Isaiah 44: 6–8 / Psalm 86: 11–17 / Romans 8: 12–25 / Matthew 13: 24–30, 36–43
This is the written version of the
homily give at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA) in McKnightstown,
Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 19, 2026 by Fr. Gene Tucker, Interim Pastor
“IT’S NOT A PERFECT WORLD”
(Homily text: Matthew 13: 24–30, 36-43)
Recently,
I was driving down a two-lane road with a double yellow line in the middle. A
vehicle was tailgating me, almost to the point of making contact. (Apparently
driving at the speed limit wasn’t good enough for them.) Then, suddenly, the
vehicle pulls into the opposing lane, passing me in a No Passing Zone, and
reaching a speed fifteen to twenty miles an hour above the speed limit. For
good measure, as the passer speeds by, an arm appears out of the window…you can
guess what happens next. As the vehicle passes by. my passenger in the right
front seat, points energetically at the lawless driver and exclaims, “Smite the
evildoer!”.
Indeed.
“Smite all evildoers” who venture out onto the roads.
Wouldn’t
it be a wonderful world if everyone obeyed the rules of the road? Wouldn’t it
be a wonderful world if everyone drove courteously? Wouldn’t it be a wonderful
world if there was no such thing as an aggressive driver?
Indeed it would be. Banish all those workers of roadway mischief, I say.
Wouldn’t
be a wonderful world if everyone was attuned to the things of God? Wouldn’t it
be a wonderful world if everyone sought out the mind of God? Wouldn’t it be a
wonderful world if all causes of evil were banished?
Indeed,
it would be a wonderful world. In fact, that is a vision of heaven: Eden
restored.
Those
who have sought the mind of God, down through time, have dreamed of such a
world and such a state of relating to God.
The
reality of what confronts us, day in and day out, is something else altogether:
We live in a world where human beings, many of them, do not seek the things of
God. We live in a world where people do bad things to one another, who seek to
advance their welfare at the expense of others, like the speeding vehicle in
that No Passing Zone.
Down
through time, in the Old Testament period, as well as in the New Testament
period, the response of many seekers after God has been to lament this state of
affairs. Read the Psalms, and before long, those Psalms which ask God to punish
evildoers will come across our vision.
God’s
people, at certain times, have opted to withdraw from the wickedness of the
unbelieving world in which we live.
Consider,
for example, the beginnings of the monastic movement in the fourth century, as
the Church ceased to be a hidden reality in society, only to become the
official religion of the Roman Empire. As it did so, many who came into the
Church continued to behave just as they had before they came into the Church.
In response, some Christians were prompted to withdraw from society into
cloistered communities of prayer, in order to preserve the soul of the Church.
In our
own country, many attempts at creating a perfect, Christian world were
attempted. Not far from us were the Ephrata Cloisters, for example. We also had
the Shakers, and many other utopian, Christian communities.
Our
Lord’s teaching, heard in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares this morning,
directs us in a different direction.[1]
Jesus
tells us that we, as Christian believers, are to be present and active in a
corrupt world that is in rebellion against God. We are not to be plucked up and
removed from such a world and such a place.
To be
truthful, perhaps many of us aren’t comfortable with such an idea, of the good
in the world existing right alongside the bad.
But
Jesus tells us that our presence, as God’s people in the world, brings value to
that world. We are in the world to make a difference.
Which
brings us to the work before the Church.
To the
Church has been given the truths of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Church has value,
to God and to the world around us, only to the extent that it maintains and
adheres to those truths. Otherwise, it could begin to resemble the weeds in the
field.
In our
own time, this is, perhaps, the most critical issue before God’s people, the
Church.
The
question before us is: To what extent should the Church be influenced by the
beliefs and practices of the secular society in which it finds itself? After
all, the Church in various times and in various societal settings, has
accommodated some aspects of the society in which it was situated. This is an
old pattern, discernable down through time.
Perhaps
the operating principle for the Church might be this one: The Church’s purpose
is to introduce God to people, and to introduce people to God, and to nurture
that relationship. Therefore, anything which dilutes the effectiveness of that
central purpose must not be allowed to compromise the Church’s witness to the
world.
Our
purpose, as God’s people, is to show by what we do and by what we say what a
godly life looks like. When we do this, then we bring value to the world,
inviting others we come into contact with into such a relationship with the
Lord.
Now,
finally, for all those who long for God’s will and God’s way to prevail over
all causes of evil and all ways that are in rebellion against God, Jesus
assures us that the time will come when God will have the last, final and
victorious word. In the meantime, we Christian believers are to labor in the
world to prepare God’s way to that final, perfect state.
Thanks
be to God.
AMEN.
[1] It’s worth noting that the Lord provides an explicit explanation of the meaning and application of the parable, as was the case with last week’s parable, the Parable of the Sower. Perhaps the Lord wanted His disciples to understand the importance of this teaching clearly.
