[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 11 A

[Joe Parrish]

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-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Jul 16, 2011 9:40 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 11 A


Dear Friends,

Tomorrow’s sermon is entitled “The Wheat and the Weeds” or “Sorry, I
Didn’t Recognize You!”  and deals with the Gospel (Matthew 13:24-30,
36-43). Here it is:

Today we have one of the most valuable of Jesus’ parables, “The Weeds
and the Wheat”- so very usable for sorting out our lives, our
relatives, our friends, even our enemies and making decisions about
what to do about them.  In fact, it’s one of the two parables of Jesus
that has given the most guidance for us in our feeding ministries
through the years.  The parable of Jesus separating the sheep and the
goats in Matthew 25 (“Whatever you do for the least of these my
sisters or brothers, you do for me.”) informs us WHY we bother to help
those experiencing hard times in their lives.  This one answers the
question that so very often surfaces: what should we do about people
when we think they are just trying to rip us off?  I’m talking about
the kind of situation in which we’re not sure- there’s no clear-cut
case.  Sometimes it’s like we’re between a rock and a hard place.
Christian people have entrusted us with their money to use for feeding
the needy.  This means we are managing God’s money, so we really want
to take care of it for him and use it as he would want us to use it.
Then here comes someone asking for food.  Maybe we’re running low.
Whatever- if we give it to this person, perhaps a more needy family
will come along, and then we won’t have anything for them.  Do you see
the problem?  This is when we remember this Jesus parable and follow
the rule: “If in doubt- feed.”  This parable offers three levels of
insight- not only for decision-making for our feeding ministry; it
also offers insight for decision-making for our lives. Let’s look at
it.

The first level of insight involves how we relate to other people.
Most of the people listening to Jesus tell his story were farmers or
at least gardeners, so they were extremely familiar with plant care.
As you recall, often Jesus would make up a story that was very similar
to something that had really happened in the lives of his listeners,
so perhaps they knew someone with a wheat field who had an enemy
vandalize his farm by reseeding his wheat field with poisonous darnell
seeds.  Did you notice how the farmer told his farmhands not to pull
up the weed seeds because they would uproot too many young wheat
plants in the process?  He said this for two reasons.  First, it’s
next to impossible to tell the difference between wheat and darnell
when the plants are young.  Second, the roots are so intertwined;
damage would be done to the whole root structure of both plants.  Good
advice, not only if you have a garden with wheat and darnell growing
together.  Good advice also if you are trying to decide if you should
tell someone off and kick them out of your feeding ministry, your
church, your family, or your life.  I’ve got a new story for you.  A
middle aged woman has a heart attack and is taken to the hospital.
While in the emergency room, she has a near-death experience. During
that experience she sees her guardian angel and asks if this is her
time. The angel says no and explains that she has another 30-40 years
to live.  Upon her recovery she decides to just stay in the hospital
for a few more days and have a facelift, liposuction and a tummy tuck.
She even has someone come in and change her hair color. She figures
since she's got another 30 or 40 years she might as well make the most
of it. She walks out the hospital after the last operation and is
killed by an ambulance speeding up to the hospital.  She arrives in
heaven again, sees her guardian angel and says, "I thought you said I
had another 30-40 years!!"  The angel replies, "Sorry. I didn't
recognize you."  Now friends, if her guardian angel didn’t recognize
her, what makes us think we can know enough about a person to judge
them!  Did you notice the Psalm, how God reminds us that he knows
everything about us, he knows our hearts, and there is nowhere we can
hide from him?  God knows the hearts of every single person, but the
problem (or blessing) is- we don’t.  We don’t know what is in
someone’s heart.  We don’t know why they choose to do what they do.
That’s why Jesus says to wait and leave the judging to God.  Not only
don’t we know all the facts, something else is involved.  Plants don’t
change from poisonous weeds to useful wheat, but people do.  We are a
jubilee church, a second chance church.  God gives each of us many
chances, and so must we.

Let’s look at the second level of insight- how we relate to
ourselves.  An anonymous author said, “There is so much good in the
worst of us; and so much bad in the best of us that it ill behooves
any of us to find fault with the rest of us.”  Remember last Sunday
how we heard St. Paul lament about how hard it was to live for
Christ.  How he kept doing the things he didn’t want to do and not
doing the things he wanted to do?  (Romans 7: 18-19)  Our job is to
love other people and stop worrying about their sins.  Jesus himself
reminded us to stop worrying about the tiny splinter that is in our
neighbor’s eye when we have a huge log in our own eye!  It’s the weeds
in our own lives we’re supposed to worry about.

This brings us to the third level of insight we can derive from this
parable- the weeds.  Did you notice that God could use even the
weeds?  Fuel was scarce in Jesus’ time.  Darnell plants made great
fuel for cooking and warming cold hands and feet in miserable
weather.  Who made weeds anyway?  (God.)  What is a weed?  (A plant
made by God growing where we don’t want it.)  Has anyone noticed the
cement area that used to be part of a deserted parking lot?  It
doesn’t take long before the weeds have almost broken up the cement.
Give them and the earthworms a little more time and that hard cement
will be returned to soft, fertile soil.  There’s nothing like a mess
of weeds, mistakes, regrets in our lives to soften our hearts and help
us understand other people and their difficulties better.  It’s the
weeds, the mistakes, the “OOPS” that force us to replan our lives and
lean on God and our Christian friends for power, support, and
regrowth.

So weeds and wheat- be patient with them, don’t be too quick with
judgments, check your own life, and watch for how amazingly God turns
weeds given over to him into wonderfully beautiful flowers.

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements are posted on our parish web site. The address is:
http://www.stpaulsepisag.com .

Blessed preaching.
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

 
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