If you were to come to my house
you might just drive-up Cardigan Circle
and think, you know, this yard could serve as an illustration for Jesus’ parable,
about the wheat and the weeds growing together.
We have good things –
beautiful shrubs, trees, a rainbow of flowers and ripening vegetables,
but we also have weeds – lots and lots of weeds –
in the grass,
in the flowerbeds,
and coming up in the cracks of the sidewalk.
We are letting it all grow right there together.
I console myself remembering what one of our own master gardeners
Has told me before about the presence of weeds in the garden –
Hey! It’s all green!
Perfectly located in the midst of our summer growing season,
Jesus continues to teach us about the Kingdom of God through
stories of soil and plants and seeds and harvest,
with a parable of wheat and weeds growing side by side.
Jesus uses these symbols to give us an insightful vision
of the way we experience life as well as a God’s eye view.
We all know there are signs
of God’s presence, protection and peace in the world around us,
And every day we benefit from the blessings God freely gives us.
And, yet, at the same time,
there are signs of evil, and sickness and violence,
in our world and in our lives.
There are both people and communities
seeking to serve God’s kingdom
and there people and groups
who are actively working against it.
Good and evil intentions are at work all around us,
and not only in the world around us,
but also within us.
And the roots of both are tangled up.
Sometimes it’s impossible to separate the good from the bad.
In my life and in yours there will always be things about life and faith that remain a mystery,
But Jesus offers us clarity about a few things in this particular story.
First, God plants good things.
God has good things in mind for us.
Our father, who graciously gives us life is also kind and good to us.
The evil things that we see and experience – sickness and division between people –
none of this comes from God.
The lie that “God will not give us more than we can handle” is proved by Jesus
to be not only sterile
but without basis at all.
God only brings benefits and blessings to us.
Divisions between people don’t come from God.
God does not put obstacles in our way.
God instead is active comforting us when we are challenged and disappointed,
and helps us in our aim to follow him.
Second, God wants us to be fruitful,
And God wants our community to be concerned with bearing good fruit,
And bearing fruit takes time.
God is patient.
The Sower in Jesus’ story didn’t overact
or lose his cool and rip out the weeds to the detriment of the wheat,
but simply let the weeds and wheat co-exist.
And so, like God, we are to be patient.
We are to care for and tend the good wheat
and we are to seek to be patient with the weeds,
knowing that they won’t always be there.
God will put an end to all that makes us stumble
And God will ultimately defeat every power that opposes the Kingdom.
Perhaps, let us hope, that God who raised Jesus from the dead
can even turn weeds into wheat, in God’s good time.
Until then, I don’t know about you, but I struggle with waiting.
I am not the most patient person by nature.
Even though we know that God is a Sower of good seeds,
I think we often struggle with waiting for those good seeds to grow.
But God is patient.
God sees beyond Christ’s return,
when the crucified One will come again,
and in the power of his resurrection,
no weeds will grow to choke out the wheat,
and no sickness and no sorrow will bother us or bring us down,
no division will exist any longer between God’s people.
God sees clear through it all to the harvest to come,
when all God’s children will be gathered into the company of one family,
one community of an undivided heart,
perfectly loving one another and perfectly loving God,
where former enemies are friends,
and where we all shine like the brightness of the sun.
We are waiting for that day like a mother in the pain of childbirth
Waiting for the child to come
Waiting for the glory yet to be revealed,
And yet, even now we hope in that day to come.
Even now we know that this power is tangled up and rooted in our daily lives.
God can and does surprise us.
The power of Jesus’ resurrection is at work in the world and is at work in us,
Leading us by the Spirit to witness to our identity as children of God.
Today 25 members of our youth ministry team
leave directly after worship for Savannah, GA,
to spend a week serving that community
and working to make the world look more like the world Jesus asks us to imagine.
Our whole congregation is a part of this mission
because you all have supported our youth ministry
financially and with prayer and with your guidance.
First let’s reflect on what we are not going to Savannah to do.
We are not going to Savannah to take Jesus to people who need to meet him.
Jesus who goes with us, and he is already there,
already working in the lives of the children we’ll play games with,
the homeless persons who we’ll talk with,
the elderly whose bedsides we’ll visit.
We are also not going to fix anyone.
We might change some lightbulbs
or paint a fence
or even do some light remodeling of a home,
but we’re not trying to solve the problem of homelessness or poverty.
We are also not going to Savannah have an “experience” of pure enjoyment for ourselves,
or to add to a list of personal adventures,
or even for the experience of offering charity to the less fortunate.
We are going to Savannah
with the goal of letting our Lord Jesus
who has made us good seeds
also grow us into wheat through serving others.
We are going in order to learn from Jesus
about leaving our comfort behind,
leaving our judgment of others behind,
and leaving our judgment of ourselves behind.
We are going to Savannah to be witnesses –
To watch Jesus at work in the lives of the people we meet
And to see Jesus at work in one another
And to experience Jesus at work in ourselves
And to grow in following him.
We will see real poverty and we will see real suffering,
Just as there is real poverty and suffering here in Richmond and all over the world,
but we know Jesus is already there,
And will continue to be there,
And invites us there… to meet him and to learn from him and to grow in him.
On the cross, Jesus himself became a grain of wheat that died and rose again.
And Jesus lives,
giving us a vision of a day when fire will consume all sorrow and worry,
When God will end the divisions we invent between people,
When God will bring an end to all war and violence and suffering and abuse.
Jesus gives us a vision of a day when there will be no need for mission trips,
Or a collection for Journey House,
Our counseling and therapy,
Or hospitals and health care professionals
Or hospice workers and funeral homes.
All these things will end.
God who can clearly see the good from the bad
Will eliminate all evil
and all that opposes God’s love and mercy and forgiveness.
In the meantime,
As we seek God’s patience in waiting for that bright day to come
Jesus has rooted us in his love
And sends his Spirit to renew us in the living waters of our baptism,
Giving us growth as we join him in his mission.
So, let us grow in God.
Let us be glad to serve.
And let us find joy in the Lord.
May it be so.
Amen.