Grace Lutheran Church

Proper 11A Sermon July 20, 2008 “How to Respond to Evil”

+ In Nomine Jesu +
The Rev. Evan Gaertner
Proper 11A
Matthew 13:24-30,36-46
“Responding to evil planted in the field”
July 20, 2008

How do we react to the weeds we find in our yards?

Some people will call a company in to do the dirty work and so expect someone else to take care of the problem. Some people will get down on their hands and knees and pick by hand the dandelions out. Others will go to Home Depot get the chemicals and get the spreader out and go to town. In some neighborhoods a perfect lawn is a must. In fact I have known of neighborhoods were a person cared so much about their lawn staying perfect that he also had his neighbors sprayed on either side less there be some devious migration of weeds into his yard.

Monsanto makes a product called Roundup that is remarkably efficient in killing weeds. But unfortunately it is pretty tough on the plants as well. So Monsanto developed a genetically modified corn seed that is roundup resistant. With this special seed a farmer can lay as much roundup on his field as he needs without worrying about burning and destroying his corn.

Jesus tells his disciples another parable about farming. Jesus is not interested in developing the next agricultural school for disciples. Jesus desires to open up to the crowds the truth of the kingdom of God and lead people to trust in the victory of God.

After Jesus told the parable of the sower and the seed he told a gathered crowd a parable about a man who plants good seed in his field. While his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. The weed was probably “darnel, which looks very much like wheat while it is young, but can later be distinguished.” (Concordia Self-Study Bible)

The plants came up and bore their grain and at this time the weeds were revealed. The servants go to the master perplexed why are weeds in the field saying, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?” The master responds, “An enemy has done this.”

The servants at this point ask, “Should we go and gather the weeds up?” But the master says no because he does not want the wheat to be pulled up with the weeds. He tells them to wait until the harvest time and the harvesters will separate the wheat from the weeds.

This parable gives an image for us of what it is like to live in this world. We may desire that everything be perfect and that we never need to worry about evil. But like this parable we find ourselves in a world of grey, that is for a time the wheat and the weeds look very similar. We may at moments get frustrated with God that he would allow things to become so confused. The master’s response to the servants was, “An evil one has done this.” We must be honest and confess that there is evil in this world and that our sin is part of that evil.

In the story the enemy shows his laziness and in a way his smarts. The enemy plants the weeds in the night but then counts on the servants of the master to do the dirty work of pulling up the good wheat along with the bad weeds.

This question of the servants, “Do you want us to go and gather the weeds?” points to our human desire to think that we can discern the good and evil like God can. We all have a delusion about the judgment of evil and good in our fallen state, believing we alone are good enough or on the other hand thinking that we ourselves are worth nothing. The truth is that the sin of the world is not nearly far enough away from who we are. Beating down and destroying the weeds is not as easy as we may first consider.

Walter Wink wrote about the struggle in this present age against evil in a 1993 book titled “Engaging the Powers” in which he asked a very powerful question, “How can we oppose evil without creating new evils and being made evil ourselves?”

The lazy work of the devil is to get us to do his dirty work because the seeds of evil are among us. When we respond to evil in this world we will find it easy to catch the contagion of evil. Consider if your kids are getting loud how easy it is for yourself to start getting louder. In the political attacks we witness the closer we get to the election, both sides have committed to a clean and above board campaign, they always do. But it seems both sides quickly get repeatedly caught in a spiral of words that attack and tear down the other person and so in the process bring down both sides.

How do we react to the evil among us without becoming and using evil ourselves? We try… We justify our evil actions by lifting up the end result as worth the path we took to get there. We go down the pit ourselves. Or we may just try to ignore the weeds and walk with blinders on but find ourselves getting attacked and unprepared.

We are not finding a call to passive submission to the power of evil in this parable nor are we being invited to take whatever means are necessary to strike out at the evil that has been planted in the world around us. Jesus does not tell us to give up but to trust in him. St. Paul says similarly, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

We engage the power of this world by trusting our yes in Christ to be louder than our sin. We do not need to attack evil with our evil or resign ourselves to being the defeated door mat Christians that are walked over by the evil in this world. In Jesus Christ we are lifted up. We are lifted up by the cross and trust the sufferings of this present age are nothings compared to the glory that will be revealed. Even when being throttled by the weeds in and around you, stand firm in Christ and remain in him. All that remain in Christ will bear fruit.

When Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed his blood for you he brought his love into competition with the power of death and evil. In this no holds barred attack between the selfless sacrificing love of Jesus and the mocking hatred of death and evil who wins? Jesus is the voice and reality of victory even in the face of a world full of evil. Three days later Jesus rose. The women came to the tomb and found it empty. The angels said, “He is arisen, just as he said.” Every time the Words of Christ are true and victorious against the powers of this present age.

Jesus told his followers to turn the other cheek if we are hit or to carry the bag an extra mile if requested to carry it one. We resist the powers of evil by engaging them with the tools of Christ. We will never beat back evil by responding back to evil with the same tools that they employ.

Christ works. Christ works for you. Indeed in a field that the servants are ready to give up on, the master encourages the servants to wait and trust in the Lord of the harvest.

The sinful action in this parable is that we will go out into the world and attempt to pull up the evil and so in the process destroy the good as well. The wheat and the weeds will only become evident in the harvest time, until then the field may look full of weeds. We may not look like much, you may have even discounted yourself as one the weeds. God’s amazing and gracious power is to dive into the fields that we would give up on and find the golden shafts of wheat.

Trust in Jesus Christ, he is the Lord of the harvest. It is by the victorious power of Christ that we bear the fruit of salvation.

Soli Deo Gloria