by the Reverend Matt Harbage
Readings: Isaiah 44.6-8; Psalm 86.11-17; Romans 8.12-25; Matthew 13.24-30,36-43
During these lockdown times, many of us across the country have discovered (or rediscovered) gardening. Whether it’s tending to a garden or allotment of our own, or helping neighbours care for their patch, or growing pot plants: there can be real delight in seeing something grow.
In our Gospel readings last week and now this week, Jesus draws inspiration from things growing.
Last week we heard a very different parable from today’s: The Parable of the generous sower; who sowed seed (the Word of God) all over his garden: onto the path, amongst thorns, amongst rocks and also in good soil. Although some seed struggled to bear fruit because of trouble, persecution, the lure of wealth and the evil one, nonetheless some seed did bear fruit: some thirty fold, some sixty fold and others 100 fold.
That parable rings true because most of us have seen it for ourselves: The seed which Jesus sows is not always received. And some people who perhaps are brought up in the church leave it when their wealth or their career blossoms. There too are people who are like modern day saints who inspire us in the way they live out their faith by caring and serving others.
The parable we have today, of the “wheat and the weeds” or the “wheat and the tares” as it’s often known, is very different indeed. Rather than one good sower (Jesus) there are two: Jesus and the Devil. Rather than good seed trying to bear fruit, we have two kinds of seed: wheat for harvesting and weeds. Rather than being able to see plants that bear fruit a hundred fold, we are told we can’t separate the wheat and the weeds: they must grow up side by side until the final judgement.
As you’ll probably have picked up by now, I love going into school. Children often ask questions we adults are too afraid of asking. This week I was asked a brilliant one by a pupil, “What is hell like, and who made it, God or the Devil?”
I want to explore something about the final judgement and hell – and at risk of giving away the conclusion, we have nothing to fear if we are trusting in Jesus Christ. But first I want to lay some groundwork for interpreting parables:
Parables are designed to be tricky to interpret. Jesus taught in parables partly so that people would have to debate and discuss them. We know the meaning of parables wasn’t immediately clear to those listening to Jesus because regularly the disciples get Jesus on their own and ask him to explain them. The ambiguity causes us to prayerfully wrestle with them as we try and unlock them.
Secondly, parables are not literal accounts of the way things are. They are stories, and often only have one or two lessons to teach us. Not everything has meaning in a parable. For example, in the parable before us, the master of the house (who is God), falls asleep and this allows the enemy to sneak in. This isn’t to be taken literally!
We also know that all human beings are created in the Image of God (as we see in Genesis) and everyone and everything is created by God himself. He is the sole Creator.
Given those principles, I want to invite you to re-read the parable after the service and wrestle with it for yourself. See what you think Jesus had to say by it. When I reflect on it, I take two main lessons from the “wheat and the weeds” parable.
First, that at the end of the age, that is at the end time, there will be a judgement. We read about this throughout the New Testament. We will all face God, and although he loves us – in fact, because he loves us – we will realise that we had been given a choice in life. A choice to sin, and a choice to do good.
Now, none of us have a clean record when it comes to sin. St Paul writes that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. But we have a choice, here and now to repent and return to Christ. We might not know what that means, to turn to Christ, or how we do it, but a prayer that says to God, “please help me follow you. I’m sorry for my sin. Be with me, and guide me.” That prayer God will always honour and respond to.
Therefore we have nothing to fear when it comes to the final judgement, because Jesus becomes our peace, and our saviour, and our forgiveness. St Paul again, “for these is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And, as we see every time we come into St Paul’s church, the Latin text above the sanctuary, Jesus Christ: in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio, literally
‘in whom is health, life and resurrection’
Do not fear. Now, in the final moment, should there be anyone who in life chooses to reject God so utterly and finally that they don’t want to be part of God’s kingdom, then I believe God will honour this choice too. Just as God sustains our very existence, so if some desire to be let go of, then God will allow them to fade away. Not unlike a candle burning away wax and wick only to disappear. This would be hell, to lose everything: and know nothing.
But this is not God’s ultimate desire, and I struggle to imagine anyone truly wanting to reject God and their fellow human beings so completely as to want such an end. God’s desire is always to welcome, always to love, always to include.
And so, if such talk of good and evil, in and out, heaven and hell disturbs, perhaps take from this parable perhaps the main reason I think Jesus gave it. Everyone knew to expect judgement in Jesus’ era, but people were all too keen it seems to differentiate good people from evil. The lesson of the parable here is very clear: You cannot separate yourselves from those you think are weeds; all humanity must grow up side by side. We are not to judge. We are to leave that to God, and God alone.
Our job, is to live well, to turn to Jesus for our salvation and to be patient. “Do not fear” Jesus says, “For I have overcome the world”. And so shall we. Hold on to the truth we have received: we are children of God, beloved, and have found in Jesus “salus, vita et resurrectio“,
“health, life and resurrection”
Amen.
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