Proper 11 -- Wisdom 12: 13, 16 – 19; Psalm 86: 11 – 17; Romans 8: 18 – 25; Matthew 13: 24 – 30, 36 – 43
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, July 20th, 2008
Purity….
We Americans are greatly concerned with purity: We buy bottled water, and we have air quality laws that regulate emissions from power plants and from our cars (just to cite two examples).
Even the purity of our lawns and fields is a concern these days: ever see one of those lawn service trucks driving around town, you know, the ones that spray our yards with materials that try to promote good growth, while killing off the weeds? (Farmers do the same thing.)
Well, if we look at our Gospel text for today, we’d probably have to come to the conclusion that Jesus would have no use for one of those lawn service trucks. His answer would most likely be: “leave the weeds in with the good growth, and eventually, all the weeds will be gone.”
That’s the inescapable conclusion of the Parable of the Tares, as today’s text has come to be known…. “Leave the weeds alone,” Jesus seems to be telling us, “In the end, it’ll be just fine.”
But such advice runs entirely contrary to our life’s experience, doesn’t it? After all, we know that, if we leave the weeds in the field, eventually they will take over the field.
Jesus’ response would clearly be, “No.”
So, today, we are faced with a parable which grapples with a mystery. (Last week’s text, Matthew 13: 1 - 9, 18 – 23, the Parable of the Sower, also dealt with a mystery. It answers the question, “Why do some people accept the Good News of Jesus Christ, and why do some reject it?”) Today’s parable wrestles with the question, “Why do good and evil exist, side-by-side?”
After all, don’t we know that, if left in contact with one another, evil will eventually overcome the good?
Again, Jesus’ answer – seen in the parable today – would be, “No.”
So, let’s look a little more closely at this enigmatic teaching, presented to us modern-day Christians by the Lord Jesus, who is present with us,[1] even until the end of the age,[2] that time when the weeds will be pulled from the field, leaving only the good seed and its fruit.
And, as we do so, let’s recall that – like last Sunday’s reading – today’s parable also contains a detailed explanation of its meaning and the scope of its applicability. Much of the guesswork has been removed by Our Lord’s detailed analysis of its application and meaning.
As we begin, we ought to notice a fine point in Jesus’ teaching….It has to do with the word for “weeds”. The word Jesus uses is (in Greek) zizania. This is a specific word which refers to a species of weed known as “darnel”. Darnel is a grassy plant which has an appearance like wheat in its early stages, making it difficult to distinguish from wheat. It is only later on it the cycle of its growth – when it produces spikes at the end of the shaft - that it can be easily spotted for what it actually is.[3]
No wonder Jesus forbids the pulling of the weeds. Early on, it would be difficult to distinguish the good plants from the bad. The harvest would be lessened – or even ruined – by pulling up the weeds, for the risk is that the good plants would also be removed.
Notice, though, that the servants are keenly aware of the existence of the invading plants. For they come to the sower and ask if they should root out the unwanted plants. They’ve noticed the tares for what they are: weeds!
Apparently, the servants’ ability to judge the good from the bad is imperfect, however, for they are told to leave the weeds in the field until the harvest.
At this point, we ought to turn our attention to the meaning of Jesus’ teaching, first in its original context, then in the context of the situation that confronted Matthew and the churches to whom he was writing, and then, finally, to our situation today.[4]
We begin with the situation Jesus was addressing….Remembering that His calculated use of a specific word to describe a plant that looks like wheat in its early stages, we have to conclude that He is telling this parable as a warning to His followers about the presence of a group that appears – at the early stages of Jesus’ teaching and ministry at least – like the “real” and “good” thing. That group, we know from the overall Matthean context, would be the Scribes and the Pharisees, who were Jesus’ principle adversaries.
Surely, the Scribes and the Pharisees would fit the bill for being darnel, for they taught and rigorously followed the Law of Moses, the Torah. Their intentions, from all outward appearances anyway, seemed upright and good. But remember the fruit of their religion: it was self-serving, and it turned out to be the betrayal and murder of Jesus. When all things had come to their maturity, it was the Scribes and the Pharisees who played major roles in Jesus’ death.
So, it seems possible that Jesus is aiming the teaching we hear today squarely at the religious elite of His day.
Now, as we turn our attention to the situation Matthew’s church (or churches) were facing,[5] we can see that not much had changed. Oh yes, the Temple, along with its priestly caste, the Sadducees, were gone, having been destroyed during the Jewish – Roman War in 70 AD, but the Scribes and the Pharisees survived. And Matthew seems to be locked in theological battle with these leaders of the Judaism of his day.
From the perspective that Matthew and his audience hold, the Jewish establishment looked a whole lot like darnel. For their outward actions and piety had a lot in common with the teachings of Moses and the prophets that Matthew’s group also held in high esteem, but there must surely be a day coming, Matthew probably believed, when the true fruit of their attitudes and actions would be revealed for the weeds that they really were.
And what of our situation today? The Scribes and the Pharisees are long gone. We are no longer locked in theological battle with the Judaism of the 21st century (thank God!).
But the problem of good and bad remains….And the problem of this side-by-side existence can be found in the world itself, and in the Church.
For oftentimes, good and bad are words that characterize the actions of the Church, its leaders, and even its people. Sadly, in our Christian history, there are chapters which chronicle misdeeds of persecution and intolerance, actions which may have had seemingly good motivations at the time, but which have been fully revealed in the fullness of time for the evil that they really were.
Today as well, the Church, its people and its leadership often act in ways that are contrary to the Gospel, even as these actions might be cloaked in the very best religious verbage. People act in ways that turn out to be selfish or self-serving, in ways that do not reflect the teaching of Jesus Christ.
Clearly, we can conclude from the presence of evil within the body of Christ, that is, the Church, that the Church is not the Kingdom of Heaven. No, the Church’s mission is to assist in bringing the kingdom into being, though it, itself, is not the kingdom.[6]
But Matthew’s theology contains a very comforting focus. Throughout his Gospel account, he records Jesus’ teachings that confirm that:
- In the final analysis, when the purposes of God are fulfilled for the world and for the Church, all will be revealed. God and the forces of good will prevail, in the end.
- God will, in His own good time, separate out the bad from the good.
One final note before we close: today’s parable is not a prescription which allows the Church to be complacent or tolerant of evil in its midst. Matthew’s gospel account addresses the need for Church discipline in chapter 18 (verses 15 – 20).
On the contrary, Matthew’s purpose in writing to his original audience, and to us, is to call us to radical discipleship, so that we may be able to distinguish good from evil, and to know that, in God’s good time and purpose, good will prevail over evil. God will, at the close of the age, purify all things in order to bring the kingdom into the fullness of its being.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
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[1] Matthew 18: 20 “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
[2] Matthew 28: 20 “And lo, I am with you always, even to the close of the age.”
[3] Notice also – in the Greek - that Jesus’ description of the good seed progresses from “seed” (verse 24), which is connected early on to “wheat” (verse 25), to “grass” (verse 26) to “wheat”. Jesus’ outline of the story follows the growth cycle of the wheat, which is sown as seed but is already wheat, to its early appearance as grass, to its full blown maturity as wheat which is suitable for harvest.
[4] In dealing with any Scriptural text, it’s excellent practice to follow this threefold approach, considering: 1. the original context/situation, 2. the situation the writer faced, and 3. our situation today.
[5] Recall that many biblical scholars today believe that Matthew was writing late in the first century (perhaps 85 – 90 AD) to a group of believers in a church or churches in what we would now know as the country of Syria. These believers were, most likely, Jews and Gentile converts both.
[6] I am indebted to M. Eugene Boring’s analysis in this regard, as it is contained in his commentary on Matthew, found in The New Interpreter’s Bible (Nashville: Abingdon, 1995), p. 302.
