Year A

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

“And that’s The Way It Is!”

Walter Cronkite, a journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years, from 1962-1981, was known for his closing line at the end of the broadcast. Every night as he was taking off those signature black rimmed glasses he would say, “And that’s the way it is” followed by the date of the broadcast. He was one of the most admired and trusted journalist of his time because he reported the facts as he saw them, without regard to the consequences or controversy that might ensue. Sometimes you could just see the weight of what he had just reported to his audience on his face. Life can be a messy affair. It isn’t always easy to recognize the facts or discern the good from the bad.  And we hear Jesus tell us today in the parable of the wheat and the tares, that’s the way it is and what can be expected.

Today’s gospel text is the second of three agrarian parables that Jesus uses to talk about the kingdom of God. The first was the parable of the sower of which we heard last week, where Jesus talks about the sower sowing seed on different kinds of ground and the difficulties these seeds have in growing up to produce a crop. In the parable today of the weeds among the wheat he says, the kingdom of God is like a man who sowed good seed in his field and as it turned out both the good wheat and the weeds grew together and sometimes it is hard to tell the difference. The third parable of which we will hear next Sunday is the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus will encourage us to understand that the size of the plant has no relationship to the size of the seed from which it grows.

Jesus loved to use stories to teach. For many of us, the most familiar parts of scripture are the parables that Jesus used in his teaching. To Jesus’ audiences, the parables covered common ground and were easy to relate to, because they dealt with practical down-to-earth matters. The parables are easy for us too, at least on the surface. The fact is that these seemingly simple stories have many views into inner truth and reality. And just as they did for those first listeners, the parables can inspire us and sometimes puzzle us, but they always point us toward the kingdom of God. And if our lives belong to the kingdom of God, much is given, but also much is asked.

The farmer sows good seed in his field anticipating a good harvest. That good, natural order is invaded however, by “an enemy.” Bearded darnel is a weed that grows everywhere in the world where wheat grows. It so closely resembles wheat, that it is sometimes called “false wheat.” It is only when the plants are nearly mature, and heads of grain start to develop, that subtle differences begin to appear. Until that time, it can be nearly impossible to tell one from the other. If you attempt to weed out the darnel, you will almost certainly destroy some of the crop that you are trying to grow. Today, we have more modern ways of dealing with the weeds but that day Jesus said, “Let both wheat and weeds grow together until the harvest…..”

This picture of a blessed mixture of weeds and wheat growing together until harvest is a glimpse of the faithful church, and it is also a glimpse of the future judgment at the end of time as we know it. The text points us to a God who does not merely tolerate a world that is a mixture of good and evil, faith and faithlessness, triumph and tragedy, but who, in God’s good time, acts both to judge and to redeem the world. Meanwhile, this field seems to be thriving in our world, in us and in our neighbors. Most of our fields are full of mixed plantings. The message of the parable is don’t worry that there seems to be a lot of weeds or evil in the world. Be patient.

This is the way it is; both good and bad exist together not only in the wheat field but in life and Jesus says we do better to leave the gardening to God.  When the last day comes our gracious tolerant God will separate the wheat from the weeds. The wheat will be vindicated, while the weeds will go up in smoke. We can do a lot of damage thinking we can distinguish between what is the good plant and what is not. 

Patience is what Jesus calls for in this parable and what Paul calls for in his letter to the Roman Church and this is hard for us to do. We want an immediate resolution. We want to separate the good from the bad in ourselves, in others and in the world. There were some Christians in Matthew’s community who were contemplating purging their less devout members, But Jesus made it clear that in these matters things are murky enough that human beings, even faithful ones, are not able to discern the weeds from the wheat.

Isaiah attempts to persuade the people to make their witness to the Lord, to separate the bad idols from a good God. The people have been in that foreign land so long that a new generation has grown up there, one that does not know the Lord God. The Lord challenges the gods of Babylon and without any verbal response to the Lord’s challenge, the idols convict themselves. The message that comes from Isaiah is the word of comfort. The Lord is coming and will eventually take the people home to Jerusalem, to rebuild the city and its temple. There is no need to fear. God has redeemed his people and will create a way in the wilderness. God will lead them home at the harvest.

Paul has done some of his own distinguishing between wheat and weeds today when he says, “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.”  Paul continues from last week his study of God’s gift of freedom from condemnation, from sin and death through Jesus Christ. This gift from God is possible if we live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. This is not always easy to do so Paul reminds us that as Christians led by the Holy Spirit our lives in Christ give us hope and patience to withstand and overcome the suffering that results from that darned weed present in the world.

Paul’s message offered the church in Rome assurance that their troubles were not sufficient for them to lose confidence in God’s presence. Their suffering might continue, but God would give them the strength to persevere and would keep hope alive within them. This message has strengthened the faithful through the ages in times of suffering. The good news of God’s presence does not deny the reality that there is trouble in the world, the wheat and the weeds are in the fields growing together but we have the assurance that with Christ in our lives we have hope that one day everything will be redeemed.

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”. In the meantime Paul says, “We wait for it with patience.” Our task as we wait is to love as Jesus did. To bear fruit; to take the all too flawed lives you and I lead, and make something out of them to the glory of God. We have God’s promise in today’s parable that these miracles will happen. After all, the plants are still bearing fruit despite all the sinful weeds in you and me and that lie around you and me. We have a purpose to love and serve God and our neighbor, as Mr. Cronkite said, ‘And that’s the way it is July 23, 2023. “Let anyone with ears listen”!