26^th July 2017

Sermon: “Weeds Happen” Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43.

Introduction: Jesus told the story of the Sower and the Soils but as a way of testing the crowd (the soil), he told the story without explaining its deeper meaning. At the end he said, “He who has ears to hear let him hear.” In other words, if you are receptive to the story and spiritually perceptive, you will be hungry for more;  you will want to know the deeper meaning of the story! (This sermon follows: “The Kingdom’s Transforming Power” Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23)

Well according to the record, it was only the disciples who wanted to know the meaning of the story. The crowd had eyes but they couldn’t see, ears but they couldn’t hear. Now on the surface the disciples looked like, or appeared to be like anyone else in the crowd that day but there is a hidden-ness about the Kingdom of God. It is like a seed hidden in the ground. In the case of the disciples the kingdom-life was hidden but it was present within them. They hungry for more, the seed was productive, it was doing a transforming work, but it was not obvious. The crowd were looking for a political Messiah but they were ‘caught out.’ In a similar way today, it is the hidden-ness of the kingdom that leads many to reject it. They have eyes and ears but they fail to see or hear.

So, we come to today’s passage!

This is a story of the ‘evil seed’ among the ‘good seed.’

We are told that in Jesus day the ‘bearded darnel’ plant in Palestine was poisonous but it was very similar to wheat. The plants looked exactly alike until they matured in a later stage. Then, while you could tell the difference, if you pulled the poisonous weed out it would damage the roots of the wheat, the good seed.

The source of the trouble (the evil seed) is not explained, it is mysterious but it is not an accident. The owner of the field only planted good seed but there was a dark menace, a malicious enemy who sabotaged the crop. Satan comes as the snake came in the story of the first garden in Genesis 3—Satan came,--- and that’s about all we know about the origin of evil.

Now today the idea of having a spiritual opposition may make us feel a bit uneasy, it may seem primitive to some but what we do know is that evil is real.

The first point I want to make is that if we are going to understand the Kingdom of God, we must realistically recognise that weeds happen.!!

Just as weeds are out to sabotage your garden at home so spiritual warfare/ opposition is real. Weeds in the form of real evil stand in opposition to the kingdom of God. Weeds in the form of real evil are taking shape in real people as if there is a sinister power busy everywhere sowing toxic seeds among the furrows of our lives.---This  sort of darkness confronts  us every night on the evening news.

Marguerite Shuster from Fuller University writes, “We are a society intoxicated with the idea of how nice and fundamentally worthy we all are.” She goes on to point out that we find it hard to own up to our weakness, our limited moral capacity, to call sin, sin. She points out that to admit our moral weakness is so offensive that some have even changed the words of the song ‘Amazing Grace’ so that instead of singing —“amazing grace that saved a wretch like me” they sing,--- “amazing grace that saved and strengthened me”

The words of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “The universal dividing line between good and evil runs not between countries, not between nations, not between parties, not between classes, not between good and bad (people)---It divides the heart of every (human being).” There’s ‘weediness’ inside us, not just out there.”

In recent years, we have been confronted with the fact that the field in Jesus story doesn’t appear to have been enclosed, there was no fence around it. The evil enemy of deception, power, seduction and ‘weediness’ is present within the church. Helmut Thielicke says, “Where theologians sit pouring over the scriptures, that dark power sows between the lines the seeds of man’s own thinking causing the wisdom of the Greeks (human philosophy and theory) to triumph over the foolishness of the cross.”

In verse 28 the Servants in the story say, “Master do you want us to go and gather them (the weeds) in?”  The Master replies, “No, let them grow.” It does not sound like good farm management. Not a word is said about the risk of the weeds choking the wheat or the weeds producing ‘weed-seed’,---just let them grow together.

The second point from this story is simply, if we are to understand the Kingdom we must realise our limitations, be patient and await God’s time.

This parable story does not set out to say everything that can be said about evil. It is not saying we should not confront evil and injustice in the world or that we should be vague or indifferent about those issues. If we take the prophets of the Old Testament or Jesus ministry seriously, we cannot be passive on issues of social justice or the faithfulness of the church to it’s message. Amid the seductive pluralism of our time there is no doubt that the Assembly of Confessing Congregations has a legitimate, important prophet role to play within the life of the Uniting Church. What the story is saying is that we should be cautious about making quick judgments about others while at the same time being unaware of the mysterious mixture of good and evil in our own hearts and surrounding our own motives.

Through history the church has often suffered from well intended idealists who have been in a hurry to sort the world out. Well here Jesus warns us about premature interference with the patient purposes of God, a zealous extremism that wants to sort things out now!

Some time ago I attended a seminar on genetic technology. I had a lot to learn, but I did learn that by introducing a foreign gene into a productive cell---it was possible to increase a cow’s production of estrogen. I did learn that we can make grain crops resistant to the deadly ‘round-up’ spray. It may sound strange but I also learn that it is possible to make florescent rabbits!!!

Genetic Technology is a wonderful scientific gift of creation enabling all sorts of medical cures. It is not wrong---but our moral choices about how we use it can be wrong. (Currently we have the Victorian government supporting euthanasia legislation. We are assured, as we were at the time of the introduction of gambling and abortion legislation that guidelines and safe guards are foolproof !!)

In describing the good and evil that arose from splitting the atom Helmut Thielicke said: “It’s as if an evil power has planted corruption and decay into the very gift of creation which God himself has committed to our hands.”

The third point I make from this story: We cannot expect a ‘pure world’---but in the long run, the good news is that the weeds are not going to win.

The weeds will always be mixed with the Divine seed of the Kingdom. We cannot exterminate evil in the world by our effort. Paul the Apostle say, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers” (the secret rulers of the world)

Don’t be quick to judge others, but check your own motives. Although the good sometimes looks feeble next to the evil, the sorrow and pain of the world, be patient, wait for the surprise of the final harvest.

Fix your gaze on Jesus; attend to the nutrition of the seed rather than pandering to, or being distracted by evil. 

We cannot neglect or escape the clear teaching of Jesus that this world has an end. There will be a time when the line of separation will be drawn and the Son of Man will come as Judge. (Daniel 7) We will be accountable to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords when what is wrong will be put right. The purging awaits the certain day of judgment (Verse 36-42, 1 Cor. 4:5, 5:1-8)

We are invited to share the vision of the hymn writer, “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord---His truth is marching on.” Know as we discovered in the sower story that the harvest will be greater than we can imagine, some 30, 60 or 100 fold.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear!

Rev E.A.(Ted) Curnow 

www.tedcurnow.wordpress.com