There is a tendency among some
groups to seek purity and homogeneity among its members. Especially in a church
shouldn't each person be a wholesome example of perfected righteousness and
faithfulness? Shouldn't flawed and peculiar individuals be weeded out?
The parable of the weeds and
wheat is a parable of caution; it suggests that for the most part you and I
refrain from uncalled-for judgments as to who is a weed and who is wheat. The
parable was directed against religious tendencies toward becoming exclusive and
pure as attempted by the Pharisees and Essenes of Jesus' day. The question
posed is whether you are good seed sown by Christ or evil seed sown by Satan.
Moreover, we are reminded that you and I do not have the ability to recognize
and eliminate all the real weeds and that sometimes our attempts
to dig up the weeds cause more harm than good. We are further informed that
Christ's Church is a mixed body of good and bad.
We too often forget that the
Church is not an English garden in which the flowers are carefully arranged and
in which a weed or an unclipped shrub is not to be seen. The garden is striking
because it fits the design of its creator and all the parts fit together as one
body. The garden is also notable because there are no weeds to detract from the
flowers or suck out their life. The Church and world that we inhabit are not
English gardens; weeds are everywhere.
The imperfect Church stands in
contrast to the kingdom of the Father in which all evil persons have been
removed. The parable calls us to carry on our Christian mission faithfully in
spite of mixed results. Ultimately, it is up to God and his reapers, not to you
and me, to distinguish the worthy from the unworthy.
A wise message, for the
Christian Church itself does not have a commendable record as a weed detector.
Recall some of the people regarded by various past Christian purists as weedy:
left-handed people, because left-handedness was believed to be a sign of the
devil; all women, because they were perceived as defective males; divorced
persons, because they failed to keep their vows; couples with no children,
because they had failed to be fruitful and multiply; scientists who failed to
conform to Church doctrine; bankers who charged any interest on a loan
and deserved eternal punishment; all non-Christians and dissenters; and, those
who celebrated Christmas, to mention but a few. You see, everyone here this
morning is at least a bit weedlike in some purist's eyes, past or present. We
may even see some people as weeds and attempt to remove them from our lives,
only to find that some of these were actually productive plants in God's field.
An observer of Christian
history has commented that "purists," usually fringe groups and extremists
obsessed with their supposed impeccable judgments, have caused more setbacks to
the Church's mission than any devil could hope for. Among today's
conservatives, the Episcopal Church has fringe purists obsessed with the 1928
Prayer Book, abortion, the ordination of women, and the ordination of
individuals of all sexual orientations. Among progressives, the
Episcopal Church includes peripheral purists addicted to rapidly
overturning traditional conventions, including neutering the English language
and providing a liturgy that blesses same-gender relationships. As offensive as
some or all of these and other current issues may be to any of us, they require
thorough, time-consuming explorations. However, the extreme right appears to
regard their opponents as weeds to be plucked up and cast aside, the extreme
left views their opposites in like manner.
On the other hand, we may be
convinced that someone is indeed pure wheat, and they are suddenly unmasked.
Individuals exposed for calculated wrongdoing are often known as family persons
and churchgoers. That they are guilty is a shock to those who perceived them as
wheat. The word in Jesus' parable that is interpreted "weed" should actually be
"tare," the bearded darnel plant. In its immature stages it looked almost
identical to wheat. Only when the tare put on its seed could it be
distinguished from the wheat. Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruit."
The fruit of those who appear as wheat might actually be toxic. All the more
need for caution in making definitive judgments!
What is the difference
between a weed and a plant? Bethesda's gardener Keith Risley told me that a
weed is invasive and doesn't belong where it is, and weeds might damage
desirable plantings. Someone else commented that weeds are wild; you don't have
to plant them or cultivate them, and they're prolific. Moreover, they just take
up space. They produce no fruit to eat, generally, no flower of notable beauty.
They monopolize space that could be better occupied by a more useful plant.
Yet, I must say, that the weeds in the vacant lot next to my home have provided
an attractiveness that rocky earth would not.
Does today's parable from
Matthew call for total passivity in the face of all human behavior? When
national and diocesan treasurers steal church funds, should we await God's
judgment at the end of time? Does this mean that we remain wavering,
indifferent or silent to mean-spiritedness or other behaviors that
unnecessarily and significantly divide, exhaust, or sidetrack a congregation's
ministries? There are persons in many types of organizations including schools
and churches who believe that they have an inalienable right to act out their
unresolved hostilities or control needs wherever they land. They may wreak
havoc in many settings and believe that whatever group they're in is an apt
arena for their chronic combativeness or dictatorial ways. Does the parable
call us to accommodate their behavior or to sidestep individuals who exploit
others financially, emotionally, or physically?
Elsewhere in Matthew we
hear Jesus teaching anything but passivity. Remember when he taught that if a
church member sins against you, does not listen to you, other witnesses, or
finally the church, "let such a one be to you as a Gentile and tax collector."
(18:15ff.) Also, do you recall Matthew's account of Jesus driving out
the money changers and others from the Temple? (21:12ff.) These are
instances of decisive intervention, not of benign neglect.
I suspect that in the
context of the entire Gospel of Christ, Our Lord in no way meant to imply in
this parable that weeds should be allowed to destroy the garden in whole
or in part. Weeds growing alongside the wheat is one thing; destroying the
wheat is another. Such devastating weeds must be rooted out with utmost care.
Now and then individuals with weedy behavior must be confronted and be told to
pull back, engage in disciplined self-examination, and, in some cases, to
withdraw until their contentious and domineering needs are sufficiently
tempered.
Whenever you and I are tempted
to make judgments not required of us, when we are inclined to establish our
version of purity and homogeneity in the Church, we should exercise utmost
caution. Not necessarily weeds at all, the extremists and those of us in
between might come to welcome the spectrum of informed beliefs, practices, and
lives permissible within the deliberately untidy Anglican Communion: a spectrum
of diversity in unity, a rainbow of people agreeing to differ about what they
suspect to be the mind of God, a community expressing our unity in Eucharistic
worship. And when, as a last resort, it becomes truly necessary to do some
weeding, when circumstances demand intervention to avert destruction, we must
be prayerfully confident as to who is called to be that gardener, one who dares
to take on the responsibility for reaping at this time in God's Holy Name.
Otherwise, my fellow parishioners, let God be God; you and I are counseled to
let divine judgments take place on God's schedule! Amen.