A Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86
Romans 8:18-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Our oldest daughter Miranda learned and grew quickly. When she was two years old she already talked clearly and swam well; and she was growing so fast she got the nickname "Weed." -- You know: "growing like a weed."
After swimming all winter in the pool,
we took Miranda to try the lake out by the Abbey Church at St. John's.
She swam as well in the lake as she had in the pool,
but she didn't stay in the water long and got out looking unhappy.
When I asked little "Missy Weed" what was the matter,
she replied almost tearfully,
"I don't like the mirandas!" and pointed to the weeds in the lake.
Nobody really likes weeds. By definition they are something that grows where it is not wanted. All those weedy things that grow in our lives: things that are not wanted – whether the weeds are people or our own behaviors. Weedy things that seem to be planted by the evil one: things that seem to choke out the good growth and life. We want right away to get rid of them – to "weed them out."
Nobody really likes weeds. And, like Miranda, we like them even less when we think the weeds are part of us. Having the weeds -- "children of the evil one" – far away is one thing. Having them right here next to us in our lives, even in our church, is another. We want to weed out any destructive people or destructive behaviors that come too close for comfort. It can bring us to tears to admit "I don't like the mirandas" -- meaning "I don't like that part of myself."
The kingdom is like that. The kingdom is among us. And there are weeds growing in the kingdom. All of us have weed seeds sprouting in our lives.
The good seed and the bad seed are all mixed up together.... And they are very hard to tell apart. The kind of weeds in our gospel - "zizania" - when they are seedlings look just like wheat. We need to let them grow because we might pull out the wrong ones. Let them grow together. That weed may be a wildflower. What here and now you see as the greatest problem in your life, in another time or place could be your greatest strength.
The weeds in the lake that Miranda didn't like would be a sign of life and a cause for joy in a lake that had previously been polluted and sterile. What today appears as my stubborn nature that I'd like to weed out, tomorrow could be the persistence that gets an important job done. We are not able to judge rightly, so we are told to let the weeds grow.
"Let the weeds grow." Something is lost in the translation from the more original Greek text. The word Matthew uses to describe what is to be done to the weeds, that we translate "let" is the same word that he uses in the Lord's prayer, where we translate it "forgive." We hear "Let the weeds grow." People hearing the original words might as easily hear, "Forgive the weeds growing."
We can't always tell the wheat from the weed. We can't always tell the potentially fruitful from the potentially destructive. So the gospel tells us not to try to judge them, but to forgive them – to let them grow together. Forgive the weeds. Learn to swim with them, as Miranda eventually did, even though she didn't like them.
We are being asked to tend the garden, to nourish the plants. To focus our energies on growth and life, rather than waste our energy judging and weeding. The good news is that the good seed of the kingdom will grow no matter what the evil one sows. The angels will later burn away the weeds -- those destructive parts of our lives -- when the wheat is strong enough for the harvest.
We can trust that God has indeed planted good seed in our lives even when some days all we see looks like weeds. With forgiveness, the seed may "grow like weeds" so that the harvest is rich.