Trusting God’s Timing

Quick recap from last week: earlier in Matthew 13, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower — The good sower who sows seeds all over the place. Some of those seeds take root and bear fruit. Some of those seeds are stifled or trampled. We talked about how it’s maybe not the seed’s fault — it’s the circumstances, the context, that makes the seeds struggle to grow.

My refrain was — “What if there aren’t bad seeds?” Right?

Matthew 13 is a fantastic chapter. It’s this pulling together of little nuggets of teaching, through parables, and further explanations of those parables to Jesus’ disciples.

Jesus actually takes time to explain the meaning of both last week’s story, the Parable of the Sower, and this week’s, The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat.

So, we don’t have to stretch too far to come to some understanding of what’s happening here.

Let’s hear our parable for today, the Weeds in the Wheat. Once again, this text feels incredibly fresh and applicable, if we get our hands a little dirty and connect with the seeds and the soil.

Mt 13:24–30 NRSV

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.’ ”

I think I need to amend a couple of things. First, I don’t like the title I gave this sermon. There is a sense that this parable is about timing, about rooting up the weeds a the right time so as to not disrupt the wheat. Sure. Makes sense. But I don’t think that’s the kernel of this story. I think the kernel is that…well, maybe there are bad seeds.

What if there ARE bad seeds?

We heard the story, the seeds are sown by the wicked with malicious intentions. Someone is in our garden and making a mess among our healthy plants. What to do?!?

How about we retitle this: “The Tale of the Bad Seeds.”

But that’s not even right.

Because, it’s not the seeds’ fault, once again. Except, this time, the seeds are bad because they’re growing in competition with other healthy plants. They’re in the way. They’re going to be difficult to sort out later. It’s annoying and potentially costly to your crop.

So, the instruction is to let them all grow, weeds and wheat. You don’t want to disturb the soil where the wheat is growing. It’s better to wait. Let the wheat do it’s thing — there is something here for us about how the healthy, good-rooted seeds, make it work because they are strong and hearty.

Then, when the harvest comes, harvest it all and separate. One pile goes to the mill. One pile goes to the heap. Repeat annually.

Something I’ve learned about soil and landscaping is that healthy, established plants, will take up the space they need and, with care over a few seasons, you might actually eliminate the weeds by just faithfully separating them time and again.

We have horsetails in our yard. Do you? Turns out horsetails are really hard to eradicate. They grow were the soil is disturbed or overly moist. Cracks, crevices, open spaces. But, if you faithfully pull them before they go to seed, you can slowly begin to get rid of them. If you cover the soil or mulch it or if you plant something or if you get better drainage in the area, the problem starts to go away.

What about these bad seeds? These weeds?

What if they don’t belong? What if we could actually call a weed a weed and work to root it out?

What does that mean if these are people or organizations or systems? Are there just bad people, out to do no good? The wicked sow the seeds.

Here’s something we know: a weed’s going to stay a weed until it is transformed, utterly changed, in the fire.

One pile to the mill. One pile to the heap.

Before we get to too many conclusions about what this means, let’s consider a different example. I know a number of us here at St. James have done good work in counseling and therapy, tending to our own internal garden and seeking healing and wholeness through this kind of care. I believe many of you are familiar with a therapeutic framework called Internal Family Systems theory, or IFS.

Neuroscientists understand that the self, the me that is me, actually can exist in infinite variations of self-states. We contain multitudes. What does this mean? Well, IFS uses this understanding to say, look, you’ve got all of these different parts inside of you that are doing different things, socially, reflectively, even subconsciously. In IFS, we talk about these different parts as holding different roles and “jobs” in us. We have protective parts, which are established self-states that help keep us safe or shield us from criticism. We have fighter parts, parts that are ready to get scrappy to protect us or the ones we love. There are manager parts, the part that might come out in you when you’re in charge of something or leading something at work.

The work of Internal Family Systems is to begin to understand what those parts are like and how to help them come into more wholeness and healing.

Let me give you an example from my own life. My own self.

I love words. I love to write and speak and sing words. And over time, I’ve developed quite a wide vocabulary. I like learning word meanings and more precise ways of speaking. This is why I love to preach, why I love to read, why I love to use my voice. I have always been this way.

But…I can also be a real smart mouth.

Because I love words, I’ve learned that if I use my quick wit, I can use words as a shield, as a response to feeling unsafe or afraid. I can get really biting with my words. This part in me knows that I can probably match vocab and war with words alongside the best of them.

I got in trouble for calling people names when I was a kid. I could, and still can be, cynical and sharp tongued. There’s a meanness that sometimes can show up.

Why disclose this? Well, this is a part in my inner world that has the potential to be one of God’s greatest blessings in my life — the ability to speak in public, with confidence, and articulate big ideas in clear ways. AND, this great blessing, also has become malformed or maladaptive over time. What can be used for good can also be used to protect and keep me safe.

The work of IFS is to acknowledge those parts in us and then, do the work to separate our pain and fear and give that part something better to do. Dear little Seth. Your smart mouth serves you well by giving you quick words and sharp statements. It’s what you used to stick up to the bully in high school. It’s how you learned to differentiate from your parents (sorry mom and dad). And now, it’s time to set that pain aside and repurpose this gift. Let it be transformed, remade.

Learn to speak with boldness and precision. Use your voice to bless the world. Release the fear, the strangled throat of anger.

You see, when we begin to heal, we can’t just uproot this part in us and throw it away. Note: I actually don’t think that’s what’s happening in the story with the weeds, either. No, that part needs to be tended to and transformed. Made whole. Used, not abandoned. It becomes a greater strength this way.

Our pain isn’t a problem, it’s how we learn to use that pain. So, in a real sense, the weeds aren’t truly a problem. Don’t uproot them and destroy the rest of the crop. Change them. Heal them.

Back to weeds…weeds grow where they’re sown, by birds or evil neighbors. They’re in the garden, no arguing about it.

What if the weeds aren’t bad, but they’re just not in the right place. They’re not being used for what they could be. They need to be changed.

I think about the richness of the forest floor, where weeds mingle into rich soil that can tolerate and actually absorb the majority of the weeds over time. Pine needs and duff swallow up and remake the weeds and anything else that falls on the ground.

A couple of other thoughts and then we’ll draw this together.

What about invasive species? I have loved watching Bellingham Public Works crews carefully pulling out blackberry and ivy growth in our city’s green spaces. The seeds aren’t bad…but that is not where the can or should grow. So we remove it.

To put a really fine point on it, what if those seeds just are not supposed to be there? “Hey, that’s not what we’re growing here, that doesn’t belong.”

When we take the parable into our own communities and life together, we begin to ask: “What if that just doesn’t belong here? Nope, we’re not doing that here.” Cut it out.

Oh but we want to be so welcoming and have a wide open table. All are welcome.

Yeah, but what about destructive behaviors? What about back-biting and malice? What about abusers, grifters, liars?

No, we’re not doing that here. And, actually, you’re either going to need to change your behavior or leave. Whew — do we have the guts to confront that in each other?

Working in churches for over 20 years, I have known some wonderful people. And I’ve met some really hurting people. Some of those hurting people, because of what’s happened in their own lives, use places like the church to assert power, groom victims, and subvert the healing work in themselves and others because of this maladapted part in them.

What if we need to be a little harsher in our interpretation of this parable?

Let’s talk about the fire, the heap.

I wanted to find a way to make this softer, like, oh, no, it’s not really burning, it’s just slowly decomposing in a hot compost pile.

Nah, we need the fire. Because some of these little seeds, they’re not going to heal or change without an intense change process. Sometimes, we need to take it down to ash so that life can spring up again.

Think again to invasive species: Nope, we’re not doing that here.

Here, we draw together the threads.

What if these bad seeds need to be changed?

What if the heap is a real process of burning and renewal?

As Christians, we believe that Christ will ultimately come, with his angels, to divide and burn out all these broken, hurting, parts. And this is a fire of remaking goodness. What if the fire isn’t bad, but necessary? What if evil needs purging, and it hurts?

To put it plainly, I operate from a theological orientation that says God made humanity with original goodness. The first words in God’s creation refrain are that it is good, very good. Amen.

AND, with this original goodness, there is hurt and pain and trauma and heartbreak. We develop parts in ourselves to protect. A weed grows up in the barren soil of a painful relationship or instance of abuse. Not because anyone wants it there…but because evil exists.

I believe that each of us has a self that is blessed and called good by God. All of us. Top to the bottom, everybody, everywhere.

AND, I believe that we get warped, twisted, curved in upon ourselves, by the forces of sin and evil.

So…

Why not be utterly changed in the fire?

What if we stopped seeing this as some metaphor for eternal damnation and burning in a pit? What if, instead, we accepted the reality that there are impurities, hurts, pains, in us that we need refined, purified?

See, that’s what I think is really happening in this story. The Good Sower is talking about the important work of purification, or as we more often speak of it, as sanctification. That our Savior, by his death upon the cross and resurrection from the grave, the Christ has justified us before God because he is the pure, good, Messiah. His death seals our salvation, for we are justified through his work on the cross. This is what we do as Christians — we seek the wholeness that we can only find in the Risen Christ! Hallelujah, it is in Christ that my hope and salvation are rooted.

Hear how Jesus explains the parable:

Matthew 13:40–43 “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!”

Why wouldn’t we weep when we are being purified? The Son of Man will send his angels, his servants/messangers and they’ll root out all the evil stuff and things that cause sin. Wow, doesn’t that sound amazing!???? Freedom from what ails us?

Take a moment — reflect inwardly. Isn’t there a part or parts in you that you long to see healed, transformed? I know a lot of you — we all have our pains, our stuff. Do we simply accept that things are just never going to change? Or do we believe in resurrection, in healing, in hope?

I know I’ve got some parts that need some fire and remaking. I love these parts of myself, because they’ve kept me safe and strengthened me. But there comes a time to set that down, to be changed, to be made whole. I want that for me and I want that for you.

One of the hard things I’m witnessing in my wife’s cancer treatment is the frustrating tension about how to heal without further hurting her body. Like, the cancer is all over parts of her skeleton — but we can’t take and burn up here skeleton in the fire. The chemo does it’s job, but she needs her bones still. There’s a tension in this, a bind. The hope is that treatment does what it can to keep her strong AND keep the cancer at bay. But that’s also the sad reality of this kind of illness — because it’s attacking her body, it’s really difficult to root it out without hurting her body in the process.

The purification process can hurt. Sometimes we chose to avoid it because it hurts. We don’t want to go there.

I hear the words from Jesus’ explanation and it give me hope.

Matthew 13:41–43 NRSV

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!

Hope? How?

When you’re being healed, you weep and scream and gnash your teeth. The angels of God collect the causes of sin and all evildoers. That’s pretty specific and…dare I say, good? Not because God is obliterating the good souls. No, because God is purifying all our souls. Then, when the purification has completed, the goodness of God shines out like the sun. No more sin, no more pain, no more suffering. Glory.

How do we get pure?

We call upon the Sower to help us. We look to others for support, therapy, restoration. We seek to reconcile and make peace, both with others and within ourselves. We learn to be forgiven, to know God’s grace and love.

Why not be utterly changed in the fire? Perhaps this is God’s perfect timing — that our healing comes through the work of dying, burning, and being renewed.

The ash of those weeds will renew the soil. They will be utterly changed to restore and strengthen their environment. Not ivy or blackberries, horsetail or dandelions. But carbon and nitrogen and the basic elements for new life to grow in. Not the old seeds, but new, righteous, healthy seeds, ready to bear fruit.

Amen.