Proper 11, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Psalm 139:1-11, 22-23
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
Having purchased a house with a yard much larger than we anticipated,
and having cut the grass on the fairly steep hill in the backyard 2 or 3 times,
we quickly decided that the grassy knoll would become terraced beds.
After clearing the grass and establishing a winding path and steps,
a couple of months ago we scattered the flower seeds that I preached about last week.
This week our very first flower…
a gold-colored cosmos…
opened her petals!
I am familiar with the leaves of the cosmos and the forget-me-nots…
and, of course, all the freebie tomato plants…
but I’m not so sure about the leaves of a couple of other flowers we planted.
Some greenery has popped up,
interspersed with flowers I recognize,
but they look like weeds I have seen in other parts of the yard.
So far, I have resisted the urge to pluck them up and compost them.
My thinking is that if these unknown plants could turn into beautiful flowers,
I’d prefer to leave them to bloom,
so I am letting the probable weeds grow up with the known flowers.
It is taking a lot of conscious effort and resistance to not make a quick judgment.
In today’s gospel story, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to someone who sows good seed in their field only to have weeds pop us as well.
I found one commentary very helpful in its description of the weeds that were sown:
“The bearded darnel is a devil of a weed.
“Known in biblical terms as ‘tares,’ bearded darnel has no virtues.
“Its roots surround the roots of good plants,
sucking up precious nutrients and scarce water,
making it impossible to root it out without damaging the good crop.
[And here’s the real kicker…] “Above ground, darnel looks identical to wheat,
until it bears seed.
[And then] Those seeds can cause everything from hallucinations to death!”
(Talitha Arnold in Feasting on the Word, Yr A, Vol 3, p. 260)
Now that sounds like some pretty dangerous weeds!
In today’s gospel story,
the farmer sows good seed in his field.
The farmer has the field tended with great care and diligence
only to discover when the wheat begins to bear grain
that an evil one has come and sown poisonous weeds in his field!
Now, I am going to pause here to tell you that
this morning I am here to struggle with you with this text –
not to provide any easy answers.
Most of the commentaries on this text –
and indeed I have preached such an interpretation before –
say that the parable of the wheat and the tares
talks about how each of us has good and evil within us.
While I certainly think that is a true statement,
I do not think that is what this text is about.
In today’s story when the disciples ask Jesus to explain to them this parable,
he says very clearly:
“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.” (Mt 13:37-39a)
Well now, that seems pretty clear.
There are children of the kingdom,
and there are evildoers.
Upon seeing the weeds among the wheat,
the servants ask the householder if they are to gather up the weeds,
but he tells them:
"No, do not pull up the weeds."
This seems an odd thing.
why not eradicate the weeds…
that which crowds out healthy growth
and even potentially destroys that which offers life?
I believe Jesus gives his disciples a couple of reasons to leave the weeds and the wheat together:
First, the roots of the weeds get so enmeshed with the roots of the good wheat
that you cannot pull up the weeds without also pulling up the wheat.
Eliminating the weeds then also means eliminating much of the wheat.
There is a second reason Jesus gives for leaving the weeds alone that I think is even more important:
we are not good judges when it comes to distinguishing between weeds and wheat.
I would bet that all of us here,
excepting newborn babies,
have all engaged in harmful or destructive behavior at some point,
if not many points in our lives.
Sometimes we may not even recognize when our behavior is harmful.
So, at times, we simply are not good judges.
Because of our impaired sight and judgment,
Jesus tells us to wait for the harvest
because only God sees into the depths of our hearts and our neighbors’ hearts,
and only God is able to judge.
Consequently, the harvest will be at the end of the age
after all the fruit has been borne
so that good and evil may be distinguished one from another.
I also wonder: if we allow the weeds to grow along with the wheat,
then might there remain the possibility of conversion (at least in terms of human life)?
Even if evil has sprung up in our lives,
or in the lives of our neighbors,
then a little extra time allows us the opportunity to acknowledge harmful behavior,
and allows God’s grace to redeem us.
When I experience all the pain in the world:
in my own life,
in the lives of those I love,
in the lives of complete strangers I hear about,
and I begin to wonder why God allows so much pain and destruction
and why there is so much evil in the world…
I realize that I need to be in church,
to hear over and over that God loves us,
and that God suffers along with us,
and that God offers us the gift of healing and wholeness.
Today’s psalmist knows the intimacy and intricateness of God’s presence:
“Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar….
You press upon me behind and before
and lay your hand upon me….
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me,
and the light around me turn to night,’
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day;
darkness and light to you are both alike.
Search me out, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Look well whether there be any wickedness in me
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.”
And Paul,
in his letter to the Romans,
reminds us that we are children of God,
groaning along with the whole of creation in labor pains,
hoping for the possibility of redemption.
For now, the reign of God encompasses both "good" and "evil."
The Kingdom includes the weeds,
the unclean,
the corrupted –
this is the material of conversion.
This parable teaches tolerance and patience.
We are called to be servants who tend the fields,
spreading the Good News of God's love and offer of salvation
to any who have ears to hear.
Thanks be to God that the One who loves us most fully,
the One who breathed us into Being,
the One who died out of love for us,
the One who knit us together and knows the very depths of our hearts….
Thanks be to God that it is this One who judges us finally.
As the apostle Paul says,
we wait with patience for our complete healing in Christ.
AMEN.
