Wheat and Weeds
Based on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 and Romans 8:12-25
Delivered to CCH on July 23, 2017
Hymns: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, I Want to Walk
as a Child of the Light, When We All Get to Heaven
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
13:24 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom
of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;
13:25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat, and then went away.
13:26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the
weeds appeared as well.
13:27 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?'
13:28 He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said
to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
13:29 But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you
would uproot the wheat along with them.
13:30 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.'"
13:36 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."
13:37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is
the Son of Man;
13:38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the
children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one,
13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest
is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
13:40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire,
so will it be at the end of the age.
13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will
collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,
13:42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Romans 8:12-25
8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to
the flesh, to live according to the flesh --
8:13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die;
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of
God.
8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back
into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba!
Father!"
8:16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit
that we are children of God,
8:17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be
glorified with him.
8:18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are
not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.
8:19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the
revealing of the children of God;
8:20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its
own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
8:21 that the creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of
God.
8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in
labor pains until now;
8:23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have
the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the
redemption of our bodies.
8:24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not
hope. For who hopes for what is seen?
8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it
with patience.
Good morning! My name
is Darci Strutt McQuiston and I am one of the Lay Speakers from the United
Methodist Church up on the hill. It is
my pleasure to be with you here today. As
I reviewed the scripture that is in the lectionary today I found two that
blended for me so you get them both.
I’m going to take some artistic license with the Gospel
lesson. The parable made it sound like
all or nothing; you were all good seed or all weed. I sense within myself that I am the ground
and have a mix of good and bad I’m fighting with.
Here are the three thoughts I’m hoping to present from the
scriptures today.
Final judgement belongs to God
Our inner garden depends on daily decisions
God’s in control of the timing of the harvest
Final judgement belongs to God
The weed in the gospel lesson, translated in some versions as
“tares”, is thought to be the bearded darnel.
Its roots surround the roots of good plants which makes it difficult to
pull out without damaging the plant you want to protect. It also looks identical to wheat until the
seed forms. For both these reasons, the
owner of the field wanted the servants to wait until harvest time to separate
them.
Within our communities, and churches too, we have a mix of
those who create good, and those that seem to zap you like energy
vampires. Whatever is going on there are
some that support and enliven the activity and others that pull it down.
I had a coworker that use to constantly say “Your idea to fix
“insert problem here” won’t work and here’s why.” He never had a plan of his own to make things
better. He was just quick to point out
the faults in everyone else’s plans to improve things. We attempted to create solutions, and he was
the anti-creator. He seemed as depressed
as the donkey Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh stories. A different coworker used him as a Devil’s Advocate.
He knew his negativity had to be taken
with a grain of salt, but by chatting with him, he could identify some parts of
the plan that needed shoring up as we continued moving forward. Even then he needed to be careful or the Eeyore
would cause discouragement.
The term “Devil’s Advocate” is aptly named. Jesus calls the enemy out in his explanation.
Verse 37-39, “He answered, "The one who sows the good
seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the
children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the
enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the
reapers are angels.”
We need to pay attention to who is doing the harvesting. There are times when the Bible advised the
people to remove those behaving badly from the community, but in this case
Jesus is teaching the judgement does not belong within the community. We may not be able to tell the bad from the
good accurately from our vantage point.
Or, like my coworker, a Devil’s Advocate could be useful in small doses
to identify something that does need to change.
Our inner garden depends on daily decisions
I said at the start I have some work to do within myself, and
I’m betting you do too.
The passage in Romans cautioned them to follow the right
spirit.
Verse 12-16, “So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors,
not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh --for if you live according to
the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the
body, you will live. For all who are led
by the Spirit of God are children of God.
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but
you have received a spirit of adoption.
Are we living in fear or living in hope? Are we faithful to God above all? Only you can answer for yourself, but I can
admit I struggle. The cartoon image of
an angel on one shoulder and a demon on the other can capture my thoughts at
some moments. If that rings true for
you, know that we are in good company. Even
the apostle Paul struggled. He said earlier
in Romans 7:18-20, “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is,
in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot
carry it out. For I do not do the good I
want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is
no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
The roots of good and evil are tangled up within each of us. It is a daily decision to follow the leading
of the Holy Spirit that keeps us on the path of love.
God’s in control of the timing of the harvest
The workers in the parable were anxious to pull out the bad,
but the land owner stopped them. Verse 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.'"
That need for patience is echoed in Romans. Verses 19-23, “For the creation waits with
eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was
subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who
subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of
God. We know that the whole creation has
been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we
ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we
wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
Waiting is not a passive word in the New Testament. We wait like the servant watching over the
owner’s house while he’s gone. The
servant keeps it protected from thieves and running smoothly so when the owner
arrives all is well. So, we patiently
wait, and continue doing the work Jesus taught us to do.
In a nutshell, this is what I believe the scriptures tell us
today.
We are called to love each other and let the weeding be done
by God. This gospel lesson reminds us we
may not be the best of judges as to what is good or evil. We have the responsibility to choose which
way to live our lives – to the flesh or to the spirit. That choice is made moment by moment as we
grow in our faith. Lastly, we are called
to be patient and trust God’s timing as we actively wait for our inheritance as
children of God.
Amen
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