23 Jul SUNDAY, JULY, 23, 2023

I don’t like today’s parable. It uses labels like good and evil. It seeks to blame evil on one source, an enemy. And it suggests that people fall into categories of the same: good, evil, or the enemy. It also suggests the ultimate solution of destroying some and gathering up the rest.

There are many truths within the parable, however. Evil does take advantage of opportunity. It is most active when everyone else sleeps. It does dirty deeds, then disappears and the consequences of those deeds often aren’t apparent until later. These things are true. Plus, the theme of things not turning out exactly as planned always applies, so I’ve no quibble with that.

We don’t have to look farther than our own families to realize that people turn out differently even though they are products of like parents and raised basically the same. There’s no such thing as a family or field without weeds, so what was Jesus trying to prove? 

Sure, grains of wheat produce wheat, and weed seeds, weeds, but no person reflects such purity. No person turns out only with the best traits. People aren’t made Round-Up resistant and genetically modified, yet. We are an amalgamation of influences mostly beyond our control, a mixture of experiences and persons good and bad. Besides, people can become weeds after being sown as wheat and vice versa.

When questioned by his workers, the master is let off the hook. Without saying so explicitly, he implies, “I DID plant good seed in my field. There’s no other explanation possible than to say someone else, an adversary, came along and worked against my efforts.” I’ve said the same thing about my kids. The plan was to grow a successful product. In this regard, the Bible plays like a broken record: Be productive; be fruitful. Better be of use, or else. 

Did anyone ever tell you, “Make yourself useful?” It was a phrase I only had to hear once and I can’t even tell you whose voice once said it. But just hearing the words convinced me for the rest of my life that if I’m not contributing, I don’t hold value. I think many of us feel that way. It’s why many of us have to learn how to accept being unable. 

The process of aging and illness both force the otherwise capable person into dependency. Each must learn to submit and accept their personal worth regardless of their ability to contribute. In effect, in old age and infirmity, we become weeds. As a baby boomer myself who hopes to live up in years, I’ll be the first to admit that one day, what I’ll do best is take up space, use resources, and require attention. 

So here’s the dilemma: Christianity reinforces the idea of being useful or producing a good return. It often compels followers to try and prove themselves by working hard, giving generously and willingly sacrificing so God will approve of us and include us in the harvest rather than winnow us out with weeds and chaff. (Sigh.) 

Whoever developed this model knew that fear of judgment will wake up something inside the psyche. Most individuals grow up hoping to be valued. It’s one of our most basic needs. Many of us grew up when being labeled a bum was the same as calling somebody a worthless human being. 

Being told to make myself useful in effect, made me an overly responsible person. All my life, I have found usefulness to be the greatest measure of my worth. It’s why I studied nursing, went to cosmetology school, and probably became a pastor. 

Back to the parable. The plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. They weren’t pulled right away so as not to uproot the wheat. Instead, they would be collected first at harvest time, bundled and burned. It’s not like the weeds could repent, become baptized or converted unto salvation along with the wheat. They were doomed. 

Knowing that belonging is another of people’s most basic needs, the threat of being left out of what is gathered into the barn is meant to jolt our psyche. Who wants to be deemed not only useless but fit for nothing but destruction? Does God see some people as worthless or purely evil? 

Knowing that no one is purely good or purely evil seems to make this parable unsuitable to describe children of God’s kingdom. The explanation offers no encouragement or alternative. It only speaks of eternal separation and suffering. Saying the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father sounds like being deemed righteous is deserved, as is being burned up with fire.

I see God as the ultimate pragmatist. If something works or is practical, it’s a keeper. If it does not, it’s rejected. But God is also an idealist. Short-term goals exist within long-term visions. If there’s no gain from eternal suffering, there’s no purpose. If punishment is the aim, then reward would seem its opposite. But as Lutherans, we believe righteousness is undeserved and relies fully on the merit of Jesus. 

Does God see some people as worthless or purely evil? 

There’s no doubt that evil must be destroyed. Evil in its pure form, anyway. Evil that causes sin and does harm. If God wants to prevent harm by destroying sin, how could the same God want to cause harm? 

Footnotes in the ESV say that, “The weeds referred to in the parable were probably darnel, a weedy rye grass with poisonous black seeds which resembles wheat in its early growth, but is easily distinguished from it at maturity.” In that case, it makes sense that God didn’t want the weeds to get harvested earlier or poisonous seeds mixed up with healthy grains. 

Again, the goal is to prevent harm and death. Finally, some consistency. As much as we want things to be clear cut into categories of good and evil, right and wrong, trash or treasure, few things are. Evil is a spectrum where one person compares what they do wrong as better or worse than another person. Fellow inmate McMillan decided Nassar deserved to be stabbed after Nassar made comments while watching Wimbleton reminded McMillan of Nassar’s crime. McMillan compared himself to Nassar, deemed himself more righteous, and decided to inflict punishment. 

Only God is perfect and righteous and we can’t compare ourselves to God. While some may be deemed more useful, all are valuable. Even by our standards, few deserve the death penalty. What it does is accomplish but to remove an individual from our midst forever? Perhaps God tries to motivate humans from both ends: via the negative threat of judgment and the positive notion of being valued, accepted, and part of God’s kingdom by rightful belonging.

Our hope of being chosen can only lie in the fact that God created us to be his children in the first place. That was the purpose of human beings being sown upon the earth, so that they could one day join the triune God in heaven. People’s lives are not an agricultural commodity where some make it to harvest and others must perish in order to keep the crop pure and worth its market value.

Only the idea of purification makes sense. Suffering may occur for a time until goodness is revealed or purity is accomplished. Until every life makes sense on God’s terms so that every person planted on earth or born into heaven can live eternally alongside each other without threat of harm, sin or destruction. 

That’s the illustration on the last page of the story entitled, “The Kingdom of Heaven.” There’s a silo full of wheat where each head developed and grew large, where the kernel concentrated lots of nutritious components, where the bran, germ and core are all suitable for use.” 

Seems like we just can’t get away from the idea of being useful to either God or each other, can we? Think about this. In the parable, it was up to the master/Son of Man to decide how to best manage the field/world and to determine when the end came. 

The children of the evil one are not human beings at all. They can only be classified as demons, fallen angels who follow Satan the devil, whose name means Accuser. On the other hand, the Son of Man has angelic beings of his own ready to do his will. 

So, ultimately, the causes of sin and all evildoers must be eliminated, made right or purified so that righteousness alone will prevail. The end goal is purity, it seems. Harmony, sameness, goodness. 

In the parable of the sower, when seeds fell among weeds, the weeds choked the life out of them. That wasn’t good because life is the goal, not death. Lasting, well-rooted life that cannot be snatched away by evil tricks or winged creatures, that lasts because it has depth enough to overcome trials, that does not worry about its earthly existence so much that it grows down a false path, but one that leads to full maturity, a harvest, multiplied abundance and joyful gathering.

At any given point in time leading up to the end of the age or harvest, good and evil may resemble each other and be hard to tell apart. I’m very careful at home not to compost as much as one pulled weed. Weeds are too easy to grow and hard to get rid of. The last thing I wish to do is spread more of them around when what I desire is to see the plants I want, those that make pretty flowers, that fill my yard space with different heights and colors that please my senses. 

I’m particular about what I help to grow and try to discourage weeds, but I can never get rid of them all. Weeds come with the territory. They come from beyond the space I claim, from above, on the wind, from down the street, from animals, even my own shoes and clothing. The only way to guarantee no weeds will grow in soil is to buy sterilized dirt known as potting soil which is very expensive. 

So why did God create or allow weeds in the first place? By definition, a weed is not bad or without value. They are species of plants that can rapidly cover bare soil and protect it from erosion. They replenish organic matter and serve as food, even when we are not their consumers. Do I appreciate seeing weeds sprout in the area where I planted wildflower seeds this year? No. But did I invite them to take root by loosening the dirt and providing a regular source of water? Yes.

It’s worth noting that in this parable, God’s kingdom is like a garden. I get it. It’s nice when things are nicely organized, well chosen for suitable conditions, bred and cultivated to produce the best yield. The kingdom of God will be more like a garden than the entire earth’s land mass. It won’t contain everything it possibly could or else it wouldn’t be what it is by definition, a place or plot measured and prepared with the intention of growing certain things in particular by choice. 

So, I must concede that God doesn’t desire weeds to be harvested from the garden. Once planted, they’re allowed to grow, but ultimately, they cannot be allowed to propagate. Yet God does not keep people who are lousy parents from having kids. So I have to believe that the bottom line really is, that each must be allowed to grow into maturity. 

Until it’s time to clear the field and harvest the yield, every seed gets the same soil, fertilizer, water and attention. No one is prejudged, only when the time comes for full ripenes, will it be determined who makes it into the barn. And we know that a barn is never the final destination. There is much that is yet to be determined after the time of harvest.  Let us pray. 

Dear Jesus, honest to God, we want to be of value and to join you in your kingdom. Help us not be consumed with deserving either reward or punishment, being useful or worthy. We want to please you and be among those gathered in your presence. Give us  place and identity through your Son and his righteousness. May we live doing good as your children now and forever. In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen.