Sunday,
July 20, 2014 Proper 11a
Readings:
Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86: 11-17; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
In
God’s Creation, there are both wheat and weeds.
That’s our reality---in this life on this earth in which Jesus has
initiated the Kingdom of God, but the Kingdom has not fully taken root
everywhere and every place----there are both wheat and weeds.
Wheat
symbolizes the fruitful growth of the Sower---the life that reveals and
illustrates God’s love and compassion, while the weeds are the growth of that
which works against God’s love and light and mercy.
Often
this parable is simplified down into a small tasty nugget of “there’s good and
bad” and of course, we self-identify with the good (the wheat) so that we can
then safely say: well, whatever doesn’t look like us or act like us must not be
wheat, but a weed----and bad.
Let’s
try to walk away from that particular interpretation today and enter the
parable through another truth:
Yes,
in God’s Creation there are both wheat and weeds. And, as the wheat (the fruitful growth of the
Sower, God Almighty)---it is not our job to rid the world of the weeds, that is
evil. We are not called to identify the
weeds or to pull the weeds, kill the weeds or condemn the weeds.
Let
me repeat that: Our job---at least as
seen in this parable---is not to identify the weeds, pull the weeds, kill the
weeds, separate ourselves from the weeds or condemn the weeds. In this parable---our Good News for
today---we are to be the wheat in the midst of the weeds.
We
are called to live as the fruitful and life-giving harvest of God’s seed, God’s
Word, God’s works in the world. Right
there among all them weeds---we are to live as the fruit of God’s love. As Jesus tells us: We are the light and the
salt---that which is good and life-giving----this is who we are. Even in the midst of that which is not, in
the midst of evil.
In
the midst of tragedy and destruction, darkness and vengeance. This means when evil shows its ugly face, we
are called to respond first as God’s people.
So often we respond in ways that are self-centered, protective of our
way of life, our stuff, our treasure. We
respond as Democrats or Republicans, if we deem it political. If it’s about our family or children, we
respond as “Johnsons” or “Bemowskis (insert your last name here). If our nation is involved, we respond as
Americans. If money is involved, we
respond with our checking balance at the top of the list.
But
today’s parable invites us to consider this: if our identifying marker is that
we are Christ’s own---sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own
forever---shouldn’t our response to any and all situations be based on who is
our King? This world would have us
believe that our identity is split based on the situation: our identity might
be political, family, national, social status---what have you. But, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, says
otherwise: We have one
identity-----God’s beloved. Everything
else is rooted and grounded on that. If we
are serious about this Jesus living, then how we see and respond to situations
must be considered from this Truth. If
our job isn’t to condemn the evil or root out the evil or judge the evil (God’s
work, not ours), then our work is to live as God’s people in the midst of the
evil.
How do we
live as agents of the Kingdom in the midst of thousands of children fleeing
violence in their home nation? Imagine
how desperate the parents must be to send their children hundreds of miles
away---often on their own. It’s almost impossible to imagine: I think to
myself: “I’d never do that.” But, here’s the truth: Parents from Central
American countries do not love their children any less than you or I. But, due to the violence and turbulence in
Central American countries, these parents do not have the ability to keep their
children safe like you and I do. So, if
it came down to being able to give our children a life free from violence---a
life with the strong promise that they’ll actually have a tomorrow---wouldn’t
we, as parents, do almost anything for our children?
This
crisis is a complicated business; there are no easy answers. And I certainly don’t have them. You and I do not have to agree on the same
solution for this crisis that is happening on our Southern border; this crisis
that is about immigration; these children and parents who are
refugees---fleeing from a life of violence and retaliation that offers them no
sanctuary, no safety. We don’t have to
agree on a solution, but as Christians, we are called to consider this
situation first as a follower of Jesus.
Not as an American, not as a taxpayer, not as a Democrat or Republican,
but our first question should be: How would Jesus have us respond?
I read an
article that interviewed people who live in Texas, near a temporary shelter for
some of the children refugees and one person said: ““That’s my tax money
taking care of a foreign national or however you want to classify them. …I
don’t want to take care of a foreign national. It’s not my problem.” (new york
times, July 16, 2004)
Friends, let’s be honest. Jesus would not classify any of these people
as “foreign nationals” nor as “immigrants” nor as “refugees.” Jesus might call them: my little children,
brothers and sisters, the poor and the needy, but most certainly as: God’s
people. Our neighbor. Our own.
They are our problem. Not because
they are Americans, but because they are God’s people. And yes, it’s complicated. And yes, we live in a world with legislation
and laws, with pragmatic matters and an economy-----but none of that should
determine how you and I---if we are going to be the wheat in God’s
Creation---how you and I respond.
We
are joint heirs---heirs of God’s Kingdom—any place and any where God
rules. God’s Kingdom begins small---like
a mustard seed---in our hearts and minds.
Taking root there and then growing---through our actions, choices, our
positions and words---to our homes, our neighborhoods, our parishes, our
communities, our states, our nations, our continents, and beyond all
borders. Just like Jesus in the Gospels
who wanders among Jews and Gentiles, crossing borders and boundaries of nations
and ethnicities---we, as the fruit of God’s love and compassion—we are not
bound by borders and boundaries. God
doesn’t see us based on nationality and race; gender or age; position or
status. To God, each one of us is God’s
creation, made lovingly and purposefully to fulfill the promise for the
wholeness of all God’s people.
The
Roman Catholic theologian Richard Rohr writes this: “Why does the Bible, and why does Jesus, tell
us to care for the poor and the outsider?
Because we need to stand in that position for our own conversion. We need to be in a position to actually need
the mercy of God, the forgiveness of God, the grace of God. When we are too smug and content, then grace
and mercy have almost no real meaning.
They are just words. Jesus is
always on the side of the crucified ones. He changes sides in the twinkling of an eye to
go wherever the pain is. He is not loyal
to one religion, to this or that group, or to the worthy; Jesus is only and always loyal to human suffering. Jesus is what mythology called a
“shape-shifter,” and no one seeking power can use him for their private
purposes. Those whose hearts are opened
to human pain will see Jesus everywhere, and their old dualistic minds [of us
and them] will serve them less and less, for the Shape-Shifter ends up shifting
our very shape too.”
I
know these words I speak today may be challenging. I know some might hear them as
“political.” Well, if political means
what is good for the many, the all…..then they are. But the intent of these words is not
political, but Gospel. The Good News of
salvation for all people. No borders, no
boundaries, no nationalities. If we live
in a land of many blessings, then our truth is we are called to be a refuge and
a fount of blessings for others who do not have the riches we have.
I
do not ask you to respond in any specific way, that is not my place nor what I
am preaching---but I do think we are called to respond from a specific
identity: as those who have drowned to one way of life in order to live the new
life of Jesus. As those who have
promised to respect the dignity of every human being; as those who follow the
command to love one another as God loves us; as those who claim Jesus as the
Lord and Master.
Our lives, our daily living, constantly demand that
we respond. Some of the situations are
joyful and gracious---it’s so much easier to respond with God’s love and grace
when we are in the midst of the wheat—when it is people we love or situations
for our benefit or events that are life-giving.
But, the rubber truly hits the road when we have to take ownership for
the reality that we are also called to respond in fruitful, other-centered,
God’s compassionate ways when we are put face to face with the enemy. With evil.
Jesus did not ignore or turn a blind eye to the pleas of those who
suffered---even when they were Samaritans, or lepers, or women or children (who
were basically nobodies in his society).
No, Jesus says: Bring the little children to me; Come to the table and
let me feed you; Come to the fount and let me refresh you with living water;
Come.
And to us who already claim Jesus as our
identifying mark---to us who have made promises and who call ourselves
Christians, Jesus says: Follow me. Do
what I do. Speak as I speak. Love as I love. Respond as I respond.
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with
ears listen!”
