Sermon
preached by the Rector on 17 July 2005Bible
Readings: Romans 8:12-25 and Matthew 13:24-43
Why
doesn't God click his fingers more often? I don't know about you, but
when I see yet another item of bad news in the paper or hear about it
on the radio, I often wonder why it is that God doesn't simply sort it
all out just like that.
Take the horrific events
in London that have been dominating the headlines for the last ten
days, for example. We were enjoying the sunshine on a lakeside beach
near Stockholm when the news came through via a text message on the
mobile phone of the family we were staying with. Despite the warm
sunshine, the afternoon was overshadowed and we felt a chill in the
air. And the questions come. Why doesn't God just make every terrorist
weapon disappear into thin air? Why doesn't he cause bombs and guns to
malfunction? Why doesn't he do something about the dreadful things that
happen in our world?
It's very difficult, isn't it?
We believe in a God who is both eternally loving and infinitely
powerful. A God who brings together a deep and passionate concern for
us together with the ability to do anything he wants to do. And that's
why his apparent inactivity in the face so much that troubles us is
such a real problem. For our own faith as individuals when we get
caught up in the mess. And also in our efforts to communicate the truth
of the gospel to other people. 'If such a great and powerful God really
is running the universe, he ought to be running it a good deal better!'
is a tough response to have to deal with.
Week
after week we gather together in church to proclaim that 'Jesus is
Lord' and to celebrate the coming of his kingdom. But the obvious reply
is 'What kingdom?' Out in the big wide world of present-day reality, if
Jesus really is Lord of all, why did he allow this or that to happen?
Why didn't he prevent it from taking place? What does he think he is up
to? How can we who are Christians possibly persist in our apparently
fatuous claims about the sovereignty of a loving God in a world which
is so obviously in such pain and disorder?
Now I
know I've stated it in rather extreme terms. But this is the very real
difficulty which confronted the followers of Jesus as much in the first
century as it does us in the twenty-first. And in the parable of the
weeds here in Matthew 13 we have some pointers towards an answer.
Please turn with me to page 979 of the pew Bibles.
We
begin by thinking about who it is that is telling this parable in the
first place: Jesus himself. The good news is that he doesn't seek to
avoid the thorny issues that bother us. There are no questions or
concerns which we cannot bring to him. What this parable brings is his
perspective on this very tricky question.
Early on
in his Gospel, Matthew records the way in which Jesus '...began to
preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."' In other words,
'Get ready - the rule of God you so much long for is just around the
corner'. The present rule of sin and evil and death and disaster is on
its way out. Everything that spoils the world is going to be dealt with
decisively. This is something which Matthew stresses in the way he
tells the story in his gospel. Jesus is fully qualified to announce the
arrival of the kingdom since he himself is the King. He is the one who
is going to be putting things right. As we read right at the end of the
Gospel, he is the one to whom 'all authority in heaven and on earth has
been given' (Matthew 28:18).
Now Jesus the King
could have steam-rollered in with all guns blazing, so to speak, and
despatched every trace of the contamination of sin and evil with a
single word of command. But he didn't then and he doesn't now. The
Bible confirms what we already know from sometimes bitter experience:
that this is not how God works. We may wish that he did do it like this
from time to time. But he doesn't. Why not? Well, let's trace the story
through and see...
In this parable, we're looking at
our world seen as a wheat field on a farm. The scene is set. Into view
comes a sower with a basket of seed. We discover that he is 'the Son of
Man' (verse 37), by which Jesus means himself. Verse 38 tells us that
the good seed he sows '...stands for the people of the kingdom'.
In
the gloom of things going wrong it's all too easy to let ourselves
forget how much goes right! Throughout history and all over the world
there have been and are millions of those who we can identify as
'people of the kingdom', those who have acknowledged Jesus as their
king and, as a result, have lived lives which have borne much good
fruit and helped things get better rather than making them worse.
There
hasn't just been setback and disarray. Human history has seen amazing
progress, much of it due to the direct influence of the church. In our
own country, thousands of schools, universities and hospitals, together
with many of our structures of social welfare, owe their foundation to
Christian initiative and support. Not to mention the countless little
acts of love and kindness on the part of individuals. There can be
little doubt that, in the words of verse 26, the wheat has sprouted and
formed ears.
But now the lights go down for scene
two. It's night-time and all we can see is the dim shadows of another
character on the stage. We discover that Jesus is not the only one
engaged in the work of sowing. There is an enemy who is in the same
line of business. Like so many of Jesus' parables, this one reflects a
real-life situation. The weed was probably something called darnel, a
poisonous plant which is related to wheat and, until the ears form,
virtually indistinguishable from it. In fact, to take revenge on
someone by sowing darnel in their wheat field was a clearly-defined
crime in Roman law. This is what has happened in Jesus' story. As he
explains in verses 38-39: '...The weeds are the people of the evil one
and the enemy who sows them is the devil'.
Here is
the way in which Jesus accounts for the presence of so much of the
opposition to his rule in the world. From a spiritual perspective, all
is very far from the peace and safety we would like to see around us.
There's a war on and we're living in enemy-occupied territory! It's
true that the decisive battle was won when Jesus died on the cross but
the mopping-up operation continues. Just as, although the end of the
Second World War began with the D-Day operation in June 1944, the
victory we have been celebrating over these last few weeks was not
complete until nearly a year later, in May 1945. During those eleven
months the conflict continued. And so it's no wonder that during the
in-between time there are disasters, setbacks and casualties. As we
think about what is going in the world we need to remember the hidden
but very real enemy who is still at work, the thief who 'comes only to
steal and kill and destroy' (John 10:10).
The lights
come back up and we're a few months further on in the parable Jesus is
telling. What was not at first very obvious is now clear. Verse 26:
'When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also
appeared.'
Now, as we heard, the immediate response
is the desire on the part of the owner's servants to go out and do some
urgent weeding. But no. The reason is that the roots of the weed have
become entangled with those of the wheat. So that to pull the weeds up
would destroy the weeds, yes, but would damage the wheat as well. So
leave things as they are until harvest-time when the wheat no longer
needs its roots.
The answer to the complaint that
God has let things get out of control is a very simple one: wait and
see! It ain't over till the fat lady sings! We may not be able to see
it at the moment, but we can be sure that the chickens will eventually
come home to roost! Jesus is very clear that history is not simply
going to go on and on but that there will be an end to this present
age. And that what happens at the end will be under his personal
control.
Verses 40-43 could not be plainer, could
they? 'As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be
at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and
they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all
who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him
hear.'
This is the perspective shared by the
apostle Paul in the remarkable passage we heard read from his letter to
the Romans. 'I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us' (Romans 8:18).
Yes, it may get very dark indeed from time to time. But just wait and
see the wonder of what God has up his sleeve for later - glory revealed
in us! This, after all, is one of the main purposes of our faith: to
pull us back from our limited and blinkered human perspective in order
to catch a glimpse of the whole wide vista of what God is up to with
his universe. This is what enables Paul to make the truly astonishing
claim: that 'our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the
glory that will be revealed in us'.
Meanwhile I
think there's something very important for us to draw from this parable
for surviving in the here and now. The thing is this: even though the
weeds appear to be causing such havoc, the fact is that no lasting
damage can be done to the wheat. That's very important, isn't it? The
work which God has begun in us who have been led to trust him is a work
which he has promised to bring to completion - no matter what! Yes, we
would much rather be in a field where there were no weeds. We would
much prefer it if the work of the enemy could somehow be brought to an
end right away.
But actually, at the end of the
day, part of the wonder of the seed which the Son of Man sows in the
likes of you and me is its indestructibility. Try as they might, the
weeds cannot prevail. Again and again we hear about Christians who face
disaster or come under persecution but who emerge with the clear and
unmistakeable testimony that God's grace has helped them to hold on and
even flourish amid the darkest of weeds.
You see,
unlike his servants, the owner who sowed the seed doesn't get in a
panic when he hears that his enemy has got in and sown weeds. He knew
it would happen. He has taken it into account. The Lord has confidence
in the quality of what he has planted, a confidence which he invites us
to share. Our job is to learn to trust him and to wait patiently for
the full salvation he has promised us when '...the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him
hear'.
One final thing. The fact that God doesn't
do what we think we would do if we were as loving and as powerful as he
is is one of the issues which prevents some people from committing
themselves as followers of Jesus Christ. Is that you, I wonder? The
thing about issues like this is that we have a choice about how we view
them. We can see them as barriers which prevent us from moving forward.
Or we can treat them as hurdles for us to jump over. We can be stopped
by them. Or we can be challenged by them and helped to move on. Which
is what I want to invite us to do this morning.
One
of the wonderful things about the teaching of Jesus is the way we ask a
question of him, only to find the answer bouncing straight back to us
as a question to us. We ask why God doesn't click his fingers more
often. In reply Jesus not only deals with the issue but also challenges
us about where we are. In the worldwide struggle which this parable
describes, are we sons and daughters of the kingdom or sons and
daughters of the evil one? What will our destination be at the end of
the age? Will we shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father? Or
will we be weeded out and thrown into the fiery furnace along with
everything that causes sin and all who do evil? Our questions to him
are important. But so are his questions to us.
Let's
pause to pray together...
We bow in stillness before
you, O Lord. Thank you for answers you give to strengthen our faith.
Thank you for the questions you ask to challenge our faith. Help us to
have ears that hear you, minds that trust you, hearts that love you and
wills that obey you. Amen.
© 2005 David
Stone |