Wheat & tares

Church anniversary   Matthew 13: 24-30

 

I read a few weeks ago about a theological tutor who used to ask his students

“What is the biggest problem facing the churches today?”.

They would talk about increasing secularism, growing crime rates, the apathy caused by materialism… and then he would tell them “the biggest problem for the churches today is coping with the overwhelming abundance of God”.

 

In the same way, as we look back over 165 years of witness in this chapel, I think our biggest problem is not an ageing population, or Christian disunity, or rival activities on Sunday morning – I think our biggest problem is trying to work out how on earth we can show people the overwhelming abundance of God – the ridiculously huge measure of grace and patience and love that Jesus shows us exists at the heart of God.

And I think that reading this parable shows us just how amazing God is.

 

At first hearing, we might think this is a very straightforward parable from Jesus. Even in the finest field of wheat there will be weeds. Whether they’ve sprung up from the soil, or been spread there by the wind, or as Jesus says, been put there by an enemy - The wheat and the weeds grow together. When the owner of the field has this brought to his notice he decides not to do anything immediately but wait until harvest time.. because in uprooting the weeds the wheat would also be uprooted. But at harvest -time, the weeds can be separated out & burnt.

 

We sing a version of this story when we sing ‘Come, ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest-home’. The author, Henry Alford, clearly felt that in this story Jesus is talking about people – and looked forward to a time when the weeds, the bad ‘uns, the unfruitful people would be taken out & destroyed, while the good people, like a good crop, would be gathered in and enjoy the reward of being ‘wholesome and pure’.

Quite apart from any anxiety this understanding of the story might produce in us if we wonder whether we are as wholesome and pure as we might be, I think it misses out some important parts of the parable.

 

First of all, the ones who point out the weeds to the owners are described as slaves.

Now the task of slaves is to do whatever the owner tells them to do.. and the owner makes it clear that trying to sort out the field is NOT their job. First he tells them not to go out weeding – and then he explains that when he does want his crop sorting out he will tell ‘the reapers’ what to do  – not them. 

As followers of Jesus, being clear about what is and what isn’t our job is vital – Jesus teaches that yes, there are weeds in the field of this world – there may even be weeds in our own lives – but our task is to listen and follow Jesus’ teaching, and not get caught up with an over-concern for the morals of others.

 

Secondly, Jesus uses an extremely interesting phrase when he tells the slaves ‘no’ to their offer to go and collect the weeds. The owner says ‘No, let them both grow together’ – the words the gospel writer uses which we translate ‘let them’ are the same words used by Jesus on the cross which is usually translated ‘Father forgive them’. Forgive them, let them alone, don’t make their growth your worry…

 

There is a message here from Jesus about the wrong-doings of others. We might notice the ‘weeds’ in other people’s lives – the mistakes they make or the down-right rotten things they do. Like the slaves, we might wonder whether we should do something on God’s behalf, to set others straight, to weed out bad behaviour. But in the parable, Jesus tells us that he owner says ‘let them, leave them, forgive them..’ and it’s not your task to distinguish between good and evil: it’s your task to show loving forgiveness.

 

So often in Jesus’ ministry he taught people about the kingdom of God and then backed that up by also showing them by his actions, by his life, what his teaching about God’s kingdom actually looks like in action.

 

Jesus teaches about the abundance of God’s love – in the parable of the sower, for example, or of the mustard seed. Then he demonstrates that abundant love in the feeding of the five thousand.

 

In this parable Jesus teaches “let the ‘weeds’ of other people’s lives be. Forgive them”,  then on the cross he says “Father forgive them”. Even further, he promises the repentant thief crucified with him, who has only just turned to Jesus in the final moments of his life, “today you will be with me in paradise”.

 

Here is the overwhelming abundance of God in action – in the patience of the owner who sees his good field peppered with weeds, but is prepared to wait, to let, to forgive… and in the forgiving saviour on the cross.

Harry Smart is a poet born in Yorkshire, now living in Montrose in Scotland – maybe that’s what makes him so blunt in what he writes. I’m going to read part of this poem “Praise” – I have watered down his language slightly, to spare our blushes this morning:

 

Praise be to God who pours out his blessing

on reactionary warheads and racists.
For he knows what he is doing;
the healthy have no need of a doctor,
the sinless have no need of forgiveness.
But, you say, They do not deserve it.
That is the point; that is the point.
When you try to wade across the estuary at low tide
but misjudge the distance, the currents, the soft ground
and are caught by the flood in deep schtuck,
then perhaps you will realise that God is to be praised
for delivering  “idiots”
from troubles they have made for themselves.
Praise be to God, who forgives sinners.

 

After 165 years I hope we have not tired in this chapel of singing the praises of our God who is endlessly forgiving, nor given up on trying to find ways to be as overwhelming in our loving, forgiving, and abundance of life as God. Given another 165 years we may get better at it, but in the meantime let’s never cease trying to show God’s amazing love in our words and in our actions.

In the name of Jesus and to God’s glory. 

Amen.