The enemy is planting weeds in our wheat fields! So says Jesus in the gospel - and nothing has changed! Give a listen to my homily and I'll show you where I see the enemy's hand at work today. Here's a video of my homily based on the parable from today's gospel. (If the video doesn't appear, click here!) You'll find the text of my homily below.
Weeds!
Where I come from in Massachusetts, the weeds folks deal with there are crab grass, dandelions, white clover, and cooping Charlie. A quick Google search tells me that here in Colorado, you contend with bindweed, kosher, Canada, thistle, and cheese weed.
Jesus isn't talking about any of those weeds at all. But he is referencing a particular weed. In the original Greek (in which Matthew's gospel was written) Jesus speaks in this parable of a weed called ZIZANIA. Zizania..
And here's a fun fact about Zizania: especially in its early stages of growth, Zazania looks just like – wheat! Aha! Now we can more easily understand why the farmer in the parable was slow to pull up the weeds, or as he put it, “If you pull up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them.”
Now, we're talking here about weeds in a parable preached by Jesus and found in Matthew's gospel. This is not the Old Farmer's Almanac. Jesus is comparing here the life-giving seed of faith that he plants - with the invasive and destructive seeds, the enemy sows.
And this isn't just some kind of old pious agricultural metaphor. The enemy is still very much around, and the enemy is still planting seeds for weeds - in our hearts. In our backyards. In our society, in our culture, in our nation, and around the world. Invasive weeds of destruction, and they have more than sprouted - they are growing tall. And just like in the parable, what sprouts from the weeds planted by the enemy, can often look very much like what shoots up from the seeds, planted by Jesus.
The wheat and the weeds in our lives are growing alongside each other. And it's often not easy to tell the difference between them. But we try, don't we? We're trying to sort out the weeds from the wheat when we look around and try to figure out:
What's right and what's wrong?
What's good, what’s evil?
What’s true, what’s false?
What's honorable, what's corrupt?
What's just, what's unjust?
What's impartial, what's prejudiced?
What's loving, what's hateful?
What's of God - and what is not of God?
What yields life - and what chokes it off?
In spite of the fact that we all live in the same field, that we're all looking at the same crop - and that in our heart of hearts, we all desire, we all look forward to the same harvest --- where some see wheat, others see weeds… and where some see weeds, others see wheat.
Because of this, we live in these fields of confusion and the strife it yields. Because of this, ALL of us need to be, should be, must be
careful, not reckless,
prudent, not impulsive,
tranquil, not hot headed,
wise, not foolish,
deliberate, not hasty,
generous, not selfish,
objective, not biased,
peaceable, not aggressive
cautious, not headstrong,
humble, not proud
as we walk through the fields of our daily lives, we need to be all those things.
As we walk through those fields where the crops of our philosophies and politics, our positions and our polemics are growing and being nurtured by the winds of change - and by our own prejudices, our unquestioned presuppositions and our desire for self -preservation.
In the gospel here, the Lord cautions all of us to take care - lest we rashly, prematurely pull up what might be
the wheat
that becomes the bread
that feeds and sustains us and gives us life.
Today's gospel calls us not only to accountability for how WE deal with the weeds the ENEMY has planted - but also to be, ourSELVES, sowers of good seed – us - sowers of good seed who take care not to ADD to the weeds that choke the harvest of truth and justice in the world.
Today's scripture reminds me of a prayer by a friend of mine, a Jewish spiritual writer. His name is Alden Solovy. Alden's prayer is titled Planting Seeds. And it goes like this.
Every act is a seed:
(every thought, word, and deed of ours is a seed*)
every laugh,
every smile,
every song,
every dance.
Every outstretched arm and every open heart:
a seed of holiness,
a seed of redemption,
a seed of grace.
Every act is a seed.
(every thought, word, and deed of ours is a seed*)
every frown,
every angry word,
every dislike,
every disdain,
every closed fist.
And every hardened heart
is a seed of loneliness,
a seed of isolation,
a seed of despair.
Oh, how many seeds have I planted, O God?
How many seeds that hurt
and how many seeds that heal?
And how many seeds have I yet to plant?
Will they be seeds that hurt
or seeds that heal?
O God of the ages,
grant me the discernment and the skill
to plant seeds of wonder and awe
in my life and in the world.
Let me be a source of wholeness,
let me be a source of thanksgiving
so that my life yields a garden of blessings
in service to your holy name.
• I interpolated this line for the purpose of this homily.
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Our minds and hearts, our words and deeds, - our politics and our positions
- are - the seed bags, from which we sow ourselves in the fields in which we live, in the lives of those around us, in the world in which we live.
Now, if your seed bag is anything like mine, it contains seeds for a harvest of goodness, and justice, and truth - AND - and it holds, my seed bag holds seeds for the weeds of destruction, and discord, and division.
My bag holds the seeds of my goodwill, my best intentions, and my desire to live, as I know God calls me to live. But my seed bag also holds the seeds of anger. and selfishness and pride.
Jesus calls each of us to take great care in what we sow, lest we plant weeds that choke and cut short the growth and life of all around us.
Jesus himself allowed himself to be a seed - the seed that falls to the ground and dies - that others (that we) might have life. He allowed himself to be SOWN, to be buried in the earth, that he might rise and raise up a harvest of God's grace and peace and life for us - and for us to share with others.
The fruitful harvest of the Lord's dying and rising is what he will share with us at the altar this afternoon in the Eucharist:
the harvest of wheat, become bread,
become his body for us.
the harvest of grapes become wine,
become his blood for us.
May the seeds of truth the gospel plants in our minds and hearts today, yield a garden of grace, a crop of blessings, and the harvest the Lord desires.
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