Weed-Pulling
Sermon
THE CHALLENGE OF GOD'S HARVEST
"Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest!" I don't know if we're up to taking that advice. Does any of us possess the patience to handle negative situations in our life that way? I think most of us are pretty impatient when it comes to dealing with each other. Frankly, most of us would make champion weed-pullers.
I'll never forget the day I became a champion weed-puller. It was a little embarrassing. About thirty summers ago I was a young boy of eight or nine, living with my family on a farm in rural Wisconsin, not far from Milwaukee. My older brothers used to spend a good deal of June and July helping the neighboring truck farmers weed their gardens. I don't know how they do it today, but then it was a matter of doing everything by hand. You got down near the ground and pulled the weeds one by one. The pay was about a dime for a row of radishes a hundred feet long.
One day I thought I would get in on this moneymaking venture, so I too presented myself to the neighboring truck farmer, who agreed to pay me a dime for each row of radishes I would weed. He quickly inquired whether I knew what a radish plant looked like. I quickly replied that I did, not wanting to be turned down for the job. So I went to work, and about an hour later, I stood before the farmer, expecting a shiny silver dime. But sure enough, I had picked all the tender young radish shoots and left the ignoble weeds standing there gloriously in the sunshine. Clearly it would have been better for this farmer and his radishes if I had never pulled his so-called "weeds" at all. A champion weed-puller indeed!
But most of us are inclined toward weed-pulling. We see evil in the world, in our own city or country, amid our churches and other institutions, and in our dealings with people. The weeds are there a-plenty! And we have solutions! We have answers. We know how to solve these matters. We are tempted to have a weed-pulling spree.
Don't get the idea we're advocating an anything-goes policy toward evil and sin in the world. Jesus surely detested evil and weeds as much as anyone. But Jesus was very sensitive about not injuring the wheat too. Be careful not to pull up some of the wheat with the weeds. And do not harm the good and healthy wheat in the process of your weed-pulling!
So let's take our cue from Jesus in this parable before us today. Let's deal with the "weeds" in the world and society and our own lives. But let's realize the pit-falls and the harm that can result from going too far. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Let's be sensitive to others as we confront evil and sin and human failure around us.
Do we need a place to begin? Well, let's talk right off about this practice of over-generalizing. To me it seems that we often pull up and throw away a lot of valuable wheat by some of our over-generalizing. The familiar, merciless ones are known to all of us. The complaint that all Jews are out to make a financial killing. Or the claim that black people don't know how to take care of their homes and allow their neighborhoods to go to ruin. That kind of over-generalizing is weed-pulling of the worst sort. For what are we really doing? We're pulling up all the wheat as well. We're saying that there are no well-motivated Jews and that respectable black home-owners don't exist.
Each nationality and race of people has been the victim of over-generalizing, I suppose. But when that stereotyping becomes irresponsible and obviously prejudiced in nature, then we have to be held accountable for the personal and corporate injury we are inflicting on other fellow human beings. Don't be a weed-puller who injures the wheat! Take each person as they come, as you learn to know them, and let judgment and categorizing to God.
I really wish, for instance, that we would not over-generalize so quickly. With strangers, I've had the experience so often, and so have you, of being dead wrong about my judgments of certain people on the first impression. We may write someone off quickly, because they're too quiet or too timid for us. We want impressive friends, stylish folks to surround us, rich comrades, or someone who has influence. How many noble souls and long-lasting friends we may have written off in our lives by premature weed-pulling! And how many heartaches some of us have had to bear because initially attractive friends were so short-lived and lacking in loyalty. It may sound trite and over-familiar, but it's true: It takes time to get to know people. Our snap judgments about which people are "worth" something and which ones don't amount to much, can be dead wrong, and often are.
The way we deal with each other in the local congregation can also turn out to be a matter of unfortunate weed-pulling at times. Of course, every Christian congregation has its weeds, I suppose. But who are the weeds? Again we tend to over-generalize. The weeds, we usually suppose, are the people who never come to church. The Christmas and Easter members are the ones we'd like to yank out. Others are considered pollutant plants when they don't contribute to the church's treasury. There are always those who only put in a few bucks once or twice a year, you know.
All these we tend to consider "delinquent members." What are we to do with them? Many times the leaders of the church get weed-happy. They are ready to "clean house." Let's give these faithless folks an ultimatum, and after that, let's remove their names from the list!
Now, I'm not one for promoting laxity among church members, but I have always hesitated to just yank a member off the roles. Because in the process isn't there the distinct danger of injuring or uprooting other so-called good grain? Don't we run the risk of offending and estranging other members of the family who may be coming to church? Do we always understand the whole background behind what we call a church delinquent? People go through dormant stages, like seeds and plants. There are phases of church membership, high pitches and low, especially among young people and young marrieds, that we ought to reckon with. Again the question, who really are the weeds? What might we be doing in pulling some of the weeds?
Yes, who are the weeds in the church? I'll say one thing. Many a church member who comes to worship every week and gives an envelope regularly has turned out to be a thorn in the flesh for me as a pastor and for the life of the parish in general. There are bothersome, meddlesome, gossipy church members who have done more ruin to the Body of Christ than some quiet, distant member who just isn't turned on by his faith at the present time. Talk about weeds! The slanderous remarks and behind-the-back talking by some church members has choked out the effective mission and work of the whole Christian faith. Sad to say, most contention and tension within parishes is caused by active, prominent, "upright" members of the church. We do have to be careful not to over-generalize about where the weeds are growing in the church, don't we?
Weed-pulling is also mighty tempting when it comes to our desire to give someone else moral correction. We can speak of this in terms of the "savior complex." There are always those who feel that they must "save" another person from moral ruin. Parents often feel this way about their own children. They feel compelled to influence their children so that they "turn out all right" later on in life. Many parents seek to pull out the weeds of negative behavior in their children by adopting the approach, "Now, I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Correction and pointed guidance are indeed needed with our children at times. But in too many cases the radical approach of parents only teaches children the lesson of fearing their very own parents. We can bring our children into line, but in the process we can also make them hesitant to share their real feelings and problems with us for counsel and direction. The line of moral correction must be finely walked. Much wheat can be pulled up with the weeds.
So it is when it comes to dealing with other persons who we think have failed morally. Some people appoint themselves as the moral watch-dogs of society. They will see to it that no one "gets away with anything." Weeds are weeds, and they must be pulled, and the sooner the better. Such people cannot stomach the suggestion of our Lord here in the text, "Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest!"
Jesus says to you and me, "Let the wheat and weeds both grow together." That was the way of Jesus himself. In the words of St. Paul, "Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." Jesus wasn't "overcome" by our great evil - by our sin as human beings. When he came to the earth, he did not engage in a grand weed-pulling program, seeking to eradicate all overt evil and human failure that he observed.
He could have! The holy Son of God could have become fed up with the human race mighty quickly. As the Lord of Lords he could have lost his patience with you and me. But he did not. Rather, as the Lamb of God he went forth, quietly, humbly, giving himself for us in sacrifice upon the Cross. That's the way Christ met the misfortune of weeds. While we were yet sinning, Christ went to the Cross. This was the mind of Christ - he humbled himself and became obedient, even to death on the cross. Thank God that he dealt with us, and deals with us today, through the mercy of his Son, Jesus Christ.
So let God be the judge. Let him act! He knows all. He sees all. He does everything the best. Let us be faithful workers and believers in his vineyard. Let us be the strong, healthy, best wheat that he can make us. And leave the rest to him.
I'll never forget the day I became a champion weed-puller. It was a little embarrassing. About thirty summers ago I was a young boy of eight or nine, living with my family on a farm in rural Wisconsin, not far from Milwaukee. My older brothers used to spend a good deal of June and July helping the neighboring truck farmers weed their gardens. I don't know how they do it today, but then it was a matter of doing everything by hand. You got down near the ground and pulled the weeds one by one. The pay was about a dime for a row of radishes a hundred feet long.
One day I thought I would get in on this moneymaking venture, so I too presented myself to the neighboring truck farmer, who agreed to pay me a dime for each row of radishes I would weed. He quickly inquired whether I knew what a radish plant looked like. I quickly replied that I did, not wanting to be turned down for the job. So I went to work, and about an hour later, I stood before the farmer, expecting a shiny silver dime. But sure enough, I had picked all the tender young radish shoots and left the ignoble weeds standing there gloriously in the sunshine. Clearly it would have been better for this farmer and his radishes if I had never pulled his so-called "weeds" at all. A champion weed-puller indeed!
But most of us are inclined toward weed-pulling. We see evil in the world, in our own city or country, amid our churches and other institutions, and in our dealings with people. The weeds are there a-plenty! And we have solutions! We have answers. We know how to solve these matters. We are tempted to have a weed-pulling spree.
Don't get the idea we're advocating an anything-goes policy toward evil and sin in the world. Jesus surely detested evil and weeds as much as anyone. But Jesus was very sensitive about not injuring the wheat too. Be careful not to pull up some of the wheat with the weeds. And do not harm the good and healthy wheat in the process of your weed-pulling!
So let's take our cue from Jesus in this parable before us today. Let's deal with the "weeds" in the world and society and our own lives. But let's realize the pit-falls and the harm that can result from going too far. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Let's be sensitive to others as we confront evil and sin and human failure around us.
Do we need a place to begin? Well, let's talk right off about this practice of over-generalizing. To me it seems that we often pull up and throw away a lot of valuable wheat by some of our over-generalizing. The familiar, merciless ones are known to all of us. The complaint that all Jews are out to make a financial killing. Or the claim that black people don't know how to take care of their homes and allow their neighborhoods to go to ruin. That kind of over-generalizing is weed-pulling of the worst sort. For what are we really doing? We're pulling up all the wheat as well. We're saying that there are no well-motivated Jews and that respectable black home-owners don't exist.
Each nationality and race of people has been the victim of over-generalizing, I suppose. But when that stereotyping becomes irresponsible and obviously prejudiced in nature, then we have to be held accountable for the personal and corporate injury we are inflicting on other fellow human beings. Don't be a weed-puller who injures the wheat! Take each person as they come, as you learn to know them, and let judgment and categorizing to God.
I really wish, for instance, that we would not over-generalize so quickly. With strangers, I've had the experience so often, and so have you, of being dead wrong about my judgments of certain people on the first impression. We may write someone off quickly, because they're too quiet or too timid for us. We want impressive friends, stylish folks to surround us, rich comrades, or someone who has influence. How many noble souls and long-lasting friends we may have written off in our lives by premature weed-pulling! And how many heartaches some of us have had to bear because initially attractive friends were so short-lived and lacking in loyalty. It may sound trite and over-familiar, but it's true: It takes time to get to know people. Our snap judgments about which people are "worth" something and which ones don't amount to much, can be dead wrong, and often are.
The way we deal with each other in the local congregation can also turn out to be a matter of unfortunate weed-pulling at times. Of course, every Christian congregation has its weeds, I suppose. But who are the weeds? Again we tend to over-generalize. The weeds, we usually suppose, are the people who never come to church. The Christmas and Easter members are the ones we'd like to yank out. Others are considered pollutant plants when they don't contribute to the church's treasury. There are always those who only put in a few bucks once or twice a year, you know.
All these we tend to consider "delinquent members." What are we to do with them? Many times the leaders of the church get weed-happy. They are ready to "clean house." Let's give these faithless folks an ultimatum, and after that, let's remove their names from the list!
Now, I'm not one for promoting laxity among church members, but I have always hesitated to just yank a member off the roles. Because in the process isn't there the distinct danger of injuring or uprooting other so-called good grain? Don't we run the risk of offending and estranging other members of the family who may be coming to church? Do we always understand the whole background behind what we call a church delinquent? People go through dormant stages, like seeds and plants. There are phases of church membership, high pitches and low, especially among young people and young marrieds, that we ought to reckon with. Again the question, who really are the weeds? What might we be doing in pulling some of the weeds?
Yes, who are the weeds in the church? I'll say one thing. Many a church member who comes to worship every week and gives an envelope regularly has turned out to be a thorn in the flesh for me as a pastor and for the life of the parish in general. There are bothersome, meddlesome, gossipy church members who have done more ruin to the Body of Christ than some quiet, distant member who just isn't turned on by his faith at the present time. Talk about weeds! The slanderous remarks and behind-the-back talking by some church members has choked out the effective mission and work of the whole Christian faith. Sad to say, most contention and tension within parishes is caused by active, prominent, "upright" members of the church. We do have to be careful not to over-generalize about where the weeds are growing in the church, don't we?
Weed-pulling is also mighty tempting when it comes to our desire to give someone else moral correction. We can speak of this in terms of the "savior complex." There are always those who feel that they must "save" another person from moral ruin. Parents often feel this way about their own children. They feel compelled to influence their children so that they "turn out all right" later on in life. Many parents seek to pull out the weeds of negative behavior in their children by adopting the approach, "Now, I'm going to teach you a lesson!" Correction and pointed guidance are indeed needed with our children at times. But in too many cases the radical approach of parents only teaches children the lesson of fearing their very own parents. We can bring our children into line, but in the process we can also make them hesitant to share their real feelings and problems with us for counsel and direction. The line of moral correction must be finely walked. Much wheat can be pulled up with the weeds.
So it is when it comes to dealing with other persons who we think have failed morally. Some people appoint themselves as the moral watch-dogs of society. They will see to it that no one "gets away with anything." Weeds are weeds, and they must be pulled, and the sooner the better. Such people cannot stomach the suggestion of our Lord here in the text, "Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest!"
Jesus says to you and me, "Let the wheat and weeds both grow together." That was the way of Jesus himself. In the words of St. Paul, "Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good." Jesus wasn't "overcome" by our great evil - by our sin as human beings. When he came to the earth, he did not engage in a grand weed-pulling program, seeking to eradicate all overt evil and human failure that he observed.
He could have! The holy Son of God could have become fed up with the human race mighty quickly. As the Lord of Lords he could have lost his patience with you and me. But he did not. Rather, as the Lamb of God he went forth, quietly, humbly, giving himself for us in sacrifice upon the Cross. That's the way Christ met the misfortune of weeds. While we were yet sinning, Christ went to the Cross. This was the mind of Christ - he humbled himself and became obedient, even to death on the cross. Thank God that he dealt with us, and deals with us today, through the mercy of his Son, Jesus Christ.
So let God be the judge. Let him act! He knows all. He sees all. He does everything the best. Let us be faithful workers and believers in his vineyard. Let us be the strong, healthy, best wheat that he can make us. And leave the rest to him.
