“Does Grace Trump Pulling Weeds?”          2011

Matthew 13:24-30                 Romans 14:1-4, 7-12

 

Mat 13:24-30

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.’”

 

Romans 14:1-4, 7-12

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand. We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.” So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

 

There is no shortage    of examples and illustrations I might cite

            that would demonstrate how far this world and our culture

                        have strayed from God’s purpose and intentions for good.

            Corruption, greed, injustice, unspeakable cruelty & violence,

                        are all around us in this imperfect and broken world. ---

--- and so what does God want us to do about it?

 

Even within the Church,    the believers and visible body of Christ

                 struggle with human sin, with conflict and corruption,

                        destructive influences   that blow in from the world …

… and what does God want us to do about it?

 

The religious authorities, the Scribes and Pharisees

            approached the problem of evil, of human sin and corruption

                        by trying to exclude, distance and separate from it.

In fact, the word Pharisee itself means, “the separate ones.”

 

Their vision of God’s call   was to purge sin and corruption ,

            to wipe it out by excluding outcasts, losers and sinners …

                        … and become   a little island of purity and obedience.

 

Which put them at odds with the ministry of Jesus Christ,

            who welcomed and even ate with notorious sinners and outcasts,

                 who let a prostitute wash his feet, he healed on the Sabbath,

                        who refused to stone an adulterer, touched unclean lepers;

                  and in story after story invited people into relationship,

                        speaking against the purity enforcement of the Pharisees.

 

    Far from rejecting the sinners and outcasts he encountered,

           Jesus demonstrated God’s grace by calling them to walk with God.

                                        Jesus dealt with the messiness of this world,

                                                by trying to grow goodness, compassion and hope.

 

The parable that Jesus told about the wheat and the weeds

            reflects this contrast between Jesus and the religious leaders.

   According to that parable Jesus told,  vs. 24-26

            “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.

 

These verses describe

            the situation and condition of our world, and the church ---

 

                        --  created good, yet tainted and polluted by human sin;

                                                                good seed was planted,

                                                                        yet weeds are growing among the wheat…

… and what does God want us to do about it?

 

vs. 28b

            … The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’

Pulling weeds would seem to be the most obvious and direct solution.

           

The Church has tried that solution a number of times and places.

            Church history is packed with stories about attempts

                        to weed and purify God’s garden on our own.

 

            During the Spanish Inquisition,

                        those who questioned the church’s teaching or authority

                                    were tortured and killed with incredible cruelty.

            In Salem, MA, suspected witches were drowned and burned alive…

… was that how God wants us to deal with sin?

 

In the parable, the landowner who represents God,    says: vs. 29-30

            ‘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.’                                        

 

                “No, wait; for now, just let them grow. 

                        I’ll deal with the weeds later, judgment comes at the end.”

            That delay probably came as a surprise to His listeners,

               but it reveals something about the heart and priority of God.

 

One time during the Middle Ages,

            when the Catholics and Protestants were at war,

                        a pastor and his followers fled into a town

                                    which then under siege,  fell to a Catholic army.

               Unsure how to tell for certain who was Protestant or not,

                        army’s commander asked the Bishop what to do.

 

            The Bishop said, “Kill them all, and God can sort out his own.”

In contrast, in this parable, Jesus says,

            “Let them all live, and at the end,  God will sort out his own.”

 

The Lord God loves the wheat    more than He hates the weeds.

            In a Greek play and tragedy by Euripides,

                        Medea, a wife and mother kills her own two sons,

                                    taking bitter revenge against her unfaithful husband.

    Her husband asks her, “How could you do such a thing?” ---

                                      - and she coldly replies,

                                                “Because I hate you    more than I loved them.”

 

More than the Lord God hates the weeds of corruption and sin,

            we are the precious wheat of God who loves us,

                        and doesn’t want any to be lost…

 

            … just as we read in 2 Peter 3:9

                        The Lord is not slow about his promise, but is patient with you,   

                                    not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.

 

It is probably not good farming practice to wait and let the weeds go

            - but in the Kingdom of God, under the reign of God,

                        we are reminded that à

                             God’s true purpose is not the elimination of weeds,

                                     but to grow and nurture the fruitful crop of wheat.

 

And sometimes in God’s Kingdom,

            by grace, weeds can be transformed into wheat;

                        for the Bible is full of stories

                                    about God amazing power to transform and redeem…

                           … such as 'Saul the weed and persecutor of Christians'

                                     converted into  'Paul the wheat and faithful Apostle’.

 

In the parable,   part of the problem with plucking out the weeds,

           was the difficulty of distinguishing   between wheat and weeds.

 

In the Greek, the specific word used for 'weed' is a particular plant

            that is nearly indistinguishable from the wheat plant

                        until it has matured at the time of harvest.

 

Until the harvest

            you can't tell for certain which was wheat and which was weed,

                        so you have to wait until it’s time, the season for harvest.

It’s not always easy to tell weeds from wheat in the church either.

            We don't know what God is doing in the secret of a human heart,

                        or what God will do  in the lives of the weeds, we’d exclude.

 

When Martin Luther preached on this parable, he pointed out:

            "This Gospel teaches how we should conduct ourselves toward heretics and false teachers.  We are not to uproot nor destroy them, but let both grow together.  …  for he who errs today may find the truth tomorrow.   Who knows when the Word of God may touch his heart?  But if he be burned at the stake, or otherwise destroyed, it is thereby assured that he can never find the truth; and he is lost, who otherwise might have been saved."

 

Truth is, we are called to put up with the weeds for a while;

            while God accomplishes His will & purpose before harvest comes.

It’s not our place nor within our human understanding

            to determine and judge with absolute certainly and assurance

                        if  someone really is a weed,  irredeemably lost & unworthy.

 

      It comes down to this, as a community of faith, as a church body,

            we live with diversity, wheat & weeds are interspersed among us.

Our call is to trust God and do not lean on our own understanding;

            to wait for God’s perfect timing,

                        for God to bring about the certain harvest   yet to come.

 

The church has grappled and struggled

            with difficult and divisive issues since its inception.

One of the major controversies that erupted in the early Church

            concerned the eating of meat from pagan temple worship,

                        from animals that had been sacrificed before the idols.

 

In those days,

            they didn't have butcher shops or sell meat at Albertsons

                        and almost any meat for sale in the marketplace

                           was leftover from animals sacrificed at pagan temples.

 

For some, the more recent converts from idolatry and paganism,

            they felt that such meat had somehow been tainted;

                 that eating such meat previously sacrificed to pagan gods

                        felt like they were still participating in pagan worship…

            … and they could not tolerate such a thing among people of faith.

           

Other Christians,

            who were more theologically sophisticated and knowledgeable,

                        knew that since idols

                                    were just inanimate blocks of wood, metal or stone;

                        and that a lifeless object could do nothing to the meat,

                                    so they felt quite free to eat whatever they liked.

     Indeed, eating such meat was a sign   of their Christian freedom.

 

Paul’s point was that those on both sides of the question

            were loved and precious to God,

                        and perhaps the issue that divided them

                                    did not match the highest priority of the Lord.

 

Dealing with their conflict, the Apostle Paul wrote:   Romans 14:10, 12

            Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?   Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

 

Now, does that mean that we just let the weeds grow rampant?

                  Or that in the face of evil and corruption,

                        that we just passively sit by and silently do nothing?

           Or that the issues and concerns before us do not really matter?

 

The challenge     is a question of finding true wisdom and balance,

            to determine and focus on what is God's priority and purpose…

  … as we wait in hopeful trust,

            in assured confidence that God's harvest is indeed a sure thing.

 

As Presbyterians, we try to live within that truth and balance.

            Like the three legs of a stool,

                        we try to balance all three;   peace,  unity  and purity …

                                    … for peace and unity without purity,

                                                is to have no standards or boundaries…

                                    … and peace and purity without unity,

                                                leaves little room for tolerance and diversity.

 

            That is why we affirm in our membership and officer vows:

                        “Do you promise

                                    to further the peace, unity and purity  of the church?”

 

We strive to live within  the creative tension, wisdom and balance

            of all three values and concerns;  peace, unity and purity:

                            By balancing  our desire for peace,

                                    with seeking to find unity within our diversity

                                         while maintaining standards & boundaries of purity…

            … as we focus on Jesus Christ, God’s grace and our true mission.

 

One time at a church dinner, when it was all ready,

            we were directed to stand in a circle and hold hands.

                        So we closed our eyes, we bowed our heads and we waited.

But no one had been asked to say the prayer.

            We all just stood there waiting, and we waited…

                        … endlessly waiting,   waiting for someone to say grace.

 

And the truth is,

            in our world reeling with corruption, violence and evil,

                        in our church with weeds growing among the wheat ----

            we all wait and we hope that someone will  say grace,

                           that someone will show mercy and compassion,

                                    rather than rushing to judgment and pulling the weeds.

 

O how we, along with all the world,

            wait and long to hear grace spoken into our lives

                O to receive grace -- it’s a longing that all humanity shares.

 

Our call, and the chief business and purpose of the church

            is to reflect and share with others we encounter

                        the same welcome, love and grace of God

                                    that we ourselves, have so freely received.

   Our task   is to be   the people who speak and do grace in this world.

 

For now, life under God’s reign is not always tidy, easy or simple.

 

            So can we accept

                        that all of God’s creation  is precious and loved,

                                    even troublesome weeds, we’d rather pluck and remove?

 

            Can this church be a safe place of grace,

                        of wisdom and balanced  peace, unity and purity,

                                    where people may disagree and still be loved,

                              where we allow for honest diversity,

                                      while we work through even difficult issues of faith?

 

     In accord with this parable, let us focus on the nurture of wheat,

             as we wait for God’s time of harvest; when He’ll deal with the weeds.

 

Meanwhile, as Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome:  Romans 12:18-21 

            Live in harmony with one another;  If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 

                                    Do not be overcome by evil,   but overcome evil with good.       

 

* Our only hope of overcoming the evil and corruption all around us,

         lies within the truth   of God’s grace, goodness and holiness.