Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
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!
The last we hear about Jesus as a child is when his parents lose him at the Temple. The next we see Jesus is as an adult. What happened in those years in between is a mystery. Christopher Moore’s novel “Lamb” is the story of what Jesus and his best friend Biff did in those years. A great read, by the way. But I like to imagine that in those years Jesus was working up his material and the 13… 14 year old version of this parable might have gone like this… The Kingdom of Heaven may be compared to someone who planted a beautiful flower box on their front porch. But while everyone was asleep, an enemy came and put a paper bag filled with dog poo in the planter, lit it on fire, and rang the doorbell. A visiting aunt answered the door and began to loose her ever loving mind! She screamed, “Oh no! Oh no! Stamp it out! Stamp it out! It’s going to burn the house down!” But the master of the house came downstairs and replied, ‘No; for in stamping on the bag you would crush all of my beautiful flowers AND you would get poo all over the porch. Let it be until the morning; then I’ll go out and first get the remnants of the bag and contents, bind them up in a poo bag, and throw them away. Then I will water my flowers.”
Jesus, always more sensible than I am, chose to evolve that story from poo and flowers into weeds and wheat. Both versions however, deliver the same message… You and I… we ain’t God. When we try to stamp out evil, even with the greatest good in mind, even with the greatest attention to details, even with the best of intentions in the entire world… we WILL end up making things worse, even while we intend to make things better.
Taking care of evil is a God-level job. Reading the original Greek version helps us understand that a little better than the English version. You see, the weeds in this story aren’t just any old generic weeds, they are Lolium temulentum… darnel, poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle. It is a mimic grass that looks EXACTLY LIKE WHEAT when it’s growing so trying to pull it out while it’s growing would inevitably make a bigger mess. Like trying to stamp out evil makes an even bigger mess. Like trying to stomp out the flaming bag makes an even bigger mess.
We’ve all had people plant destructive things in our lives. We all know what it’s like to open the door of life and find a poo filled bag blazing away on our front porch. And if stamping it out isn’t the answer, what is? What do we DO when someone plants weeds among our wheat? What do we DO when someone leaves a flaming bag of poo burning on our front porch? How can we stop the pain sharers, the conflict stirrers, the drama bringers, and the trauma inflictors? You’re not going to like this answer... but the answer is that we can’t stop them. We can’t control how THEY act. All we can control is how WE react… and Jesus is proposing that the best way to react… is to love them. Just as the farmer suggests that the weeds and the wheat be allowed to grow together, each receiving the same sun, rain, and nutrients from the earth. You and I are called to love the easy to love in exactly the same way we are called to love those who make it really, really, really hard to love them.
In fact, Jesus is trying to help us understand that the more someone causes trouble in our lives, sowing weeds and putting bag after bag of flaming poo on our porch, the MORE they are in need of being pulled into the wide embrace of unconditional love that Jesus showed the world from the cross. Jesus is telling us to resist the urge to rush in and start pulling weeds. Jesus is advising us to let the bag burn itself out and resist the urge to stomp out the fire. Jesus is calling us to meet those pain sharers, conflict stirrers, drama bringers, and trauma inflictors… with love*.
At this point, we need to refer to the note connected with the asterisk attached to love. The asterisk reminds us to NOT confuse “love” with “nice.” “Nice” isn’t the same as “love.” “Nice” avoids conflict, gives in, ignores trouble, shies away from confrontation, drives us to distance ourselves from difficult people and situations, put our fingers in our ears and say la, la, la, la, la and hope it all just goes away.
Love, on the other hand, takes the time… notices, leans in, and tries to understand the deeper hurts that lead people to sow weeds and leave flaming bags of poo. Love listens not to respond but to understand. But love is not a doormat. Love creates clear boundaries of what is acceptable and what is not. Love insists that those boundaries remain firmly in place. Love is very clear and never shy, when boundaries are breached, and yet does all it can to not abandon the other. Love is firm but never hateful, love is clear but never vengeful. We are called to love.
This world of ours is filled with hurt people trying to get rid of their pain by sowing it in someone else’s field or leaving it burning on someone else’s porch. That is a reality we simply cannot control. All we can control is how we react to those hurting people trying to escape that pain in unhealthy ways. Both versions of this parable remind us of that truth and also remind us that even when that happens… we are in the love business. We are in the healthy reaction business. We are in the good boundary business. We are in the not taking it personally business. We are in the letting go and letting God business. We are in the stretching out our arms in the radically inclusive love business. You and I… we are in the “As I have loved you, so also you should love one another” business. Amen.
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