July 20, 2008 Bothwell & Clachan

Sermon Series: Matthew’s Memories of Jesus

Message: Story 2 – “To Weed or NOT to Weed”

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

INTRODUCTION

- Parables are “Twisted Tales”

Most of Jesus’ stories are “simple” one or two point parables designed to get across a main central truth or theme. However they are not so simple to create and tell when we are trying to do it. The central point of these stories may also be counter to what one would expect, that is, it’s a Story with a twist in its “tale.”

Michael Green says: Parables are not meant to pat us on the back, but to give us a kick in the pants. They are not intended to comfort us, but to challenge us and change us. Parables speak out against the status quo. . .Parables are demonstrators waving signs of protest, speaking out against our ways of thinking, our traditional ways of experiencing and obeying God and our spiritual institutions.

Jesus’ stories like “The Parable of the Forgiving Father” or “The Parable of the Crooked Manager” fit this description.

BUT WHAT IS AN ALLEGORY?

But this mornings Bible reading from Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 is an advanced form of a parable, the kind we call an allegory. Allegories have a whole extra level built in. The objects, events or characters in these stories may actually stand for symbols of something else entirely. Jesus was using an allegory when he said, things like “I Am the Good Shepherd” or “I Am the Door.”1 And although we know Jesus wasn’t an actual door, we can still understand that he is “The Way” to God.

You have probably heard of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” one of the stories in The Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis. A story like that is told on more than one level. At its most basic it is an exciting story of a battle between good and evil, between Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy, who with the help of a Lion and many brave forest creatures, go up against the White Witch and her many evil minions. But the story also has a deeper level. People of faith can see in it a Lion who has many qualities that remind them of Jesus; a Lion who goes through events similar to the Cross and Resurrection. English teachers call these types of stories “metaphors” and there are many of them scattered throughout the Bible.

Here in Matthew Chapter 13 Jesus overlays layer after layer about the Kingdom of God into his stories. Last week w read of the Seed and how it produced differing results depending on the quality of dirt in which it was planted. It was perfectly good seed, yet sometimes it landed in weedy or rocky gardens and couldn’t really grow. In a similar manner some of Jesus follows became really great disciples and accomplished a lot for him, but others didn’t seem to have any good results in their ministries. They just seemed to fade away.

This Week’s Story

This week we discover something else, another level or layer of depth to the story. Now Jesus is trying to answer those who are very upset that there is still evil in the world.2 After all if Jesus is here shouldn’t he be able to beat up all the bad stuff and chase it out of town, just like the brave sheriff in those old western movies? Instead, good and bad have become mixed up together in the world, both in individuals and in organizations or institutions.3 So in this week’s story it is not just the quality of the dirt, that is, our lives, that determine who will respond to Jesus’ teachings.

By adding on this extra layer, Jesus now says that there is also a bad character, Satan, similar to the Evil Witch in the Narnia story, who represents the Devil. This “bad guy” is going around sowing evil “weed” seeds. These evil forces which are at work behind the scenes are out to ruin the good crop of “Jesus-followers,” the people of faith that God wants to harvest. But rather than trying to tear all these bad people up out of the world, Jesus shocks the people by saying “Wait.” Later on in the future there will be a time of judging and all of this will be figured out, but not yet.

UPROOTING FLOWERS WITH WEEDS

The reason that Jesus is able to get his point across has to do with the comparison he uses. Jesus picks Weeds. (Well actually the point is that he doesn’t pick them.) And not just easy weeds like dandelions or Creeping Charlie. If he had picked flowers all of us would have been able to figure it out.

Marsha Guber writes: One sunny morning I dragged my teenage son Matt outside to help me pull weeds. He often snickers when he catches me talking to my plants, but I told him, "Be careful. The weeds are so thick here you could easily uproot a flower. If you do, stick it back in the ground and tell it you're sorry."

My son sighed. "Mom," he said, "I just weed the plants. I don't counsel them."4

Bloomingcactus

The author of the blog “bloomingcactus” tells of his youthful experience with weeds. It can also help us to understand where Jesus is coming from. He writes: I learned more about weeds than I ever wanted to know as a boy in Iowa.  Walking through the soybean feels to cut out the weeds was my summer job from age 13.  A wise farmer once taught me that all weeds were not the same and could not be destroyed in the same way.  A cockle burr had shallow but widespread roots and had to be pulled out to get all the roots.  If you hacked it off at the ground level with a hoe it would be back in a week.  A milkweed had a very long tap root that could not be pulled out.  If you did try to pull it up, three separate sprouts would be back in a week.  Milkweeds had to be hacked off with a hoe and would “bleed” and die as the sap ran out.  If you didn’t handle the weeds right, hours of backbreaking work in the sun would be completely wasted.5 

But the weeds Jesus tells about are very sneaky weeds. They are guerilla-type disguised “secret agent” weeds. These are the kind of weeds that at first look like good old regular plants or flowers. That raises the question: So how can anyone tell who is the “weed” in our world today? That is Jesus’ point. You can’t. And that’s why Jesus says we had better not try to pick them yet, before their time.

It’s a little like Brenda’s perennial wild flower garden in the springtime. You can’t tell what is a flower until the petals come out.

Why Weeds?

So how could Jesus tell a story using secret agent weeds in disguises? It is because Jesus knew his weeds quite well. First, he picked a wheat field. Back in Jesus’ day there was a weed that looked just like wheat as it is growing up.  Even today, you can hardly tell the difference.  Today it is called “darnel” wheat or “bearded” darnel. It looks like wheat, it appears like wheat but it is not wheat.  It fools you.  It is similar to “wild oats” and “true oats.” They look alike but they are very different.6 Some of the older translations of the Bible used the word “Tares” to describe this special-agent type of wheat looking weed.

In our story last week we read of a farmer who was fighting birds, rocks, and thorns. This was not new to those who sat listening to Jesus. Since most of them either farmed or lived close to farms, the word picture of a farmer scattering seed was the perfect starting point to illustrate how the gospel goes into the world.7

As background to today’s story, Jesus’ audience would have been very familiar with warfare and feuds. They knew that it was possible to destroy a nation’s (or person’s) agricultural base. By doing this their military might would also be destroyed. The most basic staple of their diet was bread; therefore wheat was critical to their survival.8 They knew all about these poisonous weeds or Tares that could be used as weapons in a war of terror.

These weeds were especially dangerous because they took time to grow to a stage of being recognized as a threat.9 In the early stages of growth the tares so closely resembled wheat that it was not even possible to distinguish one from the other. By the time they were distinguishable, the roots of the wheat and tares were so entangled that it was not possible to weed out the tares without uprooting the wheat. That is why it was essential to let them both grow together until harvest time.10

Jesus admits that not everyone in the world follows his teaching. But it is not the fault of his teaching. After all, he uses good seed. And sometimes it is not even the fault of the hearers. Even those who appear to have good hearts can end up having weeds of evil planted within them. Our world is not a neutral place. Satan does try to snatch us back and to win followers away from God.

THREE THINGS THE STORY IS NOT SAYING

But do we also notice what this allegory-story does not try to solve?

First there are some who try to apply this story to the Church.11 They say that by not tearing up the weeds we are not to try to keep the Church as close to Jesus’ teachings as possible. Yet Jesus clearly says in his interpretation to the disciples that the field is “the world.” Jesus is NOT talking about the Church. We are able to find many other scriptures in the Bible that tell us to keep the Church close to Jesus and to God’s teachings in the Bible.

Secondly, it also does not try to solve the problem of evil in the world. It just says that it’s not God’s fault. “An enemy did this.” The enemy had come by night and, undetected, had done his dirty work. But we should still stand up for good in our world. There are other verses in the Bible telling us to love our neighbours as we would like to be loved. So of course we know that we should stand up for what is right. None of us who have power to do good or to prevent evil should remain silent.

Finally, this allegory-story also doesn’t try to describe the end of the world. It just says that it will happen. And even the details it gives are confusing: it says that the angels will come and do the weeding, getting rid of the evil ones, like separating “sheep” from “goats.” That is different from another verse in the New Testament that seems to say that the Christians will be taken out of the world before a judgment ever takes place. But we should not get so far into these little details that we miss the main point. The Bible says that this very solid looking world is not all there is. Someday it will come to an end and God will make all things right. The question that Jesus was really asking us is “Are we ready for that day?” The Bible says that if we love Jesus, that day should not be scary nor should it catch us by surprise, but, be very sure of this, it will still come about.

CONCLUSIONS

So why do we have this story?

One of Jesus’ reasons for telling this allegory is to encourage us to “choose wisely” and continue to be his “good wheat.” Therefore I hope that we as Christians do not try to use this story from Jesus to get us off the hook by saying, "The devil made me do it." It is beyond our understanding why (even) good people do stupid things or allow themselves to get trapped in “weedy” self-destructive patterns of behavior. (Sometimes) The choices we make may reflect how we feel about ourselves. But often it is a self-defeating exercise to try to answer the “Why” questions. And although we may not be able to distinguish who is or is not a “weed,” we ourselves, still have the responsibility to be good plants. We always have a choice. (But know this) There is One who tells us that our lives are special, that the choices we make do matter, and that there is always hope.12

Next week we are going to conclude theses stories about the Kingdom of God in Matthew 13 as told by Jesus when we look at some of the choices we can make and the attitudes we should have when the good news of Jesus message is presented.

1 W. T. Purkiser, “Allegory” in Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, eds. Pfeiffer, Vos & Rea (Moody Press, Chicago, 1975) p. 46.

2 Growing Up Out in the Fields Sermon by Rev. Sarah Buteux for Sunday, July 21, 2002

Cambridge Swedenborg Chapel 50 Quincy Street,  Cambridge,  Massachusetts  02138  U.S.A; Brian Stoffregen Faith Lutheran Church, 1000 D St., Marysville, CA 95901e-mail: brian.stoffregen@gmail.com

3 Wesley White website, July 17, 2005.

4 Marsha Gubser, Salinas, California, "Lite Fare," Christian Reader (July/August 2000)

5 bloomingcactus Posted by bloomingcactus on November 21, 2005

6 Sermons From Seattle.com A quest for Better Preaching Edward F. Markquart , Grace Lutheran Church, Des Moines, Washington, Gospel Analysis: Weeds and Wheat. http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/

7 Publisher Paul Westervelt, Discipleship Journal, Issue 130 (July/August 2002) (NavPress, 2002; 2006).

8 Craig S. Keener and InterVarsity Press, The IVP Bible Background Commentary : New Testament

(Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Mt 13:25-30.

9 “Matthew in the Margins” MATTHEW 13 : 24-30 (31-33) 36-43 (Sunday between 17th & 23rd July...in 2005, July 17th...9th S.after Pentecost)

10 The Rev. Dr. Thomas Lane Butts "Problems Beyond Our Power to Fix" United Methodist Church Speaker, March 9, 1997

11 Hubert Beck, Retired Lutheran Pastor hbeck@austin.rr.com ; Eugene H. Winkler
"The Ohio Two-Car Collision Theory" Matthew 13:24-30 Program #3619; Jon Courson, Jon Courson's Application Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 96.

12 King Duncan, Right Choices, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com