God does not answer our prayers to take them from us. We are disappointed that we can’t tear these weeds out. We hear these words from God to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.”
Our loving God is creative and mysterious. God can take the bad and turn it into good. God’s does not plant these weeds but God can use them to serve God’s purposes. “All things work together for good for those who love God.” There are redeeming life lessons that come with our struggle with the weeds among us. We are humbled and transform in our struggle to live our Christ’s call.
We are merely workers in the field, tending the wheat and praying the weeds will be transformed through God’s grace. We turn it over to God and trust in God’s harvest.
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1 comment:
I came upon this post by complete chance. Although, I don't believe in chance and luck but that everything has a purpose and place... I'm not a Christian. I'm not anything I would feel comfortable putting a label on but I do have faith. A strong faith rooted in diverse religions and founded in my heart. I've been what I consider a scholar of religion since I was a child and I respect everyone and anyone with religion and faith, no matter what it may be. My point is... my experiences in Christian churches have been less than pleasant, I've tried almost every denomination and came out feeling judged and looked down upon because "they" were right and "I" was wrong. When in fact, no one would hear my testimony, no one would hold my hand and pray with me. I was beginning to give up hope, and for awhile, I had adopted Ghandi's philosophy of: 'I love your Christ and his teachings but have found little of your Christ in your Christians.'
Then. Today I came upon this passage in your blog. This passage brought me to tears. I sat here finding myself saying YES...YES!
Thank you for that gift.
I would very much like to come and hear you preach, or even come and talk to you and pray with you. I know that may sound strange but there is something in this blog that spoke to me.
I thought at the least that you should know that you touched a life and made a difference.
Bless you!
Love and light, Amynda
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