Most of you are way too familiar with the problem of weeds.
Even those of you who live in Covenant Village where the weeds are generally taken care of by the grounds crew can remember when you were children and you had to pull the weeds in the garden.
I must have spent every Saturday morning for the first 10 years of my life pulling weeds in the yard. I hated Saturdays. They were the worst days of the week because my parents forced me to do chores. This, of course, goes a long way in explaining why I am the way I am - the psychological and emotional trauma I suffered.
And I’m still fighting those nasty little vexations -- the weeds. They are a problem especially at this time of the year. You see, I rely a lot on golden poppies for color in the yard. They come up in the spring quite naturally now. And they will fill the garden with golden yellow flowers - until the end of June or so when they begin to fry.
So I go in an pull them all out as soon as they’ve dropped their seeds. This leaves a big color gap and a fertile crescent for the weeds to fill in. The only problem is that if I go in to either spray or hand weed I end up destroying all of the new poppies that are already coming up and which will be the color in the fall.
I can top a few of the weeds as they get obnoxiously big but mostly I have to let the weeds grow with the poppies. Then in the fall I know that the poppies will choke out the weeds - but for now I have to live with them if I want to have poppies.
That was pretty much the point that Jesus was making about the weeds in his parable.
Jesus is sitting in a boat and telling people stories to explain the kingdom of heaven to them.
And in Matthew 13:24 he says, "Think of the kingdom like this. There was a farmer who planted wheat in his field. However, one night his enemies came in and sowed a bunch of weeds on top of the fresh soil."
As the plants began to emerge the man’s servants noticed that there were an extraordinary number of weeds mixed in with the wheat.
So they went to their master and asked, "What kind of seed did you buy? You bought top of the line didn’t you? We’ve got a major weed problem out there."
And the farmer responds, "Well, my enemies must have sown weeds out there."
The concerned servants, who knew that their stomachs depended on the success of the same field, offered to go pull out the weeds. But the farmer said, "No, I think it’s better that we let the weeds and the wheat grow together for awhile. If we try to pull the weeds we’ll end up pulling the wheat, too. So, let’s just wait until the harvest. Then we’ll separate the two- burn the weeds and store the wheat."
In other words, we’re stuck with weeds until the harvest. And that’s the key point of not only Jesus’ parable but also my message this morning. We’re stuck with weeds until harvest time.
Of course, this isn’t really a lesson in agricultural practice. It’s about the kingdom or reign or rule of God.
The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were anxiously awaiting the coming kingdom of God - that which the prophets had predicted - the time of the Messiah - the reestablishment of Jewish independence and power.
This, at least according to their thinking, would mean purifying the land of all foreign influences. And everyone was trying to figure out the best way to make this happen.
The Zealots were trying to bring about the kingdom through revolutionary and guerillas tactics directed at the occupying Roman forces.
The Essenes were trying to bring the kingdom about by living purified lives out in the desert. If they could avoid all impurity they figured that they could become the pure starting point for a new Israel.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, thought that they could bring in the kingdom with an organized and structured revival of Jewish practices.
They were all pretty much shooting for the same thing - the coming of the kingdom of God or heaven.
So Jesus comes along and starts talking about the arrival of this kingdom - which got everyone all excited. "We’ll be freed from the Roman yoke. Once again Israel will be the light on a hill."
But leave it to Jesus to throw a monkey wrench into their own plan or perception. He tells them, indeed the kingdom is coming into power but not exactly in the way that you’re expecting. We’re going to be stuck with a few weeds for awhile.
After Jesus finished telling his stories he went into a house with his disciples. And they said to him, "Jesus, we don’t get it. Would you please explain the story again - this time with a little more detail."
So Jesus says, and we find this in vss. 36-43, "Okay, I’m the farmer planting good seed. The field is the world. The good seed represents the people who have aligned themselves with my kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. And the enemy who planted the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world and the harvesters are the angels. At the end of time - the harvest - the angels will separate the wheat from the weeds. And everything that causes sin. Everything that is evil will be destroyed."
That’s the story. We’re stuck with weeds until harvest time.
Now, as I see it, this is information worth having. First of all as a word of ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE PERPLEXED AND THE ANGUISHED. This is a word of encouragement to the perplexed and anguished.
George Barna wrote a book called If Things Are So Good, Why Do I Feel So Bad? This is really one of those basic questions of life which has numerous variations - "If I’ve done all the right things why did my kids still turn out wrong?"
"Why do bad things happen to good people?"
"If I take care of my garden so well how come I keep getting weeds? If God is in charge, if his kingdom has come, why are the Romans still here?"
"If Jesus died for the sins of the world and rose victoriously over death - why do people still sin and die?"
"Why are there still grumpy people in the church?"
"Why are my neighbors inconsiderate when I go out of my way to be kind?"
"Why? Why? Why?"
Every now and then when I’m talking to someone about the church I’ll get a comment of something to the effect - "I could never go to church. There are just too many hypocrites there."
I try to be gracious and usually say something kind like, "So what?!!! Of course, there are hypocrites in church."
I’m not trying to make excuses for hypocrisy but Jesus never promised that his church would be weed-free. Don’t be discouraged and give up on God because a few of the people who say they belong to him rub you the wrong way - or you believe they’re two-faced.
Jesus is saying to us - "Hey, I don’t want you to be discouraged and to think that the dismal state of the world (or the church) is the final word. Don’t be troubled. You trust God, now trust in me. I’m in charge - really I am. I may not be working this thing out the way you want it, in your preferred time frame. But my kingdom is coming into power. It’s already up and functioning in some places - in the hearts and lives of some people. And on harvest day when I’m done implementing my plan all of the loose ends will be wrapped up. You won’t have to put up with this nonsense any longer.
"There might be turbulence now - but once I land the plane you’ll see what paradise looks like."
If you’ve ever lived in a neighborhood where there is new construction you know that it can be a real mess -- all that extra dirt and dust that settles on your furniture - all those extra workers around - the noise of their equipment -- and the trucks that come at 5 a.m., idling in front of your house while they try to figure out where to leave their load of lumber and bricks.
You put up with it because you know that it’s temporary and you’re sure that they will finish and it will be good. And you know that you’re going to get some neighbors out of it -- and because you know that you have little real choice otherwise.
We’re stuck with weeds until harvest time.
Then secondly, this parable is a word of CAUTION TO THE OVER-ZEALOUS.
I mentioned earlier the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots -- all first century movements which were trying to propel the kingdom of God into place through their efforts.
And there is a real temptation for people of faith to begin taking themselves too seriously - to begin thinking that we’re building the kingdom of God and it all somehow depends on us.
There was a certain amount of this in the Puritan philosophy of the pilgrims that came to America. They were going to make this new world into a light house for the world. America would be the blessed and favored land that would lead the rest of the world to God. They were building the kingdom of God!
We see the same thing in some contemporary political movements. "Once we organize and get rid of the hated godless pornographic homosexual media-driven infestation which is menacing our nation we’ll become the nation of God once again."
And once people begin to think this way it’s not too much of a leap before they’ll take up arms against abortionists or homosexuals or whoever the current sinner happens to be. But hear Jesus, we’re stuck with weeds until harvest time.
Now, this doesn’t mean that we sit back and tolerate sin - throwing our hands in the air in hopeless despair. Sure we can have an influence in the world.
After all Jesus called us to be salt and light. He called us to be yeast in the dough and mustard seeds - small beginnings that will ultimately have significant impact.
But we’ve got to be realists! We are not going to eliminate evil from the world and we ought not to act as though that were the case.
Every group or individual that takes on themselves the mission of bringing in the kingdom of God in this way ends up really warped with an inflated view of self-importance. Ironically, they begin acting in ways that are completely contrary to the kingdom of God.
The Pharisees in passion for a society structured around their spin on scriptures were the ones who plotted Jesus’ death. They were very religious and pious people but they were also the ones behind Stephen’s death.
In Salem the Puritans burned suspected witches -- to maintain a pure society. In the Spanish Inquisition people who disagreed with the official teaching of the church were tortured. Husbands have beaten their wives to teach them submission - so they could have model godly families. People have murdered abortionists and blown up abortion clinics. Others have embraced bitterness and cut off all ties with their children because they disagree with some of their lifestyle decisions.
Every time we try to use worldly influence or power or scheming to get God’s work done we end up doing more damage to his kingdom than if we’d just let the weeds grow until harvest time.
In the bulletin this morning I gave my message the title "Weed Free Gardening - Guaranteed!"
Well, I’m here to tell you that there is no such thing. We’re stuck with the weeds until harvest time - which is probably a good thing when you think about it because some over-zealous gardener might mistake me or even you for a weed.
Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father:
We are in an awkward state. We know that you want us to stand up for what is right and the things that are a part of your kingdom. You’ve called us to be agents of the Kingdom of God. Yet, you’ve not called us to try and purify the world eliminating all evil. This is an incredible tension and we need wisdom. Give us the deep humility that comes from following Jesus. Help us to see clearly the boundaries and the motives that we allow to drive us. Help us to be like Jesus so that we can point people to him and bring him glory and honor and praise. Might the tithes and the offerings that we now bring all play well into that process. Amen.
