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A Sermon Delivered at First Christian
Church Stockton Isaiah 44:6-8, Romans 8:12-25, Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43 He
put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be
compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody
was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went
away. So when the plants came
up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the
householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in
your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An
enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go
and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you
would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together
until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect
the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the
wheat into my barn.'" Then
he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached
him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the
field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son
of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the
kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who
sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the
reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with
fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his
angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all
evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like
the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! As
usual, our friend Jesus has gotten himself into some trouble with the
religious authorities. They
do not like the people Jesus is associating with, and the followers of
Jesus disregard the law by plucking grain on the Sabbath.
Jesus himself makes a major mistake when he heals a man on the
Sabbath. The problem
with the critics of Jesus is that they major in the minors and minor in
the majors. They have
forgotten the important matters such as kindness, love, generosity, mercy,
and forgiveness, and they have focused on the trivial matters only
important to those who are blinded by their own moral condition. But
this is a major problem in the early church that the evangelist Matthew is
dealing with. What do we do
when sinners and saints are worshipping together in the same church.
Shouldn't we eradicate the problem ones so that they do not
overtake the righteous ones? Can't
we get rid of the weeds so that we are not contaminated by evildoers?
This is the question the church has been asking for 2000 years, and
we still don't want to listen to Jesus' answer.
As an old Arab proverb asks, "Why does the camel never see its
own hump, but its neighbor's hump is always before its eyes?" The
weed that Jesus is talking about in the parable is called a bearded
darnel, which in its early stages looks identical to the wheat.
As the plants mature, the roots of the weeds and wheat intertwine,
making them almost impossible to separate.
Separation, however, is necessary, because darnel is both bitter
and mildly toxic. If not
removed prior to milling, darnel ruins the flour.
In
Matthew's church their were serious ethical and moral concerns.
Throughout Matthew's gospel he sets forth high ethical standards
for the believers and is troubled by Christians who fail to live up to
them. The church is full of
saints and sinners. Matthew
and others would feel more comfortable being in a purer church. However,
Matthew is also aware that the ones who gave Jesus the greatest difficulty
in his ministry were not sinners, but the saints.
It wasn't sinners who conspired to kill him; it was the religious elite, the high and mighty, the holier
than others. The sinners were
his friends and comrades. This
is a serious problem requiring a well thought out solution.
We must not allow sin and sinners into the church.
One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, and some think we need to
examine all the apples and if any of them even slightly appears to be
rotten or infected, then we should toss it out. Where
shall we begin? Should we
start with those who do not give adequately of their time, talent, and
money to the church? How
about we get rid of the gossipers and complainers?
And God knows we have too many divorced people.
Weed them out. Next,
lets get rid of those who wear too much jewelry, and I know some of you
spend way to much time in front of the mirror.
I suspect some of you are adulterers, and we know that many of you
have cheated on your taxes. And
those of you who have neglected to feed the hungry, visit the jails and
prisons, and set aside space in your living rooms for the homeless, off
with your heads. And to the
gluttons and drunkards I have this to say; quit drinking so much and pass
the cheesecake. Will the last
one left please close the door and set the alarm.
But,
in this parable, Jesus calls us to patience and faith -- patience with
those who fail to meet the standard, and faith that God will deal with
them at the right time. Jesus
tells us to do nothing lest we destroy the good with the bad.
Unlike God, we cannot know the person's heart. Nor can we see where people's lives might take them -- their
potential for redemption. God
has not equipped us with the vision and insight necessary to weed the
garden. As wonderful as it
would be to have a "pure" church -- a church without sinners --
Jesus tells us that only in the harvest is such purity possible.
Attempts to achieve purity now will prove disastrous; we will
destroy the church. Just let
God be the one who figures it all out. In
the end, the church will be wonderful -- fully redeemed -- entirely
saintly -- but not just yet! God
is not through. It
is interesting to recall that the disciples to whom Jesus addresses this
parable include Judas, who will betray Jesus -- Peter, who will deny
him -- Thomas, who will doubt him -- and James and John, whose concerns
seem to have less to do with the kingdom than with their personal
ambitions. In the end, only
Judas is lost -- and I am convinced that, had he waited until after the
resurrection and asked Jesus to forgive him,
even he could have been redeemed. We
need to learn to be patient with one another, in all of our relationships.
Be patient with your imperfect partner, and quit trying to make
them into your image of who you want them to be.
They are already created in the image of God, just as you, so let
them be. Parents will do well
to be patient with imperfect children -- and children with imperfect
parents. Supervisors
will do well to be patient with imperfect employees -- and employees with
imperfect bosses. Pastor's
need to be patient with imperfect parishioners, and parishioners need to
be patient with imperfect pastors. As
they say in 12 step programs, we need to stop taking the inventory of
others and focus on our own walk. We
are sinners living among sinners. If
we demand too much, condemn too quickly, or break off relationships too
easily, we doom ourselves to a lifetime of revolving-door relationships --
or perpetual loneliness. We
who hope to receive grace must also be willing to give it. That
does not mean that we need to put up with abuse in any of our
relationships. God forbid you
hear that. Abuse should never
be tolerated. We
have no business deciding who is a weed and who is a wheat.
What God will do in the end is solely up to God.
Everyone one of us, saint and sinner alike, are still under
construction, a work in progress, a story still being written.
Finding fault with others is a nasty little game we need to quit
playing. Today's worst sinner
may be tomorrow's greatest saint if God has anything to do with it. Why
is it that we find it so easy to receive God's grace but so difficult to
extend God's grace to others? Anyway,
it is God's grace that is given, so let God give it to whom she wishes. Michael Malone
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