Weeding and Christian Discipleship

It's summer time in Arizona! As a teenager, I always wondered why weeds and grass would grow in this hot arid weather (mostly because I hated mowing the lawn and weeding the yard). We all get anxious about weeds in our yards. Not just because we’re concerned about the beauty of our lawns, but also because we’re concerned that our grass will survive. So I would dutifully, but begrudgingly pull weeds and mow the lawn in the summer. Luckily, I won’t be teaching about the character-building properties of pulling weeds. But what on earth does proper weeding have to do with the Gospel?
Well today, the lectionary invites us to ponder the parable of the weeds. That’s right, our dear Lord even talked about weeds. You can read the parable on your own. It can be found in Matthew 13:24-30. So what does this all mean? In some traditions of interpretation it is thought that the Lord will wipe out (and burn) all the unbelievers in the end times. I’m not so sure about this. Parables are interesting, quirky things that Jesus uses to teach. Some interpreters say that every detail has some theological significance and each parable is intricately coded to teach specific things in a secretive manner. Some are at the other extreme, believing that they are merely stories and have only one point to make. I tend to be towards the middle of these approaches (how Episcopalian). So now, let’s discuss how to properly dispose of weeds.
Jesus first attempts to illustrate the Kingdom of Heaven as someone who sows the good seeds of wheat. In the night, an enemy comes and sows weeds among the weeds. As we know from last week, wheat is an important crop because it provides the most food, so any problem with the crop could be devastating to the community, so having bad weeds is a big problem. So the servants come to the master and say: “Sir didn’t you sow good seed in the field? Where then did they come from?” (Mt. 13:27) Like any good farmer, the servants want to get rid of the weeds so that the wheat can grow healthily.
The reply from the master of the field is rather surprising. He says: “No … because while you are pulling the weeds you may root up the wheat with them” (Mt. 13:29). This is surprising and yet it’s not. It’s surprising because we would think that removal of the weeds would be an important part of ensuring a good crop. Yet it’s not so surprising because in the process of eliminating the weeds, we lose some of the vital wheat. This actually serves to teach us something very important about discipleship.
The Lord teaches us that in our world, there are folks of all kinds and just as the Lord has sown good seed, so the Devil has sown bad seeds as well. What we have to understand here is that it is not any business of ours who ought to get weeded out and sent to the fiery place. As we heard in the story, the Master forbade the weeding of his field. In the Christian Church today we get too busy deciding who’s part of the “tares” and who’s part of the “wheat”.
We can see a recent, stinging example of this in the recent Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON). The stated position of this conference was in effect to sort the weeds from the wheat. It is this kind of thing that threatens the institution that the Lord set up in order to share His love with the whole world. We begin to look like bickering children instead of stepping up to do the work we ought to do. Instead of being the force for change, we become the forces of discord and hate.
Our task, rather, is to preach repentance and the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Lord gave us a spirit of frustration and discontent “in hope that the creation itself ill be liberated from bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-21). This visible hope and this visible discontent and our actions to counter it through acting justly and mercifully towards a broken world are what attracts folks to the Gospel. Not flashy evangelism, not carefully planned invitations to Church, just our faith and our hope. As we wait we don’t just sit idly. We are called to serve and called to heal this broken world in any way we can in order that we can be free!
Finally, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, remember that we have nothing to fear. Paul teaches us: “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.” (Rom. 8:14-15). As the children of God, we have already been set free. All we must do is subject ourselves to the Spirit of God and allow God to work through us to make an impact and share His love with all people.

Amen