Gospel text for 19 July 2020

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!”

Reflection        Jesus is the master gardener. In the garden,  the proverbial kingdom of God on earth, he encounters people turned toward God – the wheat, and he encounters people turned away from God – the weeds. People for God and people against God all growing up together in the garden of God’s kingdom.

The question is not, “Where did the weeds some from?” with its implicit search for someone or something to blame. The meaningful question is, “How did Jesus interact with the weeds?”

Never did Jesus pull on his gardener’s gloves, yank out the weeds and torch them. Though many weedy humans would plot to test or entrap him, Jesus never aimed to destroy them. Quite the contrary.  Jesus forgave their sin, cast out their demons, or at the very least he left them alone.  

Jesus devoted himself to cultivating the whole garden by teaching and preaching to great crowds, broadcasting  the seeds of his wisdom everywhere he went (see last Sunday’s blog post) without judgment or sorting the weeds from the wheat. 

Who knows how many weeds – how many sinners were waving in those crowds.  It didn’t seem to matter to Jesus. Ever so patiently he repeated his stories over and over again to the crowds, and he explained their meaning in great detail to the disciples. Jesus did not pull out the weeds. Patiently he preached to the weeds because in the weeds he saw the seeds of God’s kingdom on earth.

So what response is this meant to elicit from us?

I think we humans spend a lot of time being impatient with the weeds –wondering where they came from – why they are so stubborn and who is to blame for their presence.  We speculate as to their intentions (do they want to strangle or choke us?) We judge them and convict them. We tare them from our midst and throw them away.

Perhaps Jesus is suggesting that our time might be better spent if we nurtured the wheat and looked through his eyes to see the seeds in the midst of the weeds which  for me is very good news because frankly… some of the time I am not quite sure if I am a sheaf of wheat or a shock of weeds. 

At every principle worship service together, via zoom or facebook live, we make a general confession. And the thing is, we don’t ask for forgiveness for being ill-willed, for lying, cheating, deceiving, not even for stealing or murdering. We ask forgiveness for not loving God with our whole hearts and not loving our neighbors as our selves. Our sin is failure to love. Our sin is seeing and treating our selves and our neighbors as weeds.

Is there anyone in this garden who has never been a weed, not even for a minute?  OK then – let us pray

Merciful God, look with favor upon us, your weeds, see through your eyes of compassion our desire to be good seeds for your kingdom. Give us eyes like Yours to see the seeds of goodness hidden in the hearts of our own weedy selves and the weediness of others. For the sake of Your kingdom, have mercy on us and forgive us that together we and all people of all nations might cry, “Abba, Father, Thy Kingdom come.” Through Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen

If you found this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you.

Gospel text for Sunday 12 July 2020

Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23        Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Reflection        Jesus is not stingy with his seeds or with his words. Holding nothing back he broadcasts both seeds and words without judgment or concern about the lay of the land or the precondition of the listener.  How is Jesus able to do this?

I believe Jesus is able to extravagantly give himself away because he is not attached to outcome. He is fully aware that all manner of conditions will interfere with the fruitful propagation of seeds across the land, still he lavishly disperses them. Likewise, Jesus has no illusion that his words will take root in the hearts of all the people and change the world, still he freely disseminates his wisdom knowing that one seed can bring forth multitudes of grain, one person who hears and understands his words can generate boundless goodness. 

Now if Jesus is satisfied with impressing a few fruitful seeds and gainful listeners, I wonder why many of us think we have to come up with strategies and action plans to change the world? Instead of being stymied by the prospect of having to execute world transforming action plans, thereby consigning ourselves to endless head scratching, team meetings and entropy, what if we took Jesus’ seed spewing example to heart?

What if we decided to distribute our love and desire for goodness wholeheartedly, without judging the hearers nor the seeking visible effects of our love? 

Many years ago I had a twelve year old client (the youngest I ever saw)  who when introduced to me screamed hysterically and became violent. One year later I agreed to see him again. This time he sat across from me in silence, until he squeezed his substantial body under a chair, where he remained in silence for the duration of our meeting at which time I said, “Thank you for being with me today.” This monthly event proceeded unchanged for nearly a year except that eventually he would fall asleep under the chair, until one he day got under the chair, propped his head up and looked at me. I said, “It is good to see you.” I cannot remember what he said, but for the first time he did not look afraid. 

What does it take for our souls to feel safe, to come out of hiding and be seen? It takes whatever it takes. No treatment plan or program strategy will guarantee an outcome. All we can do is stand with Jesus at our side, refusing to be stingy with the seeds of our love, withholding judgment and forgetting about outcome. 

If you found this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below.  Thank you.  

Gospel text for Sunday 25 November 2018

John 18:33-37        Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Reflection        Power from above. Power from within. Power exercising violence and promoting fear. Power exercising compassion and promoting faith. Power over. Power with. Pilate and Jesus come from and stand in distinctly different kingdoms. It is no wonder they make no sense to each other, answering questions with questions and leaving us wrestling with words much as pundits wrangle with political positions.

I believe Jesus would roll his eyes, shrug his shoulders and walk away in frustration if he googled the lectionary texts for today and read, “Last Sunday After Pentecost, Christ the King.” Can you hear him sighing, “Two thousand years later and they still want to dress me up in regal robes and weigh me down with an Imperial Crown.  My kingdom is not from this world.”

Which begs another question, “What is a kingdom?” A kingdom is a grouping of individual life forms that share fundamental characteristics in common. We learned that in middle school science. There are five biological kingdoms; animals, plants, fungi, and protozoa and eucaryotic algea. Which begs the next question, “What are the fundamental characteristics that distinguish Jesus’ kingdom from Pilate’s?”

Jesus’ kingdom is  founded in the Law of Moses that provides five instructions for how people are  to relate with God and five more directions for how they are to treat one another; the Ten Commandments.  Jesus refines Moses’ Law in his famous sermon on the upside down beatitudes which proscribe preferential treatment to the most vulnerable; the poor, the meek, the mourning, the hungry, the merciful, the good hearted, the peacemakers and those persecuted for being good hearted. (Matt 5.3-10)

When we imagine Jesus’ kind of kingdom, we must admit it does not sound like any kingdom from here today. Anyone who calls him or herself king today would be flanked by body guards, riding in a black bulletproof SUV to an exclusive state dinner, which would be out of this world in only one way, ninety nine percent of the people would not be invited. 

The single-most distinguishing quality of Jesus’ kingdom is the gift of the Spirit of God risen in us all. Jesus, the Christ, governs within us, not over us. This stands in stark contrast to the conventional role of king, ruler or  sovereign like Pilate who claims ultimate authority over the people. But Jesus ministry is all about freeing and empowering the people, restoring the least, the lost and the lonely to wellness so they can fully and freely participate in their community. Everyone counts. Everyone votes because the Spirit of God is with everyone. 

Truly, Jesus’ kingdom is not from this world because if it were we would be fighting to prove his power over others. 

If you found this post to be meaningful please share by clicking on icons below. Thank you. 

Gospel Text for Sunday, July 17th, 2011

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!"