A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church, Canyon Lake, Texas.
The lectionary readings for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost are here.
Do y’all remember the parable from last week’s reading that Fr. David preached on? For those who weren’t here, Jesus tells the story of someone scattering seeds willy-nilly and the type of soil the seeds land on determines what happens to the seed – whether it can germinate and grow into a fruit bearing plant or not. Fr. David started with the reason Jesus teaches using parables is to make us think. So often, though, Jesus’ parables seem so far removed from our 21st century western world culture that figuring out what to think about them can be a challenge.
Jesus speaks in parables crafted in the culture of first century, Roman Occupied, Jewish culture of Palestine. These mini stories aren’t supposed to teach us to literally do as the parable describes, their purpose is to offer a piece of timeless wisdom for living life in our day and time. Parables train our eyes and ears to see and hear God’s Kingdom on earth as in heaven.
Jesus’ parables, when told to an agriculturally oriented culture, make much more literal sense than they do for us today. In the bit that we skipped over in today’s reading, before Jesus explains the parable to the disciples, he tells two more related stories: one about a mustard seed and one about putting yeast in dough. The tiny mustard seed grows, in the proper soil, into a large beneficial plant. And just the right amount of yeast grows in dough and produces a delicious, nourishing bread. The point of all of these parables, taken together isn’t to make sure we can can grow a bush or win a cooking contest but that we hear the wisdom: we shouldn’t let our own biases or way of thinking limit the possibilities of what God can and does do with what we may think is insignificant. We need to be aware of what we are letting nourish the soil or dough, if you will, of our souls because the condition of our souls affects how we see others.
For most of us, the yummy slices of bread we spread peanut butter and strawberry jam on are so far removed from an actual wheat field, how the wheat grew doesn’t even cross our minds. Even modern-day wheat farmers, although they understand the process of a grain of wheat becoming a stalk ready for harvest, doesn’t have to worry about weeds getting mixed in with the grain they plant and harvest.
The particular weed in the parable is thought to be something called darnel. It looks just like wheat until the heads of grain start to mature. Wheat grains are golden and darnel grains are black. Knowing how difficult it was to distinguish the two was just a part of growing wheat back then – wheat and darnel grew together and were separated at harvest. Some folks would intentionally mix a small amount of darnel into their wheat before grinding it into flour bread or using it to make beer. You see, darnel is known to have mind altering properties. But, in large doses it can kill so the separation at harvest was important.
But, again, the point isn’t to make us master gardeners. The lesson of the parable is that trying to rid this world of who we judge as weeds damages our roots as well. Jesus’ phrase of eyes to see and ears to hear, is our clue to think beyond the literal to find the wisdom in the story.
What is wisdom? Albert Einstein said, “Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” True wisdom means knowing that you truly never know everything and there’s always more to learn about living life well.
My new favorite, still alive theologian, Nijay Gupta, in his book 15 New Testament Words of Life, says “As Christians, we come to experience new life by knowing our place in this world and recognizing the gifts God has given us, then using them to work and serve as a part of society to better the lives of others.”
Another of my favorite, still alive theologians, Richard Foster, in his book Learning Humility, quotes a friend who says, “to become holy and full of wisdom … requires years of slow, painful unselfing. Desires must be dealt with. Passions must be tamed. The mind must be trained.”
The life that Jesus shows us, the life we are created for, is knowing that we are created for each other and for God. To live life working against this wisdom is the burden Jesus wants to free us from. Anything I do to elevate or lower myself is going against the grain (see what I did there).
Wisdom is hearing this parable of the wheat and weeds and seeing ourselves not at the sower or the harvesters but as the ones who are growing in the field of God’s Kingdom, our wellbeing integrally connected with the wellbeing of all people. This is where the metaphor breaks down – we get to choose if we want to be wheat or weeds. We get to choose what we let condition the soil of our soul. Do we choose hate or love, fear or compassion, scarcity or abundance, anger or empathy?
Wisdom is understanding that living life judging others damages our own souls as well as those we judge, and the souls of those who witness us judging. It’s like when we post a piece of scripture or prayer one minute and then a mocking caricature of those we disagree with politically the next. We cannot claim to love God with one breath and dehumanize others with the next breath and expect our proclamation of love to have any legitimacy.
Wisdom knows, like our Psalmist, that seeing our enemies shamed isn’t a sign of God’s favor and it isn’t what brings us comfort. We are created to be most ‘at home,’ most comfortable when we trust that God will set all things right in God’s time and God’s way. That doesn’t mean we don’t seek justice in this world; it means we know that true justice is everyone having the same opportunities and obstacles. Wisdom knows that privilege isn’t what we have but the absence of obstacles to getting life’s necessities. Real love, love as Jesus shows us how to love, means wanting the same abundant life for the person we might label as our enemy as we do for ourselves.
Wisdom doesn’t deny the presence of evil in this world, wisdom understands that most anything intended to be good can also harm. Our intentions may not always be as pure as we try to convince ourselves they are. Wisdom continuously asks the question ‘do my actions elevate or lower either myself or the other person?’
The final judgement of who is in and out of God’s kingdom isn’t ours to make. Jesus tells us to keep inviting others to the feast, to make more room at the table, to believe that there will always be enough love and compassion for everyone. The wisdom of Jesus’ parables teaches us that we are to treat everyone as the beloved children of God they are, even if they haven’t discovered their true identity yet.
What we let be the yeast of our soul impacts our ability to grow spiritual seeds and the fruit we bear – how’s that for mixing all of Jesus parables together!? We are responsible for tending the soil of our soul. We choose to be wheat or weeds. Whatever we allow to grow in us bears fruit, either good or dangerous fruit. What we see and what we hear grow in us like yeast. Jesus shows us how to use our eyes to look for God’s Image in everyone and use our ears to hear the injustices of this world so that we can spread the fruit of God’s love and compassion. Amen.
Mother Nancy's Coffee Thoughts 