The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost ----- 19 July 2020

Isaiah 44:6-8

6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. 7 Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. Who has announced from of old the things to come? Let them tell us what is yet to be. 8 Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.

Romans 8:12-25

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 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. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 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!" 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 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. 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 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 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. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 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. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

24 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 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?' 28 He answered, "An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, "Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he replied, "No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 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.' "

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." 37 He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 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, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

"Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?”

§  We all know that the Gospel is to be a word of grace and hope for all of us, don’t we? It is what we want and need and indeed listen for. One of my exercises in preparing a sermon is to ask “What is the Good News here?” Some days, it’s obvious; other days, less so.

§  So then, what is the Good News here? We might find this parable with wheat and weeds and delay and fiery judgement disturbing? There seems to be no way out. A closer look might help some.

§  The servants working in the field could tell the weeds from the wheat. As they report it to the householder, they offer to pluck out the weeds. Older translations of this passage call the weeds “tares” or “darnel”, two names for the same semi-poisonous counterfeit wheat that could make a person sick. (I sort of wish that had been left in; here it sounds like dandelions or common reeds are causing the problem.) The master is concerned (“An enemy has done this.”), but not so concerned as to demand the immediate weeding of the entire field. (Let both of them grow together until the harvest…) Is this good farming practice? You’d have to tell me; I just don’t know.

§  It is good spiritual practice however and good practice for the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. I know that sounds silly; I just makes sense to me in its own peculiar way. In the end, grace is uplifted.

§  You see, the parable really is one of grace and mercy. The weeds (whatever we might call them) are given a reprieve until the harvest, not because they might have time to repent of their “weedy-ness” but because the mature plants of either type are easier to tell apart. (Let both of them grow together until the harvest…) Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus uses this farming idea to make a point about discernment of people, things, and motives: You will know them by their fruits.  (Matthew 7:16) The master of the farm might also be concerned that his workers might be too hasty or too eager at pulling up the weeds.

§  We as hearers of this Gospel passage might hear more judgement than hope and grace. We might feel we are on the short path to the fiery oven rather than the barn. On the other hand, some of us might feel we are the ones who deserve to be in the barn of the good harvest. At this point, it’s worth pointing out that we are not the ones to do the judging. If we were to say that we are the field, there’s both good wheat AND nasty weeds there. Luther wrote that we are all “simultaneously righteous and sinful…”and that’s how we’ll remain until our harvest day. That being the case, the judging is best left to God who is not only holy and just, but also wise and merciful. Besides, we really have nowhere else to turn.

§  We are often bothered by the reality that justice appears delayed, since the old saying has it that “justice delayed is justice denied.” In many situations, that is true. However, in situations such as we’ve been talking about, judgement permits the process of discernment and understanding to continue. It‘s understandable that this will not make some people happy. And that is how life is. To quote Martin Luther again: “This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health, but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”

§  We all have a way to go and much within and outside of ourselves to struggle with. The parable, in its parable way assures us that both judgement and harvest are coming. What is good will be gathered and what is not good will be removed. Through it all, it is the grace of God, God’s favour, that guides things and has always been our salvation. Jesus is the embodiment of that grace and this parable – as all parables – shows God’s kingdom of grace and mercy.

§  "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?”