Wheat and weeds growing together.

Listen to the sermon. 

In our first lesson today, Jacob is on the way from Beer-Sheba to Haran to find a wife.  In the midst of this journey, he lays down to sleep and has a dream.  In this dream the Lord renews His Covenant with Jacob.  The promise had been given to his grandfather, Abraham, and to his father, Isaac during their lifetimes, but here God renews that covenant with Jacob.

One of the things that we learn from this is that inclusion in God’s kingdom is not automatic.  Just because your parents or grandparents were faithful believers doesn’t mean you get an automatic pass into heaven.  Each person has to affirm or renew his or her own covenant with God.

And if you believe in him, look at what God promises, “I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land…”  That is God’s promise – we never have to be alone… he will be with us – regardless of where we go – or what we do.  

Our second lesson tells us “The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God…”  We are revealed as we accept the covenant of God’s promise in our own lives.

So we come to the gospel and find a parable – not unlike last week’s parable.  Like last week this parable is about the planting of seeds.  And once again Jesus has to explain the parable to his disciples.  As much as some people want to tell us that these are stories that the normal person could understand, that’s just not true.  If it were, Jesus wouldn’t have to keep explaining the parables.  Parables are about the Kingdom of Heaven and how it differs from the world around us.  Jesus has to explain the parables was because they didn’t make sense from the world view.  If you’ve ever raised a garden of vegetables, you know that one of the things you do is to get out there and weed – get rid of the crab grass and other undesirables that choke out the growing seeds.  And that’s exactly what the servants thought also – get out and pull those weeds – but the master says “no.”  And the wheat and tares grow up together.  So what does this mean?   The parable actually operates at three different levels.

First, we look at the wheat and the tares in the world around us and say, “Oh, I understand – this describes the world as it really is today -- there is really some bad stuff going on out there in the world today – but God’s going to allow it to exist and cleanse it at the end.”  Now I know that there are times when we want to say – “to heck with freewill – God take care of those crazy people – make them do right…”  But God is so much more gracious and loving and patient than we are.  We are all allowed to grow side by side and – unlike the rotten apple in the barrel, -- the good can influence the not so good and there is hope for all people.  We are all given every opportunity to come to God.

Second, we find this might even come closer to home.  Let’s narrow our world view and look around the church today.  There are those people who act honorably in serving God and in trying to be productive Christians.  Then there are those who you wonder why they are there – and some people want to judge them…

But who is it, do you suppose, who desperately needs to hear the Word of God – is it those who have a firm belief and are committed to Jesus – or is  it those who are searching for meaning in their life;  those who are lost and looking for a way out of their pain, or their grief, or their confusion.  In Matthew 9, Jesus tells us, “But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  The church is not a hotel (or club) for saints – we are not all perfect.  

The church is intended as a hospital or rehab for sinners.  Jesus does not turn people away regardless of who they are or what they are doing with their life.  He allows them to grow side by side without judgment.  Judgment belongs to him alone, and that doesn’t come until the end of the age – until death.  We don’t know enough, and we can’t see into the heart of anyone other than ourselves in order to pass judgment.

The problem is that when we are divided against each other, we always see ourselves as the wheat and the others as the tares.  Whether its Jews or Christians against Muslims, or the Catholics against the Protestants, or the conservatives against the liberals in today’s church.  We always see ourselves as the wheat.  But Jesus does NOT tell us to go root out the evil among us – he says let them grow together – let the tares grow along side of the wheat -- and at the end of the age, the angels will sort it out.  That’s not our job.

Actually, we do each have to stand before our God at the end and account for ourselves – our actions as well as our beliefs.  And this is the third way we can look at this parable.   We come even closer to home when we consider this lesson – and look at what is inside each of us.  

Whether you want to admit it or not, there is both good and evil inside each of us.  Not everything we do comes from God.  Many of us react poorly in certain circumstances – or sometimes we can’t get past various hurts – or preconceived notions – to be as gracious as we should be at all times.  And even within us, God allows the good and the bad to grow together – not willing to condemn our whole person because of a few flaws – and that (people of God) is grace – amazing grace – that we are allowed to grow and mature in God’s love and in our interaction with the world around us.  We are allowed to come to our own understanding of who God is and what that means to each of us.  We are allowed to grow and change – we are given every opportunity – we are not judged until we have completed this life.

There is a children’s song that talks about this:  

“God’s still workin’ on me,  To make me what I oughta be.  

It took him just a week to make the moon and stars, 

The sun and the earth and Jupiter and Mars

How loving and patient he must be,  

‘cause he’s still workin’ on me.

It may be a children’s song, but it’s true of all of us at any and every point in our lives.  God is still working on us.  And he allows each and every one of us to grow and his promise is that he will be with us – through thick and thin – through good and bad – uphill and down -- he will not withhold his presence from us.  Even when we are not walking with God, he is still walking with us – for better or worse – for richer or poorer – in sickness and in health – God will never leave us.