there's what's right & there's what's right
& never the twain shall meet
Jesus tells a parable comparing the Kingdom of Heaven to someone seeding their field with wheat. Only to have some scoundrel sneak in one night and plants weeds amidst the wheat field…
No one notices right away, of course; but once the green blade rises, it becomes apparent there’s more in the field than just wheat. “Where, then, did these weeds come from,” the servants ask.
You ever felt that way?
When you try to do the right thing, only to end up with a mess on your hands. When you all you have to show for your efforts, is a field full of weeds.
I know I have…
We all have. It’s a common occurrence.
So common Saint Paul talks about it himself in one of the best chapters in the Bible, Romans 7; “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
Jesus’ parable, full of ordinary things, is about this all too ordinary aspect of our lives; the way we keep doing the things we hate and never get around to doing the good we ought.
It is this plight of existence Jesus addresses in this masterful parable today…
But, like good art, this parable doesn’t over explain itself. It just depicts the way life really runs. It rings true. Resonates.
…For instance, notice the way the enemy is depicted.
All Jesus says about him is, he comes under the cover of darkness, sows some weeds into the sodded field, and then leaves. That’s it!
No details as to whence the enemy came or where he goes. No clues as to who he is. Or even why he does it!
He’s sort of like the villains in some of my favorite Coen Brothers movies. “No Country for Old Men.” Or, one of their best, “Raising Arizona.”
Have you seen it? If you haven’t, rent it and watch it. It’s great!
The IMDB synopsis describes the movie; “When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family’s quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated.”
Yeah, it’s pretty out there! It’s a blast and a half, though. And funny to boot!
The scene where the villain is introduced comes after the couple have stolen the child. That night, the ex-con husband, played perfectly by Nicolas Cage, has this dream. A dream of “the lone biker of the apocalypse.” A surly looking fellow, riding his Harley across a desolate landscape. “Leaving a scorched earth in his wake.”
As the dream ends, the husband says in a voice-over, “I didn’t know where he came from or why, I didn’t know if he was a dream or vision…”
Which is sort of how the enemy is portrayed in the parable. Isn’t it? As an embodied force. A power. And one that defies easy explanation.
Which is kind of how it goes in life, too. Isn’t it?
Those times when we do the wrong thing, even though we know we shouldn’t! When we don’t do the right thing, even though we know we should! It’s as if our will has been captured by a stronger, malevolent force. “I do not understand the things I do.”
Jesus’ parable, true to life, describes the enemy that way, too. He comes in at night, plants weeds, and then just leaves!
True as this description rings, though; we want more info. Don’t we? Where’d he come from? Why’d he do it? How can we stop him?
And in that way, we’re a lot like the servants in the parable. “Where, then, did these weeds come from,” the servants ask. “Do you want us to go and gather the weeds then,” they ask when they learn an enemy sowed the weeds.
But it’s not just the fictitious servants in the parable who are fascinated with the enemy. So are the disciples…
Jesus says his parable is about the kingdom of heaven. But, when the disciples press him on the interpretation, they call it the parable of the weeds!
Did you catch that? The disciples, like the servants, like us; think the issue is the weeds!
This parable isn’t about the enemy. It’s about the ways we get so fixated on our problems, we fail to see anything else!
Sound familiar? Hit close to home? I know it does for me. This is a hard sermon for me to preach, because it’s the thing that trips me up every time!
Which is what the enemy wants!
The enemy plants the weeds, and then just leaves!
…His plan, as far as can be inferred, is the get the servants so caught up in trying to fix the problem, that they uproot the Master’s wheat themselves!
It’s sneaky, isn’t it?
This parable compares the Kingdom of Heaven to someone who plants wheat in a field. And yes, an enemy comes and plant weeds in the field. But the thing is, the enemy can’t do a rotten thing about the good wheat the Master has sown! All the enemy can do is try and dupe the servants into doing the dirty work for him!
The weeds are bait, you see!
And not just in the parable, either. But in the rest of life, too…
So the Master says leave the weeds. Bear with them. At a later date they will be dealt with. But until then, they’re to be left alone.
Which is hard, isn’t it?
As Amanda was saying when we were talking about this parable, the thing that’s really hard for us to do, is nothing.
That’s, finally, the real hard part of faith—as I can discern; to get out of the way. To get out of God’s way. To stop trying to take matters into our own hands, and let God be God for once!
Because here’s the thing you might have missed if you’re anything like me, or the servants, or the disciples; ultimately all Jesus’ parable does is make promises.
Promises that the enemy can’t stop the wheat the Master has sown! Promises that the weeds will be taken care of!
And these promises are as true for you and your life, as they are for the field!
The thing about these promises, though, is that they don’t come by your efforts! They come by way of the sower and the vitality of his seedlings!
What the enemy wants is for you to overestimate his power. Become fixated on the weeds he’s sown!
But what the preacher of this parable offers you is the assurance that the seed he’s sown will bear fruit, fruit the enemy and his weeds cannot uproot!
…Raising Arizona has a brilliant ending; the ex-cop wife, knows they’ve making a mess of everything, that they need to give the child back.
After they do, the husband has another dream. He dreams of things to come, watching that child from afar. Loving him at a distance.
But then the dream goes further into the future; he says, “But I saw an old couple being visited by their children, and all their grandchildren too. The old couple weren’t screwed up. And neither were their kids or their grandkids. And I don’t know. You tell me. This whole dream, was it wishful thinking? Was I just fleeing reality like I know I’m liable to do? But me and Ed, we can be good too. And it seemed real. It seemed like us and it seemed like, well, our home. If not Arizona, then a land not too far away. Where all parents are strong and wise and capable and all children are happy and beloved… I don’t know. Maybe it was Utah.”
That’s a funny last line; but like Jesus’ parables, it gets at the workings of a world where God’s wheat has been sown and cannot be stopped.
Because the twist in Raising Arizona is how the thing that really gets in the way of the couple and their future, is themselves! They, like us, become so fixated on the problem they fooled themselves into believing they have to take matters into their own hands. Which only makes matters worse for themselves and everyone around them.
Know how that goes? I know I do…
The truth is, we’re all a mixed bag. Aren’t we? A mix of wheat and weeds. Good and bad. That fact can keep us awake at night. Tempt us to try our hand at uprooting the weeds ourselves.
But that’s bait the enemy dangles in front of us.
Because, as hard as it is be to believe, the Master’s wheat can endure the presence of the enemy’s weeds and bear fruit still!
Beloved, God has begun a good work, and he will bring it to completion! I know with all the weeds in our lives and the world, it can be hard to trust. But, if Jesus is to be believed, and he is; then just you wait and see.
For now it is a matter of trust. Of waiting. Yes, the weeds are distracting. We worry about them, whether they’ll choke out the wheat. But Jesus promises the fruit God plants is quite capable of raising!
For now we’re to suffer the bad with the good. The weeds with the wheat. Because in the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven, the weeds will be taken care of and the seed will bear fruit.
Which is probably why the way Jesus taught us to work for his kingdom by praying for it, “Thy kingdom come.”
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