Sunday Sermon: Don't Let the Weeds Get the Best of You
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Text: Matthew 13:24-30
Series: "Jesus’ Parables and the Mystery of the Kingdom”
Because Jesus first ministered primarily in the region of Galilee, a rural area in Israel known for its farming and its fishing, a good many of his teachings drew from those life experiences. The fact that Jesus felt led to do so reflects his point of view that the Kingdom of Heaven isn’t merely an “other-world” phenomenon. It involves instead the inbreaking of God’s reign upon this earth, particularly in the life of those who embrace it, so that, even as Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “God’s Kingdom might come and God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Those of you who farm or fish are in a better position than the rest of us to resonate with Jesus’ teachings. Because I do neither, it takes me a bit more effort to understand what Jesus was getting at. And yet when I do, I find the instruction both compelling and challenging. I find that it drives me to my knees as it calls my commitment into question and bids me open my heart even more to the grace that alone can set me back on my feet. Such are the emotions that come over me as I hear this parable of the Weeds and the Wheat.
Consider this parable. A man goes out to sow good seed in his field. It’s the time of the year when farmers go out to plant their crop of wheat in anticipation of an abundant harvest, and this particular man has taken great pains to sow the best seed he can get his hands on. He’s a smart farmer; wouldn’t you say?
But evidently, at some point along the way this farmer has made an enemy, the kind of enemy that will go to any length necessary to do you in. This enemy thought it would be a good trick to sow weeds among the man’s wheat, and not just ordinary weeds. This enemy had snuck into the fields during the night and began sowing a type of weed that would be indistinguishable from the wheat in the first part of the growing season.
That’s why as the wheat and the weeds began to grow, it became apparent to the man’s field workers that something was awry. They became perplexed. They knew their master was a smart farmer. How did this happen? And so they approach him. “Sir,” they say to the owner, “Didn’t you sow good seed in your field? (Their expectation was that he had.) Where then did these weeds come from?”
It didn’t take the owner long to figure out what had happened. “An enemy did this,” he tells his servants. You see, the owner knew that things like this don’t happen out of the blue. The owner could see how not everyone wants to see good seed come to harvest and good people prosper. Whether it be from hatred or jealousy, envy or pure evil, there will always be those who will work to sabotage the good that others are trying to accomplish.
“Do you want us to go and pull them up?” the servants asked, which was a reasonable question. Most people who work the land, whether they be big-time farmers or backyard gardeners, are always worrying about weeds and how best to get rid of them, but not this farmer. No, he takes an unconventional position. “Don’t pull them up, at least not yet. Let both grow together until the harvest when you can tell them apart. At that time I’ll tell the harvesters to collect the weeds first and tie them into bundles to be burned, and then to gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”
What Jesus wants us to hear is this: As long as life goes on, evil will always mingle with the good and hypocrites with the righteous so that as his followers we must arm ourselves with patience in the face of situations that the Enemy, the Devil, intends to bring about to disturb us and distract us. “Don’t pull them up. Let both grow together. Everything will be sorted out at the harvest so that the weeds will be burned and the wheat will be gathered.”
Clearly, Jesus is telling his disciples to be careful not to give up on anyone quicker than God does, which is a most important lesson. After all, think of the number of people who have been rooted out of God’s field because of the attitudes and actions of well-intentioned but misguided souls. The bottom line is that we don’t have the perspective we need to tell the wheat from the weeds. No one does. Only God. And God says, what? “Let them grow together.”
That’s an important lesson to be sure. But I see an equally important one, an even more encouraging one. Instead of being tasked with the responsibility of pulling up the weeds, we can concentrate on being the wheat that God in Christ has planted us to be. After all, weeding the field probably doesn’t hold a lot of appeal to most of us; it certainly doesn’t to me. What makes my soul sing is to invest myself in work that brings glory to God. What makes me to feel joy in my soul is to be about that work that makes a difference for Christ. But if I have to worry about getting rid of all the weeds that are in the world, then I won’t have any energy left for proclaiming the gospel, the good news of Jesus which is able to change even the vilest of souls, even your soul and mine.
Fred Craddock was a teacher of preachers, whose stories I have shared with you on occasion. In one of his sermons he invites us to look back at some of our old pictures. “I’ll bet some of you looked pretty weedy,” he says. “I’ll bet some of you were the little kid the parents of your friends didn’t want you playing with. I’ll bet some of you where the kid, who at one time or another, someone thought needed to be weeded from the classroom. I’ll bet some of you were the kid the coach was advised to drop from the team. I’ll bet some of you were the boy who some girl’s father told her to dump, or the girl who some boy’s mother said, ‘I guess she’s all right; but she’s not the one for you.’ But look at you, little weed. Look at what you’ve become. Thank God, somebody spared the sickle back then. You might have been history.”
But you’re not. You’re not history. You are very much a shock of wheat in the garden of God. So, focus on what you can do to cast good seed so that other wheat might grow with you. Be fruitful in what God has given you to do. Be fixed on those God has called you to serve. Don’t be sidetracked or sabotaged by those who would seek you to discourage you. Don’t be worrying about who you can trust and who is out to get you. And be patient. Understand that God’s harvest may be some time away. Believe that until then, even the weeds you see around you may by God’s grace in Jesus Christ be changed into a shock of wheat even more fruitful than you. Remember your own story and how Jesus saved you.
In a world where people may think that it’s easy as pie to tell the good from that bad and may think that bad people can’t change, may we stand up to say, “That’s not the truth. That’s not the Gospel. Only God knows a person’s heart, and only God is capable of taking a heart that is not right and making that heart to be so.”
Mary Hollingsworth is a pastor’s wife. Some years ago, she wrote a book titled Fireside Stories, one of which is a story about a man she calls Rick. That’s not his real name, but it’s his real story. Rick lived in small town down South, where Mary and her husband were serving. He was a big, burly sort of guy. Rick drove a truck, chewed tobacco, and hit home runs on his company-sponsored softball team. Rick rarely came to church or participated in any church activities.
But one day, some of Rick’s friends, who did go to church, told him that they needed his help putting on a play for Vacation Bible School. As you can imagine, Rick wasn’t real excited about anything like that. But after some teasing and arm-twisting, he finally agreed to help. Ironically, they asked him to play Jesus in the play, about whom Rick knew very little.
The pastor’s wife had written the play, and when she saw Rick in his Jesus costume, she almost laughed out load because it seemed so out of character for both Jesus and Rick. But still, she had to admit that Rick did appear to be taking his role seriously, so she contained herself and congratulated him on how well he was playing the part.
When VBS arrived, Rick played his role to the hilt, yelling at the money changers in his Southern accent, “Y’all get out of here! You can’t turn my Father’s house into a den a’ thieves.” Mary thought to herself, “Big mistake.” But then she began to notice Rick showing up in church over the weeks that followed. She saw some of the children who had been at VBS whispering behind Rick’s back, “Look! There’s Jesus!”
And slowly, but surely, she began to see a change in other aspects of Rick’s life. He quit drinking and chewing. He cleaned up his speech. He began hosting youth activities with his wife. He started going on church mission trips. And before long, he was teaching a boy’s Sunday School class. After a few years, he was elected to be a Deacon. In short, Rick stopped acting like Jesus and began living like Jesus instead. He went from being weedy to being wheat. And that, brothers and sisters, is how God’s harvest field ultimately grows.
So, settle down and settle in. The Enemy may be at work, but God’s work is always much greater. And in the end, you will know the wheat from the weeds. Until then, be thankful that you know where you will stand when the Day of Judgment comes. And if you don’t; well, the good news is that there’s still time for God to change you so that you will.