July 20, 2008 Sermon The Reverend Eric Liles Matthew 13:24-30,36-43 Jesus put before the crowd 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!" As we continue this week with our sermon series on Jesus' parables in Matthew's Gospel, we again must look to where we have been before we can move forward. We talked two weeks ago about the importance of striving for a childlike faith in order to understand what Jesus is about here. One very important aspect of a childlike faith is to have a creative mind that can image things that are a bit out of the ordinary. When we hear Jesus teach us about the kingdom of heaven, we as citizens of the United States in this 21st century are hard pressed to imagine living in a country or in a period of time when kings ruled kingdoms. However, if we going to understand what Jesus is teaching us today, we must use our historic study and imagination to see what is being expressed in Matthew's affirmation of the kingdom of heaven. In the Gospel according to Matthew, we hear the phrase "kingdom of heaven" used 32 times, and the "kingdom of God" used 5 times. They mean the same thing in Matthew. The kingdom of heaven does not necessarily refer the place of God's dwelling, but it is a way to reference the holy, while avoiding using the sacred name of God. The phrase "the kingdom of heaven" becomes shorthand for evoking the story of the world, the meaning of life in 4 acts. 1.  God is creator and sovereign over all. Nothing exists that is not part of God's creation and for which God does not have the ultimate responsibility. 2.  The ruler-ship of the world has been attacked by anti-God forces. Real evil exists in the world. Although God remains as king, we find ourselves in a rebellious world that gives its allegiance to other sovereignties. Indeed, we find ourselves to be sinners, which means not merely failing to live up to God's commands, but rebelling against God our ruler. 3.  God have given kingship to the chosen people, who accept the "yoke" of the kingdom. 4.  The consummation of God's kingdom is still in the future. The kingdom of heaven is already and not yet. Why does Jesus use parables to describe the kingdom of heaven? At its simplest, the parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness. Parables are a means of disclosing new truth that cannot be spoken in other ways. Not only does a parable have a number of points, but also no "point" at all that can be stated in plain language, and parables generate new meaning in new situations. Today we hear the parable of the wheat and weeds, sometimes called the parable of the wheat and tares. My contention is that ultimately this is a parable about grace. It is a parable about judgment, certainly, but God's judgment (not our own), which we must see as an act of grace. This parable was directed against tendencies in the Israel and the pre Easter Jesus movement toward becoming the same kind of exclusive, "pure" community attempted by Pharisees and Essenes. Perhaps Jesus used this parable to point out that we as human beings are not competent to make the kinds of judgments implied in separating wheat from weeds. In pulling up what we think are weeds, we may very well be pulling up wheat. Only God can make such judgments, and in due course this will be done. In the meantime we must be more patient with one another. Taken in this way, the story becomes a parable of grace. In the strange world of the parable where separation is graciously postponed, it may even be possible for weeds to become wheat. Weeds are just plants that are growing where they are not supposed to be. There is nothing inherently "evil" about weeds. Our opponents are not themselves the ultimate enemy, but, like ourselves, are victimized by the powers of evil, which threaten to overwhelm us all, but which are ultimately doomed. (The powers of evil are doomed, not necessarily our opponents.) Why does God not simply eliminate the evil? This could lead to the good being pulled out as well, and so the separation has to be left to a future judgment by the Son of Man. I think what this might mean for us today is to stop judging other people as sinful or evil, and instead pray for them and to be sowers of the good seed of the word of God. We all know how easy it is, and how right it can feel, to cast judgment on another person, especially if they are someone we don't know. But God is reminding us in this parable that all us need time to grow, and there is grace in both the coming of God's judgment, and in that is hasn't come yet. If you knew that God's final judgment was coming next week, how would you change your own life to reflect that of being the good seed? We don't know for sure when the end times are coming, despite what you hear from some televangelists or read in certain popular Christian fiction novels. What we do know is that God will root our all causes of evil in God's time, and that until that time comes we all have a chance to be better people. God gives all people a chance to change. Our passage from Genesis, which is part of the Jacob story, we learn that there is always hope for those who are tricksters, swindlers, in liars (story of Jacob stole his brothers birthright and his blessing, here begins his transformation into becoming a good person) In our readings from Romans today we are reminded wait with patience, and that the redemption of creation is wrapped up with our redemption. These passages hopefully help us to engage our thoughts on those other than ourselves in hope, not in judgment. To think about the importance of salvation for all, for all creation even, and our lack of ability to judge others. Next week we continue our series as we look at more parables about the kingdom of heaven. Mustard seeds, treasure hidden in a field, and a net. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to read Matthew chapter 13. Grace is what we Christians are all about. Amen. the Reverend Eric Liles