Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43<\/p>\n\n\n\n
July 17, 2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All around our house in Sausalito, I have 5 sections of yard work to weed. Every 2 or 3 weeks, I am out there with spade and bucket to pull out and dig out a variety of foxtail and barley weeds that have infiltrated the plants that I put in. It\u2019s an endless struggle. Once I finished one section, I move onto the next section and by the time I come back to the first of five sections, it\u2019s time to start all over again. The weeds just want to grow where I don\u2019t want them to grow. It makes a messy garden!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s text is Jesus telling us the parable about how the wheat and the weeds are growing together in the field and the real problem trying to get rid of the weeds. Have you ever look across a field of wheat? You can see the weeds quite clearly. But getting rid of them is another matter. Jesus\u2019 remarkable advice is to let them be. They\u2019ll be taken care of on harvest or judgment day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus says the \u201cwheat\u201d is the children of God; the \u201cweeds\u201d are the fake children of God, the ones pretending to be wheat, as though growing up smack in the middle of the field they\u2019ll be mistaken for wheat. Actually, Jesus says they are the \u201cchildren of the evil one\u201d (v. 38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The good news is that Jesus describes this field, which is the \u201cworld,\u201d (v. 38) as a field of wheat, not as a field of weeds. When Jesus sees the world, he looks out across not a field of weeds in which there is wheat growing, but a field of wheat in which there are weeds growing. When I look across the 5 sections of yard around our house, I need to see more of the flowers and flowering plants that I planted rather than just focusing on the weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is encouraging news for us because it\u2019s so easy to be discouraged and to believe that evil is all around us, about to overwhelm us. In fact, Jesus reminds us that there are more of the faithful, more of those who have not bowed to evil, more of those whose core values are still biblical ones, than we sometimes realize. Yes, the \u201cchildren of evil\u201d exist and they do damage to the crop, but they exist in a field that is predominately a field of wheat, not weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tares<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know what foxtail and barley grass weeds look like, they almost look like wheat. There\u2018re the heads with seeds that look like wheat. Unless you are a farmer, it\u2019s hard to tell the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our NRSV Bibles, we have this word, \u201cweeds.\u201d But in the KJV version of the Bible, this word is \u201ctares.\u201d Tare refers to a wheat-like weed common in the Near East. One of its uses included being used as fuel and it often grew between one and two feet. Also known as darnel, it was a poisonous plant biologically related to wheat and therefore, hard to distinguish from wheat in its early stages of growth. Therefore, the parable highlights the inability to distinguish between the wheat and the tare that one could not uproot the tares without damaging the wheat. While the tares had grown enough for their roots to be entangled with the roots of the wheat, they had not grown enough for the two to be easily separated, only after both had fully grown could they be successfully separated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around our house, I have tried laying down large sheets of weed blocker but the weeds still grow through them. I have piled on wood barks and mulch but the weeds still come out. I have tediously pulled them out by hand hoping that I get all the roots but I know that there are small seeds that are already germinating in the soil and before too long, more weeds will come out. I have at times used Round-Up<\/em> but I have stopped using this because these toxic chemicals can seep into the ground and harm our drinking water and natural predators like ladybugs, moths, bees and birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what can be done? Remarkably, Jesus doesn\u2019t offer a grand plan for getting rid of the weeds that plague the field of wheat. There\u2019s no trumpet call for waging war on weeds. There are no rules of engagement about marching into a field of wheat to root out the weeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, Jesus says that we should go about our business. Our job is to be wheat, not weeds. We are not called to be the farmer. Rooting out the weeds is not part of our job description. We\u2019d like to go out in force to get rid of those weeds, but Jesus counsels us otherwise. Wheat farmers say that at harvest the dry weeds will just blow right through the combine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Messy Church<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The parable of the Weeds among the Wheat is about the church as the foretaste of the kingdom of God. We are a mixed bag of saints and sinners, good and bad, a messy church like a messy garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like the disciples of Jesus are a decidedly a mixed lot\u2014and always have been since the beginning, we are no different. There are those of us who do not meet up to the standards of righteousness that Jesus preached. What should be done about the mixed quality of the church community? Do we launch an attack on the weeds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n This parable tells us that we are to practice forbearance and patience. Jesus says that weeds and wheat look very much alike. There will be judgment, eventually, but not soon and that judgment is in the hand of God. Premature judgment and separation could be detrimental to the wheat. In the meantime, let the wheat and the weeds grow together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a pastor, I have never heard anyone withdraw from a church saying, \u201cJesus\u2019 demands upon us are just too much.\u201d No, why they leave the church is, \u201cWe think the world of Jesus, but we just can\u2019t stand his friends.\u201d Those are the wheat who think they have no time for the weeds. Or maybe it\u2019s the weeds who think that the wheat are hypocritical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The current rage about \u201cspirituality;\u201d this vague feeling about being religious is that \u201cspirituality\u201d is Jesus without the laity. \u201cSpirituality\u201d is our Lord Jesus Christ without the body. The poet Shelly put it this way, \u201cI could believe in Christ if he did not drag behind him that leprous bride of his, the church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By in large, our church may be messy but it\u2019s not as messy as the American Baptist family. As the Vice-President Elect, some of you are a bit concerned about what I have gotten myself into. Frankly, I believe it\u2019s more like what you have gotten me into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it wasn\u2019t for the fact that I am pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church where I have learned how to navigate and moderate the diversity of being bilingual, bicultural, and multigenerational, I wouldn\u2019t be as qualified to be Vice-President to the most diverse denomination in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it wasn\u2019t for the fact that FCBC is a historic and dedicated ABC church that was founded by the Home Mission Society over 130 years ago and is among one of the top 50 mission giving congregations out of 5300, I wouldn\u2019t be recognized as a credible candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If it wasn\u2019t for the fact that FCBC is effective in reaching out to the countless immigrants and refugees who have come from different shores and that we have helped them to become strong US citizens, I wouldn\u2019t have been qualified to understand the importance of missions at home and abroad to become Vice-President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our messy church comprised of both saints and sinners, the good and the bad is the main reason why God has called me to serve as an officer so that the rest of the messy American Baptist family can learn from us that it\u2019s not up to us to root out the weeds from the wheat but it has always been God\u2019s job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Good Seed and Bad Seed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are good and bad seeds in every church. These seeds germinate and both wheat and weeds are growing up together. Our impulse is to separate the bad from the good but this is not what God\u2019s patient grace is. The fact is that neither in biology or theology do we get to choose our siblings! God just delivers them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know that even among the disciples there were power struggles and resentments. They vied with one another for who would get to sit at Jesus\u2019 right side without understanding the cost. There were tensions, jealousy, misunderstanding, name-calling, and all the rest. We come to view people as weeds among the wheat, and wish that God would harvest them, and right now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But only God knows what is truly in people\u2019s hearts and their motives and intentions. Does this mean we have to permit everything, in the name of tolerance? No, we can discipline behavior that is injurious to the community. But removing people should always be the last resort. Pruning and tending is much better: helping one another to listen, to love, and to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not for you and not for me to cull the harvest. We have not been given the responsibility to judge who is in and who is out in regard to God\u2019s salvation. God appears to be working on all of us together. And sometimes in the church you are delightfully surprised that the person next to you, whom you may think to be a \u2018weed,\u201d is in reality wheat, a cherished child of God who can be used by God for your salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turn to your neighbor and say to him or her: \u201cYou are not a weed but wheat, a cherished child of God!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While I will still go out to my yard and try to pull out all the weeds, I will always be reminded that these weeds are actually God\u2019s wonderful creations if they grew in another field. I may just let them grow a bit longer to teach me that in the end, it\u2019s God who will be the final judge at the harvest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thanks be to God who teaches us God-like patience and grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear Lord Jesus, in your wisdom you have called us to be your church, to be members of your body, your hands in service to a hurting world, your feet moving in mission toward a dying humanity. If the world sees you, then the world will see you through us. Help us, dear Lord, to serve you as we ought, to come more closely to resemble you in our life together, to love one another so that others might look at our fellowship and see your love shining through, and to be patient with one another\u2019s limitations. Help us to be as loving, forgiving, and patient with one another as you are with us. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 July 17, 2011 Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. All around our house in Sausalito, I have 5