Sermon: Trinity VII (A) – Sunday, 23rd July 2023 – St Paul’s, Alverthorpe
Eucharist / Sermon
“A sower went out to sow….”
Oh, wait a moment, that was last week.
Sometimes the Parables seem to be very similar….
Jesus is talking about sowing seed….again….
It’s Part Two of the Sowing Parables…
This time, about the weeds that grow through the crops… causing problems….
Jesus speaks to those around Him with pictures and ideas that they understand….
He brings what is hidden into the light, and places it alongside what was already in clear view.
The land, the crops, the toil of growing something good…
And thus, the tension between good and evil – within humanity.
That is where a connection is being made.
And it is just as relevant for us today.
A gardening metaphor sprung into my mind as soon as I read this passage…. As it always does!
I don’t know about you, but in our garden, despite our best efforts, we are assailed by Ground Elder – that most pernicious of weeds that remains in the soil in the most minute root fragments….
Slowly regenerating and seeping though everything….
It never goes away… and the reason why it can be so difficult to remove, its that it weaves its way through the roots of other plants.
It is possible to carefully dig it up…. You can remove all the leaves to weaken it… and of course there are chemicals that will kill it… if that’s your thing.
Yet, like other highly successful plants, it finds opportunities, and grows around the plants that we don’t want to damage….and it seems to know this!
The only way to be sure, is to wait until the growing season ends, and then dig up everything, removing every last trace….. and then hope for the best.
What then to do with this metaphor?
The weeds sown amongst crops…. Surely this has been done on purpose to bring us down!
The “enemy” that creeps through abundant life…. Diminishing it…. Constricting and sucking up all the resources….
Dig it up now…. Or wait….be patient… the right time will come….
It’s the waiting….
I don’t imagine that those who heard the words of Jesus were particularly patient… they wanted change right then!
In the parable, it is the slaves that offer to uproot the weeds, for the Master, to save his crops.
They don’t own the land or its fruit, for which they work hard – and even harder to get rid of this immediate problem!
Do they bear some responsibility…. or are they afraid they will be blamed for a poor harvest?
Do we, like those slaves, display the same short-term, self-involved, outlook – that could destroy the harvest for the sake of a weed-free purity?
Or have we yet become the children that Jesus – the Master – calls us to be, with an inheritance of a future Kingdom of Heaven?
There is a zeal for uprooting the weeds…. Calling down fire and judgement….
All around Jesus there were revolutionaries waiting in the darkness, with hidden weapons, itching to take on their oppressors – aching to make a change….
Should God intervene NOW and at every time disaster occurs… or when evil clearly prevails?
We await the judgement at the end of the age….. not in this minute. Don’t we?
For the early Christian communities, to whom Mathews Gospel was aimed, there would be a time of joy to come…
Their persecutors – their “enemies” – would receive their due punishment – and those who believed would be vindicated.
It is Gods judgement – not anyone else, and Jesus always pointed to this.
What about now? Who are our enemies? The weeds in our lives…?
I think we know…
They are the usual suspects – the cynicism and secularism of the world, built upon our internal demons of idolatry, pride, selfishness and greed. Yes…and many more!
However we view the tragedies of this world – near and fear – and in our own lives, what is it we are asking of God when pray for God to come to our aid in the battles and revolutions we encounter everyday?
There are times when God does act ‘immediately’ – mostly we think of the living dynamic within Jesus, God and the Spirit.
We also see where God acted in the past…
Yet we seem very eager for God to act now…. In the near future….
Usually because we want to see a change to awful situations – the innocent rescued…. Evil intent thwarted… and more so now… the effects of humanity on the world and its environment around us – turned back or…. Something!
So how does that make us feel about God…? God has acted in the past…. What now?
How do we feel about waiting…. Being patient… and helping others to know this…. To also be patient?
The newcomer in church, seeking some spiritual intention…. Asking questions…. Will you tell them about how we wait for the Kingdom of God… we all need a bit of help with those discussions….
And how many times have you encountered the question: “where is God and why doesn’t He do something about this?”
What do you say? How do you respond with patience in the face of immediate need?
I have no quick answers for that. Do you?
Together we can seek for an understanding of what the Kingdom of God might be like?
Listening to what Jesus says…
We know we must wait….
I cannot consider myself as a wonderful plant, or a cherished crop – hopeful for the harvest at the end of the age – without full knowledge and awareness of the weeds growing around my feet, and up and up…. To consume me… in this life… if I let them – for that would mean that all I am fit for is the fiery furnace!
No – as a Christian disciple – trying daily to follow Christ and hear His voice, seeking the face of God and living fully in the Spirit…. ?Then I have hope for more than the gnashing of teeth and outer darkness.
I know the weeds…. The ‘enemies’ for they are visible in me….. as much as I see them around me and in the world…. they are known.
They may not always be visible and I can get caught out by them – I may even think that I have thwarted them…. That I have moved on from pride and selfishness and greed and all the other horribleness that I can get buried in!
As a gardener I seek to ensure they do not take over and remove me from the sight of the living God!
Patience…. Waiting….thats what we do….
As Paul says: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;” and again, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now”.
Waiting…. And waiting….
We are all a fine blend of wheat and weeds – or whatever mix of good and bad, light and dark you might prefer!
The tensions between our true selves and our shadow selves will never be resolved in this life.
To see both aspects within is keeps us from thinking too highly of self – but also from dismissing ourselves as awful, beyond hope.
Real life is a mess.
There are plenty of things we might like to change in ourselves and in those around us… often because we don’t like those aspects… or we believe that to change that person will make everything better – for them… and of us!
It is much harder to live with both good and bad in tension…. Alongside one another… as patient disciples…
If you seek the judgment of God – or a divine intervention; or even the Rapture…today, then maybe that’s a bit presumptuous… that what we want is what God wants…. In our time…. To our prescription.
If you are waiting for the harvest in God’s own time… then when it happens, whatever that might be, we can hope that all the weeds and crops are ready…
God is neither a sadistic monster, eager to throw His beloved creation into the fire – nor an overly indulgent parent that lets His children get away with murder.
The weeds of our own making…. are just as visible to God as those evils done on a vast scale by dictators and nation states.
Yet God knows us…. And walks with us for all our moments, all our days…. Tending the garden of of His Creation, seen and held with patient love.
The judgement of God will not be as we imagine or even hope.
But waiting is hard
We want to see signs in this age, and in our lives.
We pray… not just wanting answers, but for some small, silent validation….
My sisters and brothers – Have courage…
We know, deep in our souls, that our faith – so often torn and challenged – will come right….
We will be transformed….and we will experience the glory that will be revealed to us all, in time.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Photo by Andres Siimon on Unsplash