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July 24, 2005 M. Sidney McCollum

“The Call to Faithfulness”

Matt. 13:10-17, 24-30, & 34-43

We are examining Jesus’ parables of the kingdom as they are recorded in Mt. 13. Remember that the setting is the lakeside, and Jesus is sitting in a boat a few feet from the shore, and speaking to a crowd which is assembled on the bank. In Matthew’s relating of this, he told them several parables, and there was discussion between the parables. Matthew relates some of the discussion; presumably there was a good deal more.

This morning, we preserve a little of how the crowds felt with multiple parables, because we pick up a discussion following one parable, then we move to the next parable and its explanation.

Mt. 13:10-17 follows the telling of the parable of the sower. It tells of a public Q&A exchange between Jesus and the disciples. The lectionary leaves this section out, but I don’t think it should be skipped as we go through the parables of chapter 13.

Before we read, let me suggest a focus question: Why does Jesus speak in parables, and what does that tell us about people, especially ourselves?

(Text of Mt. 13:10-17, NRSV)

(10)Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (11)He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. (12)For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. (13)The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, not do they understand.’ (14)With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:

‘You will indeed listen, but never understand,

and you will indeed look, but never perceive.

(15)For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—

and I would heal them.’

(16)But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. (17)Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

The context, of course, is the parable of the sower. Jesus has told the parable, with its four types of soil. The first three types (the path, the rocky soil, and the soil choked with thorns) all frustrate the seed’s potential. But the fourth, the good soil produces an abundant crop.

The disciples approach Jesus and ask why he speaks to the crowd in parables. In answer, he first speaks about them. He then answers their question. He answers them by referring to Isaiah, describing the condition of the people and their inability to receive God’s message:

“For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes,

and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn—

and I would heal them.”

In other words, the people aren’t getting it, even though they see and hear, and their own spiritual dullness is at the root of the problem.

Look at the description of parable by C. H. Dodd at the top of the bulletin. Its purpose is to arrest the attention of the hearer, and tease the mind into active thought. So the purpose of the parable is to try to penetrate the dullness of peoples’ hearts. The purpose of the parable is to tease them and us into grappling with the word. It’s part of Jesus’ arsenal of persuasion.

Now to what Jesus said about the disciples: “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” That sounds exclusive, and in some ways it certainly is; but consider this: knowing the secrets is not something supernaturally implanted in the disciples’ brains. Throughout the NT, the disciples are portrayed as people who aren’t anything special in themselves. It is nothing other than willingness to listen to Jesus, who explains God and his kingdom to them, and willingness to act on what Jesus says. It’s following Jesus that sets them apart. As Matthew records this exchange, it’s in public—it takes place as Jesus is in the boat and the disciples and the crowd are on the shore. All anyone in the crowd has to do is pay attention, and they get the understanding, too.

And that brings us back to the parable of the sower, and what we saw there last week. The one who listens to the Word, and stands under its authority is the one in whose life an abundant crop is produced. The secret of the kingdom is offered to us: it is actively listening to Jesus and doing what he says. Why does Jesus speak in parables? Because he wants us to listen to his Word. What does that teach us about people, especially ourselves? To put it bluntly, we are likely to be afflicted by dullness of heart as well; Jesus uses parables to reach us.

The last thing he says to the disciples is “For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.” On the first pass, this sounds unfair, but it takes us back to the parable of the sower. The first three soils frustrate the seed that falls on them. Essentially, they lost what they had; the good soil has the capacity to receive more, and it does. I believe this is why Jesus continues with more parables. In any case, it sets the stage for us to proceed to the next parable, the parable of the weeds of the field.

Remember that this section about listening and acting is bracketed. It begins with “Listen,” and ends with “Let anyone with ears to hear listen.” That’s about as emphatic as Jesus gets in telling people that something he says is important.

* * *

Before we consider the next parable, let me ask you, What are your expectations of God and his kingdom? There are certainly times when we call upon God—for comfort, for healing, for blessing for ourselves or others. My guess is that there are other times when we call on God to crush the bad guys—whoever we think they are at the moment.

We certainly have varying views and expectations of God and his kingdom, but those who heard Jesus speak these parables were Jews who knew themselves to be God’s chosen people, and who had heard the prophet Daniel’s proclamation from 2:44: “…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever.” (!)

They had been raised on that, and now Jesus appears, healing, casting out demons—that is, doing kingdom acts—and speaking of the kingdom of God, but speaking of that kingdom in weakness.

(Text of Mt. 13:24-30, 34-43, NRSV)

(24)He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; (25)but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. (26)So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. (27)And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then did these weeds come from?’ (28)He answered, ‘an enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ (29)But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. (30)Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

(34)Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. (35)This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth to speak in parables;

I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”

(36)Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” (37)He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; (38)the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, (39)and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. (40)Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. (41)The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, (42)and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (43)Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears to hear listen.”

At first pass, I find this a crazy story! Would anyone actually sow weeds in another person’s field? Apparently, the answer is yes. It turns out that it was a crime under Roman law to do this, and if this kind of farm sabotage was common enough to need a statute on the books, it seems that this must have been a somewhat common way of settling scores.

Also, there was a weed, called darnel, which looked like wheat when it was young, and could grow unnoticed for a while. Darnel was poisonous to the extent that it would make you sick and cause vomiting if you ate it. So if you had a sufficiently twisted and vengeful mind, a sack full of darnel seed might be your weapon of choice. It seems that darnel has a wide root system, and while weeding was often done, weeding really did damage nearby wheat plants. A final detail: there was little wood in Palestine, and weeds were in fact bundled and burned for fuel. In short, the story, far from being bizarre as it is in our ears, was something Jesus’ hearers could relate to.

What was Jesus’ point in telling this parable? As we have seen, the people hearing Jesus had expectations of the kingdom. The kingdom was to be powerful; it was to be glorious. And in their view, they were part of the power and glory. We don’t share their expectations, but I’m sure we have expectations of our own.

Notice now, that the harvesters—those whose job it is to tend the field—are not people, but angels. Both “the children of the kingdom” and “the children of the evil one” as they are called in the parable are represented by seed. The job of the children of the kingdom is to grow. Their job is to develop into the best wheat they can be—not to pull weeds!

The job of rooting out—that is, the job of judgement and violent removal of the children of the evil one belongs to the Son of Man and his angels at the end of the age—it is not ours. Every time the church has been involved in violence in pursuit of purity, the results have been disastrous.

I suggest that this parable has two applications, one is our expectation for ourselves, and the other is our expectation for God.

The expectation for ourselves and our institutions is that until Jesus returns, life will have ambiguity, it will have a degree of messiness—the wheat and the weeds will grow up together. In saying this, we must be careful. We are called upon to stand for truth and justice. The distinction is that those stands are to be made without violence.

One of the culture wars of past generations was the civil rights movement. I am increasingly impressed with the restraint of the leaders of that movement. It brought huge social change. It could have been much more costly in lives. It could have taken much longer in the healing process than it currently is, but they respected this principle of non-violence, and they blessed our country and our church by doing so.

What was Jesus’ point in telling this parable? It is to set our expectations. This side of his return, there will not be purity—in the country, in the church, or in ourselves. (In other times and other places, Jesus speaks of struggling for truth and justice—that’s just not what he’s addressing here.)

You may be thinking: “Preacher, you could have saved your breath, we knew that!” I’m sure you did; what I hope is comforting is the knowledge that Jesus knows it, too. He calls us to faithfulness in the context of a messy world. And he promises to be with us in it.

What was Jesus’ point in telling this parable? It is to set our expectations, and the remaining expectation is our expectation of God. Why doesn’t God clean up this mess? It is a commonly stated objection to Christian faith that if God is all knowing, all powerful, and all loving, why doesn’t he step in and right the injustices in the world? The answer is that he can and he will, but not before the final judgement. What this parable suggests is that the root systems are so entangled that the bad stuff couldn’t be rooted up without rooting up the good, and at the end of this age, that’s exactly what will happen.

Let’s look at some things this means and doesn’t mean.

· For one thing, it means that ultimately, justice will be done. We have an earthly justice system, and it does the best it can, but it should comfort us that ultimately, God’s justice will be done.

· Another thing it means is that it’s not up to us to judge. We don’t know what’s in people’s hearts. I can’t imagine a fairer, yet more merciful judge than the God who would come among us in the person of Christ to redeem by his own blood. The judgement will be fair.

· Now a look at what it doesn’t mean. Parables are characterized by having one major point. They are not extended allegories where every possible parallel is a valid understanding. In our understanding of the elements in the parable, weeds and wheat are fixed categories. Weeds don’t become wheat, and v/v. But we know from the whole message of the Bible that the categories aren’t fixed—weeds do become wheat—people do come to faith. And the longer the judgement is delayed, the longer people have to respond to the word of the kingdom.

What is our responsibility? It is to be faithful in a messy world. In closing, I’d like to introduce you to a faithful couple. When Halle August was in high school, he was in Bill McIvor’s youth group. Later Halle married, and he and Kathy had three sons. Halle worked for Federal Express for 20 years.

In 1995, their church was challenged about the need for Christians in mission, and they committed themselves personally to be open to the possibility of mission service. Four years later, in 1999, they had the opportunity to go on a short-term mission trip to Managua, Nicaragua. Their hearts were really drawn to the place. To make a long story short, They went through a discernment process that included their three sons, their church, and their friends. They concluded that God was calling them to Nicaragua, so they pulled up stakes and moved. The started a mission there known by its initials, A.M.E.N., for Alongside Ministries En Nicaragua. It offers recreation for children and youth; it feeds children, it has a schooling component, and it’s growing.

The team from here will go to Nicaragua in less than two weeks to help the Augusts build facilities as well as share ourselves with the Nicaraguans through sports and other activities.

The reason I mention the Augusts, however is not just that they are the family in mission with whom our team will work. Notice, in terms of our parables, that they listened to the word and they stood under it—they obeyed it. They heard God’s call and they answered. They did it in a messy world—one that is full of ambiguity—they responded in faithfulness.

Not many of us will be called to Nicaragua. We’ll hear God about ourselves, and about things a lot closer at hand, and be challenged to stand under the word we hear. We will be confronted by the messiness of the world in which we live, and called to be faithful in that context.

That said, some of us will be called to faraway places, like Nicaragua. Yesterday, my own children talked with the coordinator of a new program for HIV positive children in Africa. Their participation is far from a done deal, but they could well be spending a year in Africa before long. As their parents, we’re beyond proud that they would consider doing such a thing. But we will miss them terribly, and we’re more than a little concerned that they’re going into the teeth of the AIDS pandemic.

Friends, we are called to listen to the word and stand under it. We are called to be faithful in a world that’s messy.

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