GATHER A HARVEST

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

July 20, 2008

            May Grace and Peace be with us, from God our Father, His Son our risen and triumphant Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the Sustainer.

Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown,
            That we may be fed with the Bread of Life.

            My wife chose our hymns.  That’s a blessing and a relief: music is not my field.  In the process, we discussed the Gospel for this morning.  Her reaction was clear and concise.  She said, “You can preach about the fire of Hell if you want to, but we are not going to sing about it.”

            The Parable of the Weeds teaches hard lessons -- hard and surprising.  We need to talk about them.

Gather a  harvest from the seeds that were sown.

            To understand this Parable, we need to know about farming in ancient Israel.  It takes a little research -- farming isn’t my field either.

            A farmer sowed wheat seeds in his field -- so far, so good.  But, during the night, an enemy sowed weeds among the wheat.  Apparently, this sort of thing happened in ancient Israel.  If you had an arch enemy, he would dump weeds in your field.  The weeds did not actually kill the wheat crop, but the weeds did make it much harder to harvest the wheat.

            In ancient times, it was hard to tell the difference between the good wheat and the bad weeds -- at least, until the growing season was over.  The two plants looked the same until the very end.  This is why the farmer tells his field workers not to rip out the weeds.  If they tried, they would trample the good crops and uproot the wheat along with the weeds.

            And so the farmer tells his field workers to let everything grow until harvest time.  When that time comes, the reapers will know the difference.  The reapers will know -- not the regular field workers.  The reapers will remove and burn the weeds, and then they will harvest the good grain.

That we may be fed with the Bread of Life

            The disciples knew enough about farming to understand the secular aspects of the Parable -- and now, so do we.  The disciples did not understand what Jesus meant by all this -- and we also need to know His meaning.  This spiritual meaning is our Bread of Life.  The disciples asked for help, and Jesus answered.

            Jesus is the farmer.  The field is this world.  The good seeds are the children of the Kingdom of God, planted by Jesus.  OK so far?  Yes indeed. We can sing about that.

            But there is more.

            “The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil”

            Wait, Lord. You told us that You are the farmer.  Were You sleeping when the devil sowed those evil weeds?  This sounds bad.

            Jesus continues: “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” . . . “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.”

            This is hard.  Very hard.

            Why is this hard for us to hear?

Gather the hopes and the dreams of all,
            Unite them with the prayers we offer now.

            We are afraid that we are the weeds; that we will be consumed by fire; that we will weep at the end of the age.

            Did I say “we”?  This fear is personal.  We all have it, but each of us has it in our own way.

            Oh Lord, am I a weed to be burned?  I am not what You want me to be; I will not be free from sin during my season on earth.   Forgive me, renew me and lead me -- lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.  Please, in Your mercy, as Your gift, let Your Word grow within me.

            The question, the fear, the confession, the prayer, are individual, but the answer is given to all of us who ask.

            Are we weeds to be burned?  No.  The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

            The fear itself, the question itself, is the Holy Spirit working within us.  When the Spirit moves us to ask our questions with a true and repentant heart, and yes a fearful heart, then we grow as children of the Kingdom.

            The depth of our fear is the height of our joy.  We are God’s children, through His amazing Grace.   Let anyone with ears listen to this reassurance.

Gather the hopes and the dreams of all

            The Parable of the Weeds seems hard for another reason as well.  What about those weeds?  We aren’t weeds, thank God.  Shouldn’t we “good” wheat stalks rip them weeds from the field of the Lord, and burn them in eternal fire?  They deserve it, don’t they?

            In our Gospel, Jesus -- the farmer -- gives us a command: “Let both of them grow together until the harvest”  Let the weeds grow; don’t try to pull them out.  But why?

            This is what Martin Luther had to say, in a sermon published in 1525:

“We are not to uproot nor destroy them. Here [Jesus] says publicly let both grow together. We have to do here with God's Word alone; for in this matter he who errs today may find the truth tomorrow. Who knows when the Word of God may touch his heart? But if he be burned at the stake or otherwise destroyed, he can never find the truth; and thus the Word of God is snatched from him, and he must be lost, who otherwise might have been saved. Hence the Lord says here, that the wheat also will be uprooted if we weed out the tares.”

Now that makes sense.  We might think somebody is a weed, but they could turn out to be wheat.  As I said, farming is not my field.  This is the field of the Lord.  We must never doubt the transforming power of the Word of God.  Let anyone with ears listen!  And anyone can hear, and heed, and grow.

            I am more comfortable with books than I am with plant life.  I did some research on Luther’s 16th century exegesis.  Exegesis -- Pastor Acer taught me that word.

            Our English translation reads, “Let both of them grow until the harvest.”  In the original Greek text, the word  “Let” is the Greek word “aphiemi.”  “Aphiemi both of them grow until the harvest.”

            This very same Greek word is also in the Lord’s Prayer -- “aphiemi us our trespasses as we aphiemi  those who trespass against us.”  Surprise, young sprout!  Aphiemi means forgive.

            So, “let them grow” is not just “leave them alone” -- it means “forgive them until the harvest.”  God, forgive us, as we forgive others.  Grant everyone -- not just “us” -- grant everyone a season for the Word to God to grow.

Grace our table with Your presence,
            And grant us a foretaste of the feast to come.

            We are being.  We are becoming.  The seed of God’s Word is planted; may it continue to grow within us.  Jesus has taught us; we continue to read and listen and learn.  Jesus has died for our sins, and has triumphed over death.  We continue to share in His triumph, and join in the unending hymn.  This is the feast of victory for our God.  There will be a harvest and a feast to come.

            In the end of time -- in the fullness of time, in the ripeness of time --  “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”

            And let everyone with voice sing.

            May the peace of God, which is beyond our understanding, keep our hearts and minds now and forever in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

~~~~~

Pentecost 12; Matthew 14:13-21; Isaiah 55:1-5; Romans 9:1-5; Psalm 145:8=9; 14-21; August 4-5, 2008
Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit our Sustainer.
We know the feeling.  Few of us have escaped it.  The stunned, helpless, lost feeling upon learning that someone near and dear has been removed from our life.  What do you do?  What can you do?  I usually just sit and stare, blank and numb.  I don’t process the situation.  No reminiscing.  Just sit and stare.  Until my body can’t sit still any longer and forces me to move.  How do you react when you learn of a sudden and unexpected death? 
Jesus just wanted to get away from everyone else.  He needed some time alone.  His cousin, mentor, baptizer, John had been murdered—beheaded—and unceremoniously buried.  However Jesus endured the initial shock, he wanted to do it alone; far removed from the crowds.  He tried to escape.  He got in a boat to put some space between him and the crowds.  Jesus went ashore at a quiet, distant point—safe from the mob.  There he could be all alone, just sit and stare, if he needed, to get through the initial shock. 
It was not to be.  The crowds followed him around the shore.  Shocked, weary and deeply sad, Jesus heaved a great sigh.  “Blessed to be a blessing,” he knew he had to help those who remained in this life; those who needed him.  So he had compassion for them and cured their sick.  Emotionally exhausted already, it must have taken so much out of him to keep helping and healing the multitudes. 
Then it was evening.  Everyone was hungry.  Yet again, the exhausted and devastated Jesus fed the people—5,000 men plus women and children.  That’s a lot of meals.  And he did it with very few resources.  More effort and power required of him—two assets he was currently pretty low on.  Jesus knew he was blessed to be a blessing—more than anyone else.  He is the Son of God, God in the flesh, gifted with special talents to help others.  He never puts himself before the needs of others, no matter how small or great.  So he presses on.
Blessing.  God overflows with blessing for all of us.  Isaiah tells us about that great blessing God has in store.  A great feast.  No admission charge.  An unbelievable feast with amazingly wonderful food.  All free.  No limits.  Eternal.  Open to all.  And nations, known and unknown, will come from far and wide to receive this marvelous blessing. Then notice, God speaks through Isaiah, saying God has glorified God’s people—another blessing!  No boasting about how God is glorified but about how God glorifies the people.  Blessed to be a blessing.
This is why St. Paul, himself a devout Jew until meeting Christ in person, is so distressed in his letter to the Romans.  Paul is distressed because all this blessing God offers and bestows culminates in the gift of Jesus the Christ the Savior.  And this is the big, the best blessing, the gift of Christ to the world.  And Paul’s people, the Israelites, rejected that gift.  They had it all, God’s chosen people, and they declined the greatest gift.  Paul was willing to separate himself from God if only his people would see and receive Christ.  But they didn’t.  And Paul was devastated.
Paul knew about God’s blessings.  Scriptures talk about them all the time.  The Psalm reminds us about God’s overflowing gifts, benefits, blessings, going far beyond imagination.  God’s generosity is mind boggling.  The extent and depth of the blessings God showers is amazing.  Jesus knew this all so well.  Paul knew it.  And we know it. 
Blessed to be a blessing.  Tired, shocked, bereft, numb, sad, weary.  No matter.  We have an eternal mandate.  Blessed to be a blessing.  Look beyond ourselves.  Who can we bless today?  Amen.