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Grace, mercy, and peace be upon you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning is from the Gospel reading, the continuation of the parables in Matthew’s Gospel. You may be seated.
Truly, one of the most difficult things that you or I learned—well, I guess for that matter we’re still learning—is patience. You remember… Your parents would tell you, “Wait until tomorrow,” but tomorrow to you and me at that age seemed like it was eternity. Then when we got a little older, we could get by with a day, but weeks and months began to take forever. And our patience didn’t always go with it. Our trust in the promises wasn’t always there either.
And then isn’t it interesting, as we’ve gotten older, time seems to go so fast that, and yet there are times when you and I find ourselves struggling with entrusting things into the Father’s hands. In spite of our ability to see time differently as older adults, we still struggle with entrusting things into the Father’s hands. You and I regularly must repent of such distrust, of such impatience upon God. We know we heard good things come to those who wait. We know that. But as Christians, we know this: those good things may not happen in this lifetime, brothers and sisters. This morning’s parable talks about the good things that will happen at the end of time.
So yes, we regularly must repent, for we struggle to entrust things into the Father’s loving hands, which means we no longer are in control. Now, if we think that we’ve got it all knit up, isn’t it interesting how God always allows us to come into contact with that part of us that still struggles to entrust things into his loving arms? This morning’s parable addresses the impatience and struggle of you and me in general. It makes it very clear that this is not just about that era; it’s about the church on earth today. It’s about the local parish. It’s about St. Paul Parish family.
Our local parish, the church on earth, is made up of, as the text says so clearly, weeds and wheat. They both coexist. The problem is, you and I don’t get to know who the weed is and who the wheat is. The only person who knows that you and I know who is a weed and a wheat is you yourself. You know it about yourself, and that’s it. You don’t know it about anybody else. And yet the text says they both grow up together.
The difficulty with this text is that whether it is the sins of unbelievers or the sins of believers, the church exhibits confusing behavior. The church on earth, the local parish, exhibits confusing behavior because of the sins of unbelievers within her and the sins of believers that are within her. Not only does it exhibit confusing behavior, but it appears to the world as if the local parish or the church on earth is flawed. Oh my goodness, do we have stories about the church, don’t we? And boy, do we judge with verdict as if we were judge and jury together about the church.
You’ve heard it from people: “Oh, when I was younger, my parents forced me to go to church.” “My church that I grew up in is nothing like what it should be.” And then you have other people who say, “I love my church that I grew up in,” or “I love the church.” And you have no idea whether the person who says those words is a believer or an unbeliever, but you know about yourself. We know about where our heart is at. That’s really the only heart that matters in this text, isn’t it? Your heart. My heart. Not anybody else’s.
Who’s the enemy in this parable? Is it God? Is it the believer? It’s the unbeliever. No. The only enemy in this entire text is the one who sowed the weeds—Satan. But boy, does he like us to look everywhere else. He likes us to look at those and them and those and them. And he even likes us to look inside of our own heart because we sometimes think we’re the enemy as well. And we’re right.
Hmm. Now, this parable was spoken to two different groups: the crowds and his disciples. It was explained only to the disciples. So what did the crowd and the disciples glean from this that’s pretty easy to understand? One, Jesus makes it very clear that the reign of God is happening now because weeds have been sown, but wheat has been sown, and the wheat is growing now. His kingdom is happening now. It’s not going to happen someday; it’s been happening and will continue to happen until the end of time. His reign is now.
So for those people that he is speaking this to, they can understand that very clearly. Secondly, he’s inviting people to follow him. Why would they not? Their interest is piqued; their curiosity is whetted, and they’re wanting to know about what does this mean? And he’s ultimately saying, “Trust me, follow me, I’ll tell you.” Finally, he makes it very clear that in this parable that I just spoke to you is the reality that there will come an end to this world.
The very things that cause you and cause me confusion in this world, in this life—but let’s be honest, what caused us confusion in our parish family and in the church on earth—will be finally resolved at the end of time. All sin has been dealt with, and the consequences therein will be dealt with on Judgment Day. The disciples take Jesus aside in the house, and they ask him, “What does this mean? Explain it to us.” Well, Jesus explains it to him.
These things are true about this parable: this represents this, this represents this. The obvious part is that wheat and weeds grow together. And the one responsible for such a thing? The Lord of the church—Jesus. If he’s the one that sowed the wheat, he tells the servants, “Don’t dig it up. Allow it to grow.” Why did he allow the evil one to sow the weeds among the wheat? I don’t know.
A better question to ask is, why does God allow sin to exist in the church and in the local parish? Can’t he not stamp it out? Because whether it’s the sin of an unbeliever or a sin of a believer, you know the church on earth is— The local parish struggles.
Now, lest we think there was ever a golden era, lest we think there was a time when it wasn’t as struggling, that’s pretty naive. The church has always struggled. You who have been members of St. Paul parish family for many, many decades have told me the flow and the ebb of St. Paul. You’ve told me the difficult times that she has experienced and the peaceful times that she has experienced. You who are married and have children know and have told me the peaceful times of your family, and you’ve also told me the painful times of your family. It also flows and ebbs too, doesn’t it, in a family?
And what’s the church made up of on earth? Sinful families. So if sinful families have this, then the church on earth will have this, and our parish family will have this. That’s the point of the parable. God allows it, and I don’t know why. God does not tell us why in this parable. He tells us who’s in control. He makes that abundantly clear. He’s responsible for sending the angels out to gather in the weeds and to gather in the wheat. He’s in control.
But he doesn’t tell us why he allows this to happen. Why? I don’t know why some of us have had to deal with divorce in our family. I don’t know why some of us have had to deal with nothing but seemingly primrose path of life. I don’t know why some parishes seem to look like they’re always more golden than ours and others seem to look so much worse than ours.
No different than I don’t know why your children act their way and my children act my way and I act this way and you act that way. None of us except the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us, reminds us we’re all sinners in need of repentance. This mystery of why God does this is only answered in that he’s the one responsible, but he’s the one who is in control. He’s the one who is in control. He’s encouraging us. He’s reassuring us that that day will come, and the conflict will be over and everything will be set right.
All of the things that cause us consternation in this life as believers gathered together around an altar will be resolved, but not until his time. As impatient people who fear entrusting everything into God’s hands, that we don’t know the answers to reminds us to take the long view of life.
This morning in our Bible study, we were talking about Jesus. Jesus did all this preaching and teaching, and it wasn’t until the time had come, the very end, that we see a side of Jesus that’s not shown in any other part, and that’s him in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Lord, if it be thy will, take the cup. If not, let thy will be done.” He doesn’t ever go there throughout his entire ministry, but we see the passion at that last moment because the time had come. Did he feel conflict?
Well, let’s remember, Jesus shared bread with the very one who denied him three times and the very one who betrayed him by a kiss, and he never stopped loving them. He didn’t pick sides. He didn’t justify anything, but he loved, forgave, and showed mercy. It’s Satan who wants us to judge, to choose, and not forgive and show mercy. That’s a sin, and that’s a sin of yours and mine as believers.
Let’s be totally honest and upfront, brothers and sisters. It shocks us to see sin among us, to experience the sin of other people among us. You’re more than willing to live in a family like that, and you’re more than willing to live in a marriage like that. Why should we not live in a parish family like that? Because that is what Jesus came to save: repentant sinners.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? As a repentant believer, you and I know something, but the world does not know. Because they’ve not been enlightened by the Holy Spirit. They’ve not been baptized into Christ Jesus. They’ve not eaten and drank his flesh and blood with the bread and wine. They’ve not had the word planted home in their heart. And that is this: you as a sinner, you know where sin is dealt with.
Sin is dealt with here. Sin is dealt with here. Sin is dealt with here. Your sin that you struggle with and my sin that I struggle with and all of the inconsistencies of both of us. Here’s where it’s dealt with. Because here’s where sin has said to us, “I forgive you.” As repentant sinners, you and I know something that the rest of the world is completely oblivious and sees as unsatisfying and unspectacular. And that is here, reconciliation takes place between us and God. No longer are we at odds.
But you know what else? Here is where you and I are reconciled as one. Here is where we are made one again. Here is where judgment, here is where verdict, here is where sin is dealt with. And reconciliation takes place here. And that is comforting. That’s the hope of which Paul spoke about in the epistle reading. That’s the promise that’s proclaimed by Jesus, the Lord of the church.
The parable is ultimately saying this to you and me: the Lord of this sinful parish, St. Paul, is bigger than any act that we have done or will do. He forgives it. We who repent, he forgives. And he’s bigger than any act we have done. He’s bigger than your marriage that’s a success but still has sin, and he’s bigger than your marriage that has failed and still has sin within you. He’s bigger than your family where your children grew up great and wonderful and your children who drifted away.
He’s bigger than any of us and all of our inconsistencies because he’s the Lord of the church, and in this parable, he makes it clear, “I’m in control.” But he doesn’t tell us why. He just says, “Trust me, I’m loving and I’m gracious; trust me.” For all the times that we feel we look like a failure and a flaw in this world, he’s bigger than our failures and our flaws.
To knit us up, to make us right—not to the world’s eyes, mind you—make us right to the Father’s eyes. The world will always judge what the world will always judge, but God is the one that matters what he judges. And he is bigger than your and my angst within us.
Finally, for all the mysteries that he does not make known to us, but calls us to entrust them into his hands, he reminds us again, “I’m bigger than that. I’m bigger than confusion. I’m bigger than mystery. I’m bigger than anything that inhabits that gray matter between your ears. And I deal with it here in this place.”
That you may find not chaos, but peace. Not inconsistency, but consistency. That’s comforting, brothers and sisters. And that’s the beauty of this parable. He is in control and will bring it about in his time.
In the name of Jesus, who always accepts sinners. Amen.
