A Certain Mix Up

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

Leader: For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, for the Word of God within us,

People: Thanks be to God.

Sermon

There’s nothing like talking about eternal damnation at 10:15 in the morning.

To point out the obvious: this story is full of dualism and binaries. There are seeds that are good; there are weeds. There are children of God; there are children of evil. There is a good place; there is a bad place. 

But through this dualism, Jesus is actually being a pretty honest guy about God’s world. Jesus doesn’t tell us that there are only good seeds, and only easy harvests, and only good vibes. In this text, Jesus reminds us there are evildoers, and oppressors, and complexities to the world. Harvests are sometimes back-breaking work, that are tedious, and not always a lot of fun.

So whether we’re thinking of this parable in the context of the world, or by extension, the church, Jesus gives it to us straight. Your neighborhood, your church, your government — it is not all good, or all bad, or simple, or straightforward, or flat. It’s all mixed up… the weeds and the good seeds, all scattered and comingled together. The world, it seems, is complicated… at best.

And so, in a world that’s all mixed up, where the weeds and good seeds are all comingled, it becomes impossible to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus and not ask hard questions about the world. It takes the courage to be wrong—to discover good seeds planted in the middle of weeds—and it takes the courage to live with uncertainty and doubt. To accept that we don’t always know where God has planted good seeds.

But not everyone is willing to let go of clear answers. Sometimes, people stay entangled in the roots of certainty and flattened narratives.

Parables and stories like today’s are often hallmarks of Protestant fundamentalism. Protestant fundamentalism—much like the fundamentalism of Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and Sikhs—is predicated on a certain rigidity and certainty about the world and the divine. In fundamentalism, the world is completely explainable; there are supposed beliefs and narratives that are unwaveringly clear, and imaginarily ancient.

In fundamentalism, in short, the mystery of God and the mystery of God’s world are eaten alive by a commitment to desperate certainty and rigid inflexibility.

We are all faced with the pressures of fundamentalism: we are always being tempted to take quick and easy answers instead of wrestling with the messiness of the world, and the reality we might not have everything right.

“And so, in a world that’s all mixed up, where the weeds and good seeds are all comingled, it becomes impossible to live as a faithful disciple of Jesus and not ask hard questions about the world.”

In the religious world I grew up in, fundamentalism was everywhere. It was the water we swam in. And believe me, you knew who was a weed, and who was a good seed.

The lineup of those evil, depraved weeds included LGBTQ people—especially trans people—Catholics, Muslims, immigrants, liberals, mainline Christians like the PC(USA), and yes, most Californians.

And the lineup of those good seeds? Those people who shine like the sun? “Us.” Which meant other fundamentalists.

If an earthquake hit tree-hugging, liberal West-coasters, it was a bummer, but they deserved it… they were weeds.

If someone contracted HIV or AIDS—or a trans person was murdered—it was a “sad situation,” but they deserved it… they were weeds.

There was this deep certainty about what made someone a weed or a good seed; but at the same time, you always feared being a weed. There was this nagging anxiety that was lodged in so many peoples’ minds — how do I know I’m a good seed? What do I need to do? What if I’m bad this week, or make a mistake? Am I going to be a weed like all those people?

It is deeply ironic, the amount of uncertainty that can be sowed by fundamentalism. It seems that the harder people believed in hell, the more they made it show up in their daily lives.

But what if today’s text isn’t meant to manufacture certainty for us? What if, in Jesus’ dualism about weeds and good seeds, and in his talk of fiery furnaces and shiny, happy places, he is adding to the complexity and uncertainty of our lives? And what if, maybe that complicatedness wasn’t such a bad thing?

In the parable of the weeds, the world isn’t straightforward. There aren’t weeds growing in one part of the field—over there—and good seeds growing in another. There aren’t little signs in front of each seed, but instead, they’re all mixed together with weeds. The boundaries are anything but clear, anything but obvious, anything but easy to navigate. None of us live in worlds that are free from the weeds. Even the church—even the most correct, most right, most certain, most high-functioning, most faithful faith community—every single church has a mix of weeds and good seeds. And so, because of that, no one gets to claim they are superior to others. No one gets to claim perfection. Or rightness. Instead, everyone has to live in the complexity and challenge of living in a mixed-up world. Living in mixed-up churches. With mixed-up people.

“It is deeply ironic, the amount of uncertainty that can be sowed by fundamentalism. It seems that the harder people believe in hell, the more they make it show up in their daily lives.”

And that also frees us to live and associate in a mixed-up world. Because we can never be certain where the weeds and the good seeds are. Sometimes the good seeds are in a church. Sometimes they’re not. Sometimes the good seeds are Californian.

In acknowledging our mixed-upness, we aren’t hurting our witness, either — we’re strengthening it. When we pretend-away the realities of the weediness in our churches and world, we minimize the power of God’s grace. Instead, when we acknowledge that we’re all mixed up, we recognize that God still works even in the midst of weediness. God still brings love and joy and forgiveness into a world that’s full of mixed company. Nothing can stop God’s redemptive work in all creation — a few weeds are nothing compared to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.

“Everyone has to live in the complexity and challenge of living in a mixed-up world. Living in mixed-up churches. With mixed-up people.”

Furthermore, we aren’t the ones who get to decide who’s a weed and who’s a good seed. God sends the reapers. God makes the decisions. God calls the harvest in. Not us. So none of us can be the arbiters of others’ worth, or holiness, or goodness. And because God alone makes the decisions on what’s a weed and what’s a fruitful seed, we are called into a posture of humility and caution. When we instinctually jump to label someone as a weed, we might want to hold up. Because we don’t get to make that decision; God does, and God is constantly surprising us. In this, we receive the constant task to open ourselves up to being surprised. The garden of God’s world is full of strange, weed-looking things that aren’t necessarily weeds; just as there are plenty of things that look like good seeds, but aren’t as noble as they appear. Sometimes we confuse goldenrods for ragweed, and in doing so, miss out on its hidden flower.

So who’s in? We don’t know. 

And who’s out? We don’t know. 

Though today’s passage might have the appearance of certainty, I think it is actually a full-throated affirmation of the uncertainty of living in God’s world. The uncertainty of trying to build the church of Jesus Christ. 

So be curious about this garden of God’s world. Wonder about the weeds that aren’t actually weeds. Wonder about the seeds that aren’t actually seeds. Be surprised. Know that you’ll get it wrong. And know that God will always get it right, and nothing will stop God’s work to redeem all of creation. Amen.