Wheat and Weeds

Sermon Proper 11

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

Rev. Jeff Springer

Jesus once again teaches us this morning about the Kingdom of Heaven found now in the believers of church on earth.  Like last Sunday we have a split in the Gospel reading. We have the parable given to the unbelieving crowds and disciples and we have the explanation given to the disciples who would become His authorized sent ones or Apostles. 

The agrarian parable seems to be the sequel to the parable of the sower last week where we heard about the listening problems that can occur because of the temptations and snares of the devil, the world and our flesh.

It is an explanation as to why some fall away after receiving the good news but it also promises eternal life and fruit bearing for those who truly listen and understand by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The early church perhaps because of persecution or because of the care given to teaching had a much longer period of catechesis then we see in the contemporary church. Sometimes it would take years for an adult to be finally baptized and brought into communicant membership.

When this happened typically His whole family would be baptized, infants on up.  But this extensive catechesis and the pressures of persecution may see many catechumens give up of fall away.  The  parable of the sower explains this.

Whereas the parable of the sower addresses new catechumens this parable of the weeds has in view an established church.  The wheat is sown and it produces a harvest but along with the wheat there is an unwanted element, that of the weeds. 

Jesus is the subject of all the parables. He is the sower in the first parable and He is the householder in the second identified as Son of Man.  He is the one doing the sowing or responsible for it. 

He has been given a people by the Heavenly Father that He plants in the World nurtures and grows and they produce good fruit some hundred, some sixty and some thirty.  In this life they are in the world and they grow and produce their fruits in the world.  We would understand these fruits to be a true confession and service to the neighbor through our God given vocations. It is clear though that Jesus is the cause of the church and He nurtures and protects that church in the World.

There is however another cause or character that made an appearance in the first parable and this is Satan.  He is the one who plants weeds among the wheat plants. The weeds are so close and so intertwined that if you pull out the weed it may take a wheat plant with is while it was growing.

I had firsthand experience growing up on a farm in Indiana.  I would be told by the house holder, my dad, to go out into the field and pull weeds.  And every so often when I pulled the weed it also pulled out the crop plant. I can remember how frustrated at the weed I would be when that happened.  I also got the experience of seeing these weeds seemingly grow up over night.  I really had an appreciation for the demonic nature of weeds.

Unlike, my father, Jesus instructs His servants which are clearly his Apostles and later pastors not to pull out the weeds but let them grow until the harvest. At that time the wheat will be separated out into separate bundles and the grain will be gathered safely into the barns. The weeds however will be bundled and cast into the fire.  Being burned in the fire the weed seed would be utterly destroyed.

What can we learn from this?  The first thing is that in the church in this world there will be both genuine believers and hypocrites.  Jesus is contrasting sharply mainly His chosen Apostles and the religious Pharisees who pose as those included in the kingdom. 

The difference will be seen it is not invisible here.  The genuine believers will be known by their fruits of faith where as the religious will be identified by fruits of works which is their attempts to self justify themselves. This weedy fruit can be identified by false teaching, false worship, seeking the praise of men and a superficial care for the poor. 

Speaking of works or even fruits of faith can cause us to squirm a little in our pews.  The believer does not look at His works or even His fruits but to Jesus who is the cause of faith and all good works.  Later in Matthew’s description of judgment day the sheep have no idea, they do not remember, serving their Lord.  Simply look upon Jesus and trust in Him and He will work through you.

The second thing is that the Lord instructs His authorized servants, not to pull out the weeds but let them grow with the wheat until harvest. There are some weeds especially when their young that mimic the cash crop. You will not know until the fruit shows that they are weeds. 

This seems difficult to allow or even tolerate evil in the midst of the church. In fact their other passages such as when Jesus says to cast out the leaven of the Pharisees and His instructions to Peter and the disciples that they have the power to not only loose that is forgive but to also bind the unrepentant on earth.  

St. Paul also warns the Corinthian church to cast out the immoral brother.  But all excommunication is designed to put fear in the erring so that they may repent and be restored in the church. Excommunication always has in view restoration.

It is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings and that of the Apostles for the church to be antinomian or against the law.  Yet God’s servants need to be careful not to judge to quickly that a son of the evil one is in the church. Especially since in our sin we are all evil. The believer is simultaneously sinner and saint and still carries with it one of the causes of sin, our flesh. 

The church and her servants also do not have the power of the sword.  This is the great travesty of the inquisition and the other persecutions that occurred for heresy. I do not believe that Jesus envisioned for His church that it would burn heretics to the stake. Certainly if a law were broken the civil authority has the right to punish and curb evil doers but this authority in not given to the church.

The false teachers and hypocrites will receive their punishment on the last day which is at their death first and later on judgment day where they will be cast with Satan and His angels and all causes of sin into the eternal fire or Hell.

This is good news for the believer for she can look forward to a new life without the causes of sin. At her death and later on the last day she is gathered in for safe keeping. Yes the same angels who escort the sons of Satan to their fiery fate also gather beloved Christians to the bosom of Abraham for safe keeping.

Thirdly, the church will struggle with the causes of sin and even the work of Satan in her midst. This is why it is called the church militant. We have a section in our hymn book devoted to this teaching.   Many people today complain about the strife in the organized church but this is to be expected.  Jesus says he does not bring peace but a sword.

But it is also true that this is where true peace can be found in Christ Jesus.  It is also true that this is where Christ dwells and does His work through the Word and Sacrament Ministry that He renders through His called servants, the Pastors.

However it is Jesus doing the work, it His voice in the reading of the scriptures, it His voice in the preaching of the Word, it is His voice in the words of institution and it His very body and blood that you eat and drink with the bread and wine His death that seals His pledge to redeem your bodies. It is the voice of forgiveness of sins. This is the power that brings sinners to saving faith. This is the voice that creates reconciliation for broken relationships in both the family and in the church.   The suffering the church experiences in this life identifies it with the sufferings of Christ.

In this way the church is blessed Jesus promises earlier in Matthew 5, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” This once again is the Theology of the Cross where through suffering a great good results.

Jesus further promises, “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”  Amen