“Oh, Those Weeds!”

8th Sunday after Pentecost - July 23, 23

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

Pastor Deb - BRCC

I have a couple of fun stories for you this morning.

The first is about a prim and proper elderly lady who purchased a parrot as a companion from a pet store one day. She wanted a parrot that would jabber and talk as the silence made her feel lonely. The store keeper told her that a sailor had been the previous owner of this parrot and had taught him to speak. “He is known to have some pretty strong language,” he said. But the lady was sure she could rehabilitate the parrot no matter how bad his language.

Sure enough, just as they walked into the door of her home, the parrot began a barrage of filthy language that would have horrified anyone! The lady immediately removed the parrot from its cage and placed him in the freezer. After five minutes, she retrieved the shivering parrot saying, “Now, what do you have to say?” The parrot looked up at her and began another barrage of filthy language, so once again the lady put the parrot back in the freezer, this time for 10 minutes. When she returned, she again asked the parrot, “Now, what do you have to say? Are you going to curse anymore?”

Feathers shaking and beak rattling, the parrot angrily let loose again. So back into the freezer he went, this time for 15 minutes. The lady pulled out the parrot just before he was about to succumb to the cold, and again she asked him, “Now, what do you say? Are you going to use those bad curse words any more?”

Blue in color, feathers nearly frozen and an icicle hanging from his beak, the parrot finally capitulated saying, “Noooooooo Mammmm. I won’t say those words any more. But tell me please….what did that poor turkey in the freezer say to you?”

The REAL turkey in this story is the sailor who spoke all those filthy words in front of this poor bird in the first place, right? It shows us how some of the “ evil weeds” that get into our human soil and slip out as bad behavior are more CAUGHT, than TAUGHT. This lady’s way of dealing with the “WEEDS” in her parrot was to rip it out of him through punishment. But I wonder…did that parrot EVER become a companion to that lady in her loneliness?

Now here is a second story:

There was a farmer who qrew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn in the county. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir" said the farmer, "Didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.'

That’s quite a different approach to life, isn’t it? The moral of this story is that it’s not about controlling the good and bad found in human life, but in letting good outshine and restore the bad. Those who want to live with goodness must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

Our Gospel text from Matthew today is a continuation and explanation of Jesus’ parable of the SOWER. Jesus described the reality of human life, in bondage to sin’s power this way: A Sower…that is, someone who had life and potential to share with the world, went out to sow. And rather than finding or preparing perfect soil for his seeds, the sower scattered seed everywhere….generously and even recklessly we can assume. Some seed fell on rocky ground and was easily snatched away by hungry birds. Some seed fell on poor soil and was scorched by the sun before it could take root. Some seeds fell among thorns, and were choked out by their aggressiveness and power. And some seeds fell on good soil that allowed the seeds to sprout, grow, and produce grain. THIS, Jesus said…is like the Kingdom of God. The seed of God’s good news of gracious forgiveness and redeeming love…as precious as it is, is not held back from ANY soil. It is scattered everywhere, to any heart, any circumstance, as a free gift of potential and life. The sower takes the risk that very little of the potential of his seeds will find soil good enough to bring forth fruit.

Now, let’s imagine that we lived in Jesus’ time and heard him share this story. A Roman citizen and perhaps the religious leaders and Pharisees, who pride themselves in their goodness and wisdom, would surely grumble about the foolish waste upon the soil of questionable value. Soil like the Jews, and common peasants; their poor widows and cripples; those terrible lepers….and especially those rebellious zealots! But….how would those common, everyday Jews, and their poor, marginalized and hurting segments of society have heard this story? Aren’t they a bit like the good farmer’s neighbors, whose hopes are lifted and given joy by the sharing of seed that they always thought was beyond their means and their worthiness?

Now in today’s gospel reading, Jesus expands on this story of the SOWER. Now he focuses on the seed that fell on good soil and has taken root. It is growing and thriving with all kinds of potential. But NOW…that terrible SAILOR (whom Jesus here refers to as the enemy) comes with all those ugly words and weeds and the good soil “catches” this potential for evil. Weeds like lies, and pride, and fear of the other, threaten the health of the good crop. Like the lady with the parrot, the workers come to the owner of the field and ask if they should RIP out the weeds…punish the bad…dominate that which is threatening. But the master says NO….leave them alone and let them grow up together, lest you also hurt my precious new plants. I will separate and deal with them at the harvest. In other words….GOD is GOD…we are not. The field which is God’s Kingdom, is GOD’s to not only seed and care for; but to discipline and judge in God’s time and God’s way.

So, once again, imagine yourself in this crowd of listeners and Jesus says finally, “He who has ears to hear. LISTEN!” What would they hear? Would those with power to control and exclude others see themselves as good plants…or weeds? Would those whose hearts long to find rest, hope and renewed life in the shadow of God’s forgiveness see their enemy differently…more benevolently and patiently? Would the true listener HEAR that GOD is in control, and SO MUCH MORE GRACIOUS TO US THAN WE ARE TO EACH OTHER? Would the hearer realize that our focus is to RESPOND to GOD, rather than try to BE GOD over one another?

One can hardly hear this text within our contemporary culture and the world’s present circumstances without getting caught up in naming all those terrible weeds hurting the good potential in humanity. And…naming weeds is an important part of responsible stewardship of the life on earth that we have been given. For we are NOT called to live in denial. We need to name those destructive forces and behaviors that impact our climate and hurt God’s creation and creators. We need to name the weed of unchecked violence that makes guns an idol of worship. We need to speak out against pride and fear that marginalizes others…especially in the name of religious truth. The WEEDS that surround us are growing very large it seems. Wouldn’t we like for God to come and do a little weeding?

So why doesn’t God rip out that evil in our midst? Perhaps…perhaps, because that evil is intertwined so deeply within us that we do NOT have eyes to even see it anymore. All we have are EARS…EARS of Corn that must trust that the winds of the Holy Spirit’s truth will cross fertilize fruits of the Spirit into our hearts… fruits of LOVE, JOY, PEACE, FORBEARANCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS AND SELF-CONTROL. By the Holy Spirit, we can find strength to not only endure, but to serve and give life to one another despite the weeds that strangle our hope.

And so, our message today is clear. There will always be weeds of sin in our lives on this earth. That is why we come into worship and before we hear the Word…we confess our sin and HEAR the promise that we ARE truly children of God. Paul’s writings from Romans 8 today say is best. Listen with EARS to Hear:

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba Father” it is the very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and heirs with Christ…we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8: 14-17) AMEN!