Sermon for July 17, 2011

WHEN A SEED IS PLANTED Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Lectionary 16A – Proper 11A July 17, 2011
Today’s gospel reading is the second of a series of three readings from Matthew 13 that use the example of seeds to speak about the Kingdom of God. Last Sunday it was the parable of the sower whose seed fell on shallow ground, on rocky ground, weedy ground, and on good ground. Next Sunday we will hear Jesus compare the kingdom to a mustard seed. And today it is the parable of the weeds in the wheat – or the parable of the wheat and the tares, if you prefer the language of the King James Version of the Bible. I am well aware that last week you heard from a master gardener and farmer speak on the Parable of the Sower, so I speak about today’s parable with a bit of humility since I am neither a master gardener or a farmer.
In listening to the second reading from Romans 8 and then the parable in the gospel reading from Matthew 13, I hear words encouraging us to live with patience and hope. Both readings have something to say about patience, and both readings have something to say about hope. Let’s start with patience.
In the parable of the weeds among the wheat, the hired men on the farm are eager to get out into the field as soon as they see an abundance of weeds in the field. They are ready to rush out there and trample a lot of wheat to get rid of the weeds. But the farmer counsels patience. There is a time to separate the weeds from the wheat, but it is not right now. The day of harvest will come – and in that day of harvesting by hand, the weeds and the wheat can be separated. For the time being, they will have to live with a wheat field with an embarrassing number of weeds.
This reminds me of a sign that hung in a beautiful public garden. It had a quote from Thomas Fuller on it that read: “Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.” [internet] That is something I want you to remember today, whether you are looking at a beautiful garden, or a bunch of weeds or thinking about your community or your church. “Many things grow in the garden that were never planted there.” Our garden has a few potato plants and several flowers that reseeded themselves from last year. They will probably do better than the ones we planted deliberately, if we are patient with them. It also has more than a few wees, not planted and not welcome, but growing - well, growing like weeds.
Now Jesus’ parable is clearly aimed at his disciples, who are the servants of the master. The master is Jesus. And the weeds are the wild ones in the kingdom, the ones who are not as good as they should be, who are not as devout as you would expect, who do not fit in very well. Jesus is counseling patience with them.
Let me share with you the old story about the congregation that took "weeding out sinners" so seriously that they purged their own congregation, down from one hundred families to 75, and then to 50, and then to 25, and finally to only the pastor and his wife. "Only John and I are left," said the pastor's wife. "And you know what? I'm not even so sure about him." Jesus' parable reminds us that we are in no position to judge one another. God does not make us the gardeners of anybody else's soul. That's God's job. Ours is but to serve God with joy, scattering with love the Word of God in those around us. [internet]
It is hard to do sometimes, when the weeds are making the field look bad – and when some of our fellow believers embarrass us. But such is the good counsel that Jesus gives today. Patience, people, have a little patience with your fellow believers.
And then there is hope. Patience and hope go in hand in hand, because we can be much more patient when we have hope. As it says in Romans 8:25, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”
There are two kinds of hope. One is a hope that has no basis in fact or promise but is akin to wishful thinking. There is another sign that has been hung in a garden that quotes Thomas Cooper – are you ready for this? – “A garden is never so good as it will be next year.” Well you and I know that there is no telling what next year will be like. Next year’s better garden is a image in the gardener’s head. He may learn from some of his mistakes and have grand plans for next year, but who can count on the weather? No one knows what next year will bring. I know that feeling well “a garden is never so good as it will be next year.”
There is another kind of hope that is built on a promise that we can trust. It may be something that we cannot see, as Romans 7 says, but it is something that is based on a promise that can be trusted. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Assurance and conviction are a lot different from wishful thinking.
In today’s Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, the disciples of Jesus are given the assurance that there will be a day of reckoning when everything will be put right. In terms of the parable, the harvest season will come and the wheat will be separated from the weeds. While we have to live in a world of good and evil, of kind people and rude people, of those who work for the betterment of their fellow man and those who think only of themselves, Jesus says there will come a day of judgment. “And he will come to judge the living and the dead,” as we say each week in the Apostles’ Creed.
We can all be a little more patient with the mixed up way this word operates when we have a sure conviction that evil will not triumph over good in the end. We surely work for the good and sometimes become discouraged when it seems like the wrong trends seem to be on the rise, but we have the assurance of Jesus that there will come a day when everything will be judged rightly. I love the phrase in the last verse of our gospel reading, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” What a glorious image that is. Indeed, “let anyone with ears listen!”
When you get a little discouraged about the state of affairs around you, listen to this parable so that you can have patience and hope. Not the patience that sits in a corner or the hope that does nothing, but the faith that moves you to live as one who is confident that right will win over wrong, that joy will replace sorrow, that hope will vanquish despair.
I would like to conclude with a story about a little girl who had a very noxious weed in her neighborhood. He was a bully, and his name was Todd. His parents were divorced and he was left to fend for himself. He was rude and for an 8 year old he could swear pretty good. When he came over to Heidi's house the quiet surroundings turned quickly into chaos with fighting, crying and disobeying rules. But Heidi didn't cut Todd out from her circle of friends. Instead, if Todd swore, she told him it was wrong. God doesn't like that. If he started a fight, she told him he'd have to go home. And on Sunday morning, she would collect 2 children's bulletins and takes one to Todd. She's even invited him to Bible School.
Heidi did not weed out the bully. And today Todd tries hard to be good. He's more joyous now, more alert and he plays wells. He has more fun playing that fighting. He and Heidi have even talked about Jesus and Bible stories. Todd needed someone who was willing to care for him, not in a judgmental way, but in a loving caring way. Todd is less of a weed now among the children on his street, though he is still growing like a week – physically. He has begun to blossom into the youth God wants him to be. All because one little girl had patience and hope.
Oh, that we all had a little more patience and hope. Amen.