Wheat and Weeds

Gospel
Mt 13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a manwho sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy cameand sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said,‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?Where have the weeds come from?’He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weedsyou might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest;then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,“First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Dulverton Sermon

I don't suppose that many, if any, of you watch the tv series 'Big Brother'. I do. I find it fascinating to observe the behaviour of a group, with such varied backgrounds, forced to live together in a confined space, incircumstances of stress and competition. This week through a mini election process they hav elected a house leader. His first responsibility was to choose six fellow housemates to live with him in 'heaven' and send the remaining seven to live in 'hell'. The house and facilities are divided by a fence over which the housemates can observe, and talk to, each other. The 'heavenly' group live in conditions of luxury and the 'hell' group suffer in basic conditions of deprivation. As you can imagine this is arousing feelings, language, and actions of embarassment, guilt, jealousy and torment. The choices and rejections of the house leader are regarded as arbitrary and unfair, based only on his personal preferences and prejudices. Resentments are building and revenge is sure to follow.

Our Lord's parable of the wheat and the tares paints a scenario that would be quite familiar to his Palestine audience. Tares were one of the curses against which the farmer had to labour. They were a weed called 'bearded darnel'. In their early stages the tares so closely resemble the wheat that it is impossible to distinguish the one from the other. When both head out it is easy to distinguish them but by that time the respective roots are so inter-twined that the tares can not be pulled out without tearing out wheat as well. It is best therefore to let them grow together until harvest.

The message of the parable is clear: in kingdom affairs hasty and premature judgement is not only difficult but dangerous. Nevertheless a day of judgement will come. Then the only safe judgement will be made by the Lord of the harvest - the all seeing, all knowing, all merciful God. In the meantime learn to live together in charity.

And what does the parable have to say to the Church and Christians today?
First, to the Church of which we are part.
We are all concerned at the present time about the future of the Church of England following the York Synod last weekend and about the Anglican Communion under scrutiny at the Lambeth Conference now in session. Will the enemy sowing seeds of division succeed? If our calling as an Anglican Community is to be both catholic and reformed perhaps the parable encourages us to pray hard that we may all continue to be contained in one Church, that we may not be hasty in judging who are wheat and who are weed. And what we pray for the Church of England and for the Anglican Communion we must surely pray for this chapel and christian community too.
And what has the parable to say to individual Christians?
Perhaps that we should see ourselves each as a field in which both wheat and tares are growing. The truth is that there is good and bad in all of us and we constantly need to judge our own lives under the mercy and forgiveness of God. We need to constantly practise repentance and to prepare for the process of purgatory. If our lives are based on trust inthe God revealed in Jesus we can live at peace now and in hope regarding the next life. In his own time and way, God will separate the good and destroy the evil.