Second Sermon in a Three-Part Series: Parables – Stories that Read Us
Watch a video of an earlier version of this sermon from 2017 here. 

Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Maybe you’ve wondered this yourself, or you know someone who has. I hear it often from people who are looking for help when they’ve reached the end of their rope, when it seems like life has dealt them more trouble than anyone deserves. It’s a fair question, but it’s a difficult one to answer. It’s the kind of question Jesus would often use a parable to explain.

Today’s gospel reading comes from the thirteenth chapter of the gospel according to Matthew. This chapter is a whole string of parables. The first one, about a sower who scatters seed everywhere, on all kinds of ground, is about the character of God. The seven parables that follow are all about the kingdom of God. In today’s reading, Jesus is still talking about planting, but he switches his metaphors a bit from the parable of the sower. In this one, something bad happens to a good farmer.

[Jesus] put before them another parable:

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'” Then he left the crowds and went into the house.

And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! – Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

A few years ago, I met a young mother who had lost her job. She’d missed too much work when her kids were too sick to take to day care. Without income, she couldn’t pay her bills, and was worried that her utilities would be shut off, or she would be evicted from her home.

On top of that, her car had broken down, and she had no money for repairs. Without a car, she couldn’t look for a new job. One thing had piled on top of another until she was overwhelmed with hardship. She felt like the world was out to get her. “How can God let this happen?” she asked me. “What have I done to deserve this?”

Such a moment isn’t always the perfect time to point out that actually, none of us are good, all of us deserve far worse than we get out of life. We are all broken sinners. And it isn’t usually a good time to go into a long explanation of theodicy, that fancy theological word for the question, “Why does God allow evil in the world?” People like this young mother don’t come to a pastor looking for a judgmental sermon. They come looking for a glimmer of hope.

The people who gathered to hear Jesus tell them stories weren’t much different. They had experienced oppression from Rome. Even among their own people, they had watched the rich get richer as the poor got poorer. Life wasn’t fair. How could God allow his people to continue to suffer, while evil seemed to flourish around them? When would Messiah deliver them from this miserable existence, and bring judgment to Israel’s oppressors?

Yet here was Jesus, looking and sounding very much like he might just be the One for whom they’d been waiting, telling them stories about farming! Who cares about weed control, when your world is falling down around your ears?

“Let anyone with ears listen,” Jesus says, and we have to realize these parables are more than entertaining stories. How we hear them depends on the condition of our hearts and minds. Wherever we may be in our journey of faith, these stories speak directly to us in our current circumstance.

There are many ways to interpret the parable of the weeds. At its most basic level, this story might be about how difficult it is to tell weeds from wheat. For example, there is a plant called bearded darnel. It is “an annoying weed that looks very much like wheat, especially before maturity, and can carry a poisonous fungus. If it is harvested and ground together with wheat, the resulting flour is spoiled.”[1]

As the grain matures, it’s easy to tell the slender heads of bearded darnel from the fuller heads of wheat, but by then, it’s too late to uproot one without damaging the other. If we take this story at face value, we simply hear that pulling weeds can cause more harm than good, destroying the very crops we want to harvest. But this story is probably more than just a farming tip for weed control.

The disciples ask for an explanation, once they are alone with Jesus, and he spells out the metaphors that matter, identifying the main characters in this story. If we aren’t careful, we might get side-tracked by the things Jesus doesn’t say.

He doesn’t identify the servants of the landowner, for example. Who are they? They must have been taking care of the field, or they wouldn’t have noticed the weeds popping up. But where were they when the enemy was sabotaging the crop? Then there’s the enemy who sows the weeds, and just leaves (v 25). Jesus doesn’t explain why anyone would behave like this, either.

We probably shouldn’t concern ourselves too much with what Jesus doesn’t say, but I think it might be good to remember that the field is God’s, and God will continue to nurture and care for his kingdom, while the devil does nothing to support or care for the seeds he sows.

There are also varying interpretations of the field itself – while Jesus says it is “the world,” some consider the later explanation, where the angels collect the causes of evil and all evildoers “out of the kingdom” as an indication that this is really about evil growing alongside faithful members of the church. But Jesus does not necessarily equate the church with God’s kingdom.[2]

Nor should we get so self-centered that we consider this story to be about the evil that lurks inside each of us, as individuals. Paul covers that in Romans 7, when he says: “I do the evil things I don’t want to do, and I don’t do the good things that I want to do. I’m wretched!” (Romans 7:19)

This brings us back to those troubling weeds. Why shouldn’t we pull them, if we see evil choking out the good around it? Why does Jesus say, “leave them be until the harvest”? Well, there might be some pretty good reasons to leave weeds alone.

Sometimes, weeds are too big to be pulled – their roots have intertwined with the roots of the good plants, and pulling up one will also uproot the other.

Sometimes, what you thought was a weed, is actually a good plant, and what you thought was a good plant is actually a weed. They aren’t always easy to distinguish from one another.

We aren’t good at judging between wheat and weeds – that’s God’s job anyway. And that brings us back to that first question: why doesn’t God do something now about the evil we see everywhere? Where is judgment when you need it?

This is one of only three parables for which Jesus gives a detailed explanation in Matthew’s gospel, and they are all right here in chapter 13. The parable of the Sower, about the good seed spread lavishly on four types of soil, is the first one. Verses 47-50 give us the parable of the net, where the good fish are separated from the bad fish.

This parable of the weeds has something in common with each of the other two – we hear the connection with the first story in the seeds that are sown. And like the parable of the net, this story teaches us about judgment. Judgment will come, and evil will be destroyed – but not yet.

This is the “already-not yet” reality of Christ’s kingdom. The kingdom has already broken into our world in the person of Jesus Christ, and is already at work among us through the Holy Spirit. But the kingdom has not yet reached its completion. The kingdom is becoming – like seed planted in a field.

We might wonder, “How can this be the kingdom of God, if evil is still present?” And that might raise even more questions: Why do we still see racism in our society? Why is there still poverty? Why does disease still claim so many lives? Where is God in the midst of suffering? Why do people reject Jesus? Why isn’t judgment happening? When will God get around to making things right?

Theologian Klyne Snodgrass writes, “The kingdom comes with limitless grace in the midst of an evil world. … The issue is … one of identity. … If we take our identity from the kingdom of limitless grace, how will that identity be lived out?”[3]

So let me ask: Is your identity grounded in God’s limitless grace, and do you extend that grace to others? Are you centered in Christ, so that nothing can uproot you? Can anyone tell whether you are wheat or weeds, by the way you live your life?

Do you let God be the judge of who belongs in God’s kingdom? Like those field workers in the parable, we may think it’s our job to pull the weeds, to judge who is worthy to flourish in God’s kingdom and who should be rooted out. But that is not our job. Judgment is God’s job. God will take care of removing evil in God’s own good time.

These days it feels more and more like “God’s own good time” is getting nearer and nearer, that evil has just about run its course in this weary world, and Judgment Day must surely be coming soon. If that’s the case, shouldn’t we have a greater sense of urgency to be ready for that day? 

You see, Jesus hasn’t switched metaphors arbitrarily. In the parable of the Sower, he described the abundant generosity of a God who sows seeds lavishly everywhere, even on soil where it might not flourish. In today’s parable, the soil is the world, and the children of God are the good seed being scattered with abandon, to exponentially increase the kingdom while there is still time.

Like the story of the sower, this story asks a question of generosity: Are we living out of abundance, sharing generously to heal the world and increase God’s reign, or are we operating out of scarcity – insisting on our own importance, getting our own way, taking whatever we can get by whatever means?

The good grain gives nourishment, the weeds take it. Which are you? Are you robbing nutrients from the intended crop, or are you multiplying God’s abundant mercy? Are you helping to right the wrongs and heal the brokenness in this world? And if you can’t answer that question for sure, here’s a hint: if you aren’t actively engaged in working for God’s kingdom, you are working against it.

But here’s the good news about parables: you can only push a metaphor so far before it stops making sense. We can’t change ourselves from weeds to wheat anymore than we can change ourselves from rocky, thorny ground into good soil. But Jesus can.

Jesus invites us to turn away from a mindset of scarcity into Christ’s abundance, away from focusing on getting what we want toward receiving the infinite grace and forgiveness God offers each of us in Christ Jesus.

We live in the meantime, in the already-not yet. The kingdom is becoming … and Christ invites us to be part of that kingdom. The kingdom comes with limitless grace in the midst of an evil world. As we receive that grace, we can offer it to others with the same kind of abundant generosity God has offered  grace to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

So take a moment to examine your own heart right now. Who have you already decided is a ‘weed,’ someone you might have excluded from fellowship in Christ’s church? Who have you nurtured so their roots in faith are strong? Who has nurtured your own faith, and helped you to grow in Christ? How can your life – this week – show others that God’s kingdom is alive in you? 

Lord, sometimes it’s hard for us to know if we are wheat or weeds in the field of your kingdom. We think we are living the way you want us to, but then we catch ourselves judging others. We catch ourselves thinking we are better than others, or we think our opinions are more important than the opinions of others. We turn away from those you’ve called us to love. Our lives fail to reflect your grace. Forgive us, Lord.

Keep us mindful that you alone can judge a person’s heart. You alone get to decide who is included in your kingdom. Remind us that our job is simply to keep growing, to let our roots go deep into your grace, and to ‘shine like the sun’ into lives that are stuck in darkness.

Give us the humility to accept that your ways are not our ways, and your thoughts are not our thoughts. Point us toward loving you, and each other, and the people you’ve placed us here to reach for your name’s sake. We pray all these things in the power of your Holy Spirit, and in the strong Name of your Son Jesus Christ, Amen.

---

[1] Klyne Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus, 198.
[2] Snodgrass, 214.
[3] Snodgrass, 214-215.

---