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.
///////////////////////////////////////
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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