It Begins with the Seed

Proper 11A

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 St. Paul’s, Smithfield, NC 7/23/2017 Jim Melnyk: 

“It Begins with the Seed”

As most of you know, Lorraine and I spent three weeks this past June at The School of Theology in Sewanee, TN, working toward our Doctors of Ministry degrees.  One of my classes was titled, People of the Land.  We explored issues of agricultural and environmental sustainability and ethics as pertained in scripture as well as in contemporary writings.  Our class spent two sessions at the University Farm on campus – one session as an orientation, and the second to actually work the farm.  I ended up working with several others weeding a plot of land planted with seeds that had been stored away in local rock shelters as far back as 8 thousand years ago.

Creeping along on our hands and knees we worked our way down the neatly arranged rows of plants. 

I had never come across either of the two varieties of lambsquarter that had been planted, nor have I had much experience with the three varieties of amaranth before – except, perhaps, the one commonly known as pigweed.  Most everyone today would call all of them weeds, and would want them out of their gardens.  Yet there is evidence of similar varieties of plants going back 12 thousand years in the eastern woodlands of North America, and they were cultivated for food as early as 3-5 thousand years ago.  The leaves of all five varieties can be eaten like any other greens we might find in the grocery store, and the seeds from the plants, much like quinoa, can be ground into flour or boiled like a porridge. 

So, what’s that all have to do with the gospel for today?  Ah, the proof, we might say, is in the porridge. 

While weeding away, Dr. Becky Wright remarked how most people work hard at pulling plants such as the amaranth and lambsquarter out of their gardens, seeing them as useless and annoying weeds. 

Interestingly enough, while working we would come upon other plants that had found their own way into this part of the garden – things like tomato plants – and we were pulling them up along with all the other weeds that threatened the preferred crops.  Lord knows it pained us to pull healthy tomato plants from the ground – though some were saved for transplanting.  It seemed comical to leave in the ground plants we have always thought of as weeds, and it felt a bit sacred to touch – and to taste the leaves of plants raised from 8 thousand year old seeds – “weeds” that once again might become a regional, sustainable food source.

What all this tells me – what I hope it tells all of us – is that sometimes it’s more than a little difficult to tell the weeds from the plants – or in the gospel’s case, the weeds from the wheat.  Sometimes we have to rely on the judgment of those who know more about crops than we do – both in the real world of crop management, as well as in the real world of theological metaphor.

In today’s parable it all begins with the seeds, and like last week, we do well to not get caught up in the explanation in the second half of our reading for the morning.  Parables by definition are meant to be open-ended – be multi-vocal – have multiple meanings.  Like last week’s parable about the sower, the attached explanation tries to turn Jesus’ parable into an allegory with one set meaning, and it’s most likely a later addition meant to explain why everyone isn’t jumping on board with Jesus, and why some early Jesus followers are facing persecutions. 

In the story a landowner’s enemy sows darnel seeds throughout the farmer’s wheat field.  Darnel is a terrible weed that mimics wheat in its early growth, and it wraps its roots around the wheat’s roots system, making it impossible to pull out without taking the wheat along with it.  For a wealthy landowner such an act would mean a troublesome loss of profit from that field.  For a poor landowner it could mean starvation for his family.  Either way, it’s a terrible thing when humans use food as a weapon.

Jesus’ parable quickly moves from a story about farming to a metaphor about how we live with one another in this world.  How the field got the way it did isn’t as important as how the landowner decides to deal with the problem.  Obviously there’s a bit of commentary about how cruelly we can act toward one another – we wonder, “Why in the world would someone be so insidious?”  But more to the point, it’s a parable about not being too swift to judge – and finally, about trusting God’s judgment in the end. 

As my current homiletics professor has written, “Heaven, it seems, can wait.  We cannot.  We worry about how the field looks or believe the weeds will overwhelm the wheat every time” and we want to rush to judgment.  But in reality, it’s not our job to reap either the wheat or the weeds – especially the weeds, because theological weeding is such a powerful temptation.  “Of course this doesn’t mean we make no distinction between faithful and sinful behavior, stop teaching our children right from wrong,” or stop holding one another accountable when we cause others pain.  “It means that the eternal difference it makes is not our decision, and we can stop acting as if it does” (Bill Brosend, Conversations with Scripture: The Parables). 

Author Megan McKenna tells a story that also starts with the seeds rather than the plants: “There was a woman who wanted peace in the world and peace in her heart and all sorts of good things, but she was frustrated. The world seemed to be falling apart.  Sound familiar?

One day she decides to go shopping. (Isn’t that how Americans deal with stress?  We go shopping?) She walks into a store and is surprised to see Jesus behind the counter. Finally she gets up her nerve and asks, ‘Excuse me, are you Jesus?’

‘I am.’

‘Do you work here?’

‘No,’ Jesus says, ‘I own the store.’

‘Oh, what do you sell in here?’

‘Well, just about anything!’

‘Anything?’

‘Yes, anything you want. What do you want?’

She says, ‘I don’t know.’

‘Well,’ Jesus replies, ‘feel free, walk up and down the aisles, make a list, see what it is you want, and then come back and we’ll see what we can do for you.’

She does just that, walking up and down the aisles. There is peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, clean air, and careful use of resources. By the time she gets back to the counter, she has a long list. Jesus takes the list, skims through it, looks up at her, and smiles. ‘No problem.’ And then he bends down behind the counter and picks out all sorts of things, stands up, and lays out some packets on the counter.

She asks, ‘What are these?’

Jesus replies, ‘Seed packets. This is a catalog store.’

She says, ‘You mean I don’t get the finished product?’

‘No, this is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like. I give you the seeds. You plant them. You go home and nurture them and help them grow, and someone else reaps the benefit.’

 ‘Oh,’ she says. And she turns and leaves the store without buying anything” (Isabel Anders, Synthesis 5/6/2012).

The “wonderfully good news” from today’ gospel lesson is that “as much as [we] might at times like to be the one who separates the weeds and the wheat, the sheep and the goats, the righteous and the sinner, it’s not in [our] job description” (Brosend).  In the kingdom of heaven, it’s not our job to judge. 

But as we learned from last week’s parable, it is, however, our job to sow the seeds of the gospel with joyful abandon – haphazardly, graciously, and with great abundance – talking about, and living out in our communities, the teachings and great love of Jesus.  We dream the gospel dream of God, and we plant the seeds.  We water the seeds faithfully, and leave the growing to God.  And sometimes – maybe a lot of times – there will be weeds – and we need to be careful and wise about how quick we are to start pulling away at them.

As McKenna’s story so clearly reminds us, God will not coerce us into buying or sowing the seeds, any more than God stops us from judging one another on our worst days.  And God doesn’t expect us to be eternal weeders.  God in Christ plants the seed in our hearts and then calls us to plant the seed wherever and whenever we can.  It’s our job to proclaim the grace and love of God, and to trust God to help that seed flourish in people’s lives.