God’s grace, peace and
mercy be with you. … My sermon is entitled Parable, Passage and Prayer. My
focus is on Matthew (13:24-30, 36-43). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the
psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house
of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to
hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our
hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity.
Amen.
What is a parable?
Simply defined, a parable is a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual
lesson. It comes to us from the Latin, parabola, and the
Greek, parabole, which literally meant ‘a throwing beside.’ Its
origin is from the term para, meaning alongside, and bole,
a throwing, casting, beam or ray.
The geometrically
gifted understand that a parabolic curve refers to a comparison between fixed
points and a straight line. The St. Louis Arch and your satellite dish are
parabolic curves. Jesus, however, did not teach math or build arches. Rather,
he compared real life situations to teach a lesson about God.
Parables were part of
Jewish tradition. The Hebrew term for a parable was mashal. We
find mashal in the allegories, proverbs, riddles and taunts of
Judges, Samuel, Proverbs and Prophets. We are familiar with Nathan’s powerful
story to David of the rich man who stole and slaughtered the poor man’s prized
lamb. It transformed David to a humble, contrite sinner. So, we see that Jesus
did not invent parables, but like his ancestors, used them to win people over
to his views.
Jesus spoke parables
to proclaim the gracious advent, disturbing presence and challenging
implications of the Kingdom of God. At times, he opened with, “The
kingdom of heaven is like…” or, “To what shall I
compare?” Often, he concluded with a challenging question. “Which
of these three … proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the
robbers?” Or, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find
faith on earth?” Today, Jesus completed his parable with an
alarming, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest
time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles
to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
While Jesus did not
pressure listeners to choose any one direction, he confronted them with the
necessity to make a choice that determined their future. No doubt, his
listeners who viewed matters one way now discovered a better way. Discovering a
better way resulted in conversion, reconciliation and changed behavior. Once
they experienced conversion and reconciliation, his followers transformed
society and changed the world. As I conclude my first point on parables, I
repeat that last sentence. Once they experienced conversion and reconciliation,
his followers transformed society and changed the world.
From parable to
passage, my second point. I repeated the last sentence because repetition is
effective pedagogy. We learned our catechism by repeating answers to questions.
As Luther employed repetition, so did Matthew. He emphasized the importance of
this parable by following up with the disciples asking Jesus to explain its
meaning.
Our passage is about
God acting, about God doing kingly deeds. God graciously reigns in Jesus as He
speaks this parable, and will reign one day in glorious power. We know that God
reigned in Jesus and is reigning among us today; however, the reign of God
takes place in unexpected, unsatisfying ways as far as we are concerned. I will
explain that last part in a moment.
We break this passage
into two parts: a description of the situation (vv. 24-28a), followed by a
response (28b-30). In describing the situation, Jesus used past-time
indicatives. We remember indicatives from our English Grammar classes. The
indicative mood states facts or asks questions. (I drink coffee.) The
imperative mood expresses commands or requests. (Pour me a cup of coffee,
please.) The subjunctive mood shows a desire. (I wish I had a cup of coffee.)
Jesus stated that the
reign of God has already become like a man who sowed good seed in the field: a
past-time indicative statement. Remarkably, during the night an enemy sowed
seed over top of the man’s wheat crop. In time, the plants came up, bore fruit,
and then the situation became known. The initial dialogue between the servants
and the master of the house confirms what we already know – the facts.
In the second
interchange between the servants and their master, the question becomes, “What
does the master want to do about changing things?” Their attempt to
collect the weeds from the midst of the wheat is met with a lengthy,
explanatory reply. “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the
wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest
time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles
to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
The servants are most
emphatically not to change the situation for that would be dangerously
premature. In short, it is not their call. The danger in separating the weeds
from the wheat would uproot wheat. The servants are to let the plants grow
together until the harvest.
The crowds who first
heard Jesus’ parable took away two things. First, this is a little story about
what it is like now that God has begun to restore his royal rule during Jesus’
time. Second, the story communicates that the crowds should not expect anything
different from Jesus’s ministry other than what it has been. Although the
crowds have been curious about and positive towards Jesus, they are not his
disciples. They are not satisfied with Jesus and must find something lacking in
him. Yet, they should expect no other Jesus.[1]
The crowds expect
something different from what they have seen and heard so far. Again, the reign
of God takes place in unexpected, unsatisfying ways as far as the crowd is
concerned. For the crowd believes that one day it will be different. One day,
there will be a change. Yet, they should expect no other Jesus.
The basic impact of
the passage is akin to Jesus telling the crowds, “Stop looking for
something other than what I am offering you. I must seem strange to you, like a
man who has an enemy so evil that he scatters weeds in the man’s field at
night, and then the owner does not even weed out the harmful plants from the
midst of his own crop! This must seem strange to you, but what you see in
me is the present manifestation of God’s reign in the
world.”
The crowd does not
seek the meaning of this parable. Jesus’ disciples later seek the parable’s
meaning. The crowd, however, does not understand it, and does not care to try
to understand it. Pity, for – like the harvest – judgment comes to everyone,
even the one who does not care to understand deeply Jesus’ words.
Judgment comes to
everyone, even the one who does not care to understand deeply Jesus’ words.
That said, what has this passage to do with us and my third point, prayer? Previously,
I have said that prayer is communal and personal. We pray in our sanctuaries
and rooms. It is from the heart, and it is also vocal. Prayer is God looking at
me, and me looking at God. Several weeks ago, I introduced the Five P’s of
Prayer: Passage, Place, Posture, Presence and Passage.
As I meditated on this
passage from Matthew, I saw that the disciples were deficient in their insight
and understanding. Their faith did not grow the way it should have – like the
tiny mustard seed into something larger than expected. Yet, before I become
critical of the remaining disciples, I reviewed what happened since this
section opened in chapter eleven.
Many followers
abandoned Jesus. The reign of heaven came under attack (11:12). Galileans
failed to repent and receive the Gospel from the Apostles (11:20-24). Jewish
leaders turned against Jesus (12:1-45). He disparaged his family (12:46-50).
The crowds did not comprehend his teaching (13:1-15). And what followed was his
rejection in Nazareth (13:53-58) and the beheading of John the Baptist
(14:1-12).
Agreed, it’s easy for
us from the comfort of our homes to criticize the original disciples for their
lack of faith, insight and understanding. It’s even easier to criticize those
who abandoned Jesus or did not inquire about the meaning of his parables. And
when I place this passage into our time and place, it’s easy to see why
parables are timeless lessons.
What came to me was
that many people are willing to sell their souls for success or simply social
acceptance. Many books and movies follow this theme with the seminal work being
Faust, the 15th-century German legend of a highly successful astrologer
dissatisfied with his life. He made a deal with the devil exchanging his soul
for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. While I doubt any of us have
made a deal with the devil, the words Faust and Faustian imply a situation in
which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power
and success for a limited term.
I may not be willing
to sell my soul, but as I reflect upon life, were there or are there moments
when I desired or coveted to be rich or famous? Perhaps it was to be the star
athlete, actor or academic? Maybe it was a title or degree or position?
Maybe I never
considered selling my soul, but maybe I never was attracted to the teachings of
Jesus and the Gospel – what God has done for us through the Paschal Mystery of
His Son, that is, Jesus’ acceptance of suffering and death leading to the Resurrection.
Maybe Law and Gospel were never as palatable or pleasurable as fame and
fortune. Maybe I found more attractive an interest or a profession and never
considered how accounting, baking, coaching, cooking, counseling, engineering,
nursing, selling, teaching might be applied to Christianity.
In many professions,
including pastoral ones, we have been taught by someone that it is important to
be relevant, relatable, recognized, retweeted, reposted, and in the process, popular,
rich and famous. In our personal lives, there may have been a time when other
things mattered more than my faith – a desirable house, a landscaped yard, a
luxury car. In the world’s eyes, all these things and more may be good. But to
be seen as successful or to have the trappings associated with success start
subtly, like weeds sown among the wheat; and like weeds, temptations always
return.
Part of the reason we
don’t notice temptations is because we trust the people planting them in us.
Martin Luther once commented on this passage this way: “… We are not to think
that only true Christians and the pure doctrine of God are to dwell upon the
earth; but that there must be also false Christians and heretics in order that
the true Christians may be approved. … For this parable [addresses] … those who are
unchristian in their doctrine and faith under the name Christian, who
beautifully play the hypocrite and work harm. It is a matter of the conscience
and not of the hand. And they must be very spiritual servants to be able to
identify the tares among the wheat. And the sum of all is that we should not
marvel nor be terrified if there spring up among us many different false
teachings and false faiths. Satan is constantly among the children of God.”[2]
He continues on how we
should respond to such teachers. “We are not to uproot nor destroy them. Here
he says publicly let both grow together. We have to do here with God’s Word
alone; for in this matter he who errs today may find the truth tomorrow. Who
knows when the Word of God may touch his heart? But if he be burned at the
stake, or otherwise destroyed, it is thereby assured that he can never find the
truth; and thus the Word of God is snatched from him, and he must be lost, who
otherwise might have been saved. Hence the Lord says here, that the wheat also
will be uprooted if we weed out the tares. That is something awful in the eyes
of God and never to be justified.”[3]
In other words, God
will gather the weeds and burn them. He will shut the door on foolish virgins
late for the wedding, cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness, and
send to eternal punishment those who did not do tend to the needs of the least.
Yet, before that time arrives, we must, as the Good Doctor suggests, pray for
their conversion to the true Christian Faith.
Folks, our world is
populated with God’s disciples and enemies. While I wish God would act now, I
must be patient and allow God to punish as He deems. For left to my own will,
to paraphrase Martin Luther, I would wreck it all.
I know God’s enemies
are active. Some are obvious and others are subtle: powers and people who
promote any lifestyle contrary to the Gospel and God’s Law whether they are the
seven deadly sins compiled in Proverbs or vices in Paul’s Letter to the
Galatians. Some promote personal sins and others modern social sins –
destroying the environment, trafficking drugs and humans, violating fundamental
rights of human nature and so on.
As Jesus’ disciples
and our Father’s subjects, we must not only be aware of God’s enemies and the
temptations they sow among us, and pray for their conversion, but also awaken
society to them. As prayerful Christians taking our faith to school and work,
to family gatherings and on vacation, to the political sphere and our virtual
communities, we, like the original disciples, will struggle. That is why we
rely solely on Jesus to steady us through Word and Sacrament. Friends, as you
take your faith from these walls into the world, I pray that the peace of God
that surpasses all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
[1]
Gibbs, 694f.
[2]
https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/luther_martin/misc/003_wheat-n-tares.cfm
[3]
Ibid.
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