SERMON 07-19-26 Proper 11 Pentecost 8A St. Elizabeth Richmond Hill GA

Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86:11-17; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86:11-17; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30,36-43

Dad's Farm

            I can say that I personally feel connected to the parable Jesus preached in today's Gospel reading.  Jesus taught about "weeds in the field" and was trying to describe the messiness and imperfections of the Kingdom of Heaven.  My late father grew up very poor on a farm in East Tennessee, and when he became an adult, he built our family business, a television dealership that was common in the 1950's to 1980's.  Even so, his heart still yearned for the farm. 

My Dad purchased a small farm that we tended, when we were not working in TV store.  His side hustle back then was working our farm, where we raised cattle and did all the things necessary to care for his beloved Angus babies.   My dad immaculately took care of that farm.  We cut hay every summer and our 38-acre fence lines were trimmed weekly and no weeds were allowed.  No thistles or other unsightly shrubbery could co-exist with or takeover our beautiful Alfalfa grass.   My dad and I would walk those fields weekly and if he saw a thistle (weed) growing, out came his Swiss army knife and he would cut it and throw it into a ditch that he later burned. 

            My dad wanted his little kingdom to be perfect and without blemish.  He loved that farm and loved his cattle, and he was so proud of that little plot of land he called his own.  Even so, it was never perfect.  Cattle became ill or escaped from the fencing.  there were little spats within the herd and chaos often erupted.  Sometimes the cold winters caused the alfalfa grass to come up late and did not flourish.  The farm equipment broke often. There were times we could not get to the farm to deal with a crisis in time.  It was never perfect, but that farm was ours despite the challenges, uncertainty and problems.  The farm was kind of like the world we live in today ... the kingdom of God which is already, but not quite yet.  Grace is always breaking through, despite the weeds and thistles that spring up among the beautiful Alfalfa grass and wheat.

Wheat and Tares

            When we hear Jesus’ parables about planting and harvesting, wheat and weeds ... we need to remember that he used metaphor and stories with which his followers, people of an agrarian society, would be familiar.  In today’s gospel, we hear a well-known parable about a field that had both wheat and the weeds (sometimes called tares) growing in it.  Jesus explained that in this beautiful crop of wheat, unexpected, unwelcomed, and unhelpful weeds sprouted up alongside a life-sustaining grain.  Theologian N.T. Wright's writings suggest that when Jesus speaks of the "Kingdom of Heaven," he is not talking about a spiritual, disembodied realm we go to when we die. Instead, he is talking about God’s sovereign rule breaking into the present, earthly world through Jesus' own ministry. The parable illustrates the tension of God's Kingdom already arrived, but not yet fully completed in its work.

            Some scholars have asserted that the weeds Jesus mentioned in the parable could have been a plant called “Darnel” (Lolium temulentum), which is a ryegrass that looks much like wheat in its early stages of growth. The similarity between these two plants is so great that in some regions, darnel is called "false wheat".  It bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears. Darnel was a threat because it can be infected by a somewhat poisonous fungus. Jesus taught that an enemy sowed the darnel, and his intentions were mostly likely focused on ruining the crop.  The field workers noticed the weeds were taking over and wanted to pull up the weeds.  The wise landowner however, told them to wait until the weeds started to grow more and became distinguishable from the grain, and then they could weed the field, collect the darnel, and then burn it up. Jesus explained later to his disciples that this parable, this metaphor was really nuancing how the “end of the age” will come about.    

            Now, I don’t know about you, but when I hear end times talk and then read that Jesus used it in a parable, especially that part about dividing things and burning up some and not others, I become a little confused and honestly a little frightened.  However, N.T. Wright suggests in his writings that this was a warning not about eternal condemnation, but it related to a historical, covenantal crisis happening is his times. Wright points out that Jesus' warnings in these chapters focus heavily on an impending judgment upon the corrupt leadership and structures of first-century Israel (symbolized by the destruction of the Temple).  So the judgment in the Kingdom warns us to be very careful that we are following the Way of Jesus, and not participating in some unjust, corrupt, or misinterpretation of the teachings of Jesus and thus, taking on the role of God as judge.  Remember, none of us are perfect and I give thanks for God's unmerited grace.    

Wanna be Reapers

            Sometimes, merely striving to love God and love neighbor is just the beginning of following the Way.  We can succumb to the idea that as Christians, we must be uber holy and thus, we can judge others who do not fit some so-called Jesus mold.  We forget the role of disciples is not to judge, but to love ... love God and love neighbor, to care for the least of this world, the outcast, the stranger, and those on the margins.  Yet, we face a Kingdom type judgment or scrutiny, when forget to love and take on the role of reapers of the field who want to go out and do God’s job of reaping and sorting.  We sure do like to point out the sins of our sisters and brothers trying to determine who is the wheat and who is the weed in the field.   

            The parable teaches us that sorting out the people in the field of life is not our job.  Yet sometimes, we members of the Kingdom of God want to extricate the so-called weeds from our midst, burning them out of the community, in order that we wheat grains might flourish.  Here is the truth we don't like to face, what if we are both wheat and weed and each has its purpose in God's Kingdom.  What if we all need grace and we need to extend grace.  What if wheat and weed both in our states have a purpose.

Wheat and Weed

            In first century Palestine, when the harvest came, wheat was collected, ground up, made into dough, and then placed in brick ovens (furnaces), and baked into delicious bread; the very fuel of life.  Those ovens required fuel to burn and many times, it was the darnel (rye grass) that was bound up and used as a fuel to keep the ovens lit. You see, when it comes to baking bread, it takes both wheat and weed to make it work. 

            Maybe another way to look at this parable is like this, “in God’s Kingdom, all of us have a purpose, and all of us participate in the work of God.”  Nothing is wasted; not even weeds.  Jesus tried to help us understand using the parable that the community of the Way of Jesus is not perfect. It is a beautiful tapestry of sometimes loving and sometimes not so loving folks who are all at different stages in their spiritual growth, all have various gifts and yes, we all show up to this party with our baggage.  Church is a group of people who sometimes struggle through life as fine wheat and at other times, wrestle through each day as weeds.  We are both sinners and saints.

The Messy Field

            I believe this dichotomy of identity in the Kingdom is the beauty of living under God's reign in the Body of Christ. Although God is the reaper of the field his judgment is not to be feared, so much as it is a place in which, to find who we are and whose we are. God is the God of grace and sanctification. God is lover of creation, sustainer of life, and redeemer of the lost and striving.   Grace and purpose will be worked in and through all of us, both wheat and weed alike. Remember, God promises us that he makes all things new.

            At the climax of today's passage (Matthew 13:43), Jesus says the righteous will "shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." N.T. Wright sums up Jesus' words as the shining in the new kingdom being the ultimate absolution of those who remained faithful amidst oppression. It points to the new creation where God's justice is fully realized and the faithful share in the glory of his renewed world.  However, our part in that justice and realized Kingdom is to strive to bring it into the present for all creation ... to love neighbor ... to care for the least among us. 

            In Christ, we are either a new people, or we are still sitting in the weeds. We must become beacon of hope and holy sustenance for the world. We are a mixed bushel basket of wheat and weeds, but by God's grace, we live together and transform beautifully into a life-giving community of love, broken and shared so all may be fed. We are a community sent into the world to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ, even amid its brokenness. That's us, the church, God's "beautiful field" — the Kingdom of God right here and right now .... weeds, wheat, and all.