THE DANGERS OF WEEDING

Dr. Richard J. Henderson July 20, 2008

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Psalm 139:1-14
Matthew 13:24-30

Introduction

In one of the Peanuts cartoons Lucy is chasing after Charlie Brown. She says how she is going to get him, and she'll knock his block off, and other threats. Charlie stops suddenly to tell her to wait. This isn't the right thing to do; there are too many problems in the world as it is, and if he and Lucy can't work out the differences, how do they expect others, especially adults, to do any better. He is interrupted mid-sentence by a punch in the face. Lucy tells her friend she had to do it. Charlie was starting to make sense.

We live in a world filled with problems - many of them are problems of good and evil. Do any of us go through a full day without dealing with some kind of decision about right and wrong? When you go to work, you have to discern it; if you're raising children, you have to talk about it; if you drive a car, you face it all the time! How do we live in a world of good and evil?

This parable of Jesus we just read deals with the question of good and evil and how we react to it. When we see wrong developing, what should we do?

I

In Jesus' parable the weeds are beginning to grow among the seedlings of wheat. The workers come to the master wanting to know what they should do. "Shall we pull them out?" The master answers, "No. Let them grow together. Because in pulling the weeds you might pull out the wheat as well."

There are several weeds that, in their early stages, look like early sprouts of wheat. Pulling the bad might also mean pulling out the good also. You can't tell weeds from wheat until they mature. Time reveals their nature. Sometimes, what we think is evil turns out not to be.

One day in Jesus' travels a man named Zacchaeus came to him. He was very short, so he had to climb up into a tree so he could see Jesus. Jesus talks with Zacchaeus and invites himself to his house.

Zacchaeus was known to be evil. He was the chief tax collector and he was very wealthy. After talking with Jesus, Zacchaeus says that he will give half of all his possessions to the poor, and if he has defrauded anyone, he will repay them four times over. The one who was condemned as evil turns out to be very generous.

In our day, I think some Christians were almost saddened to hear that Jane Fonda had become a Christian. She was such a lightning rod attracting the attacks of people who thought she was thoroughly evil. Then she became a Christian. It set them back a bit. What we are sure is evil, turns out not to be.

II

Sometimes, when we try to rid the garden completely of weeds, we cause more problems. When we try to make things too pure, we sometimes bring about more evil than good.

Most of us realize that we are a mixture of good and evil ourselves. None of us is pure. Our striving for righteousness can lead to evil. Instead of righteous, all we become is self-righteous.

Think of the Crusades - the good they thought they were doing in the name of God was evil. Or think of the Salem witch trials. They attempted to be so righteous, but were evil.

Remember the heretics who were burned at the stake for disagreeing with one clause of a creed? When we were in Oxford several years ago, we saw a statue of a man who was burned to death for heresy. I thought how ironic it is that he was burned because of the evil of his belief, and now they have a monument honoring him.

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a short story called "The Birthmark," about a man who married a beautiful woman. He loved her, but it bothered him that she had a small birthmark on her face. He wanted her to be perfect, so he took her for treatments to get rid of this mark. They applied chemicals and tried the latest procedures. The result of all this effort was that she died. The treatment and all the chemicals they used to make her perfect killed her.

Sometimes in trying to make things too good we cause evil.

III

The question Jesus raises is how we humans can make divine judgments. Many of the judgments we make are wrong because we don't see with God's eyes. Jesus is warning us to be very careful about pulling weeds - making judgments about other people. In many ways this parable builds on Jesus statement, "Do not judge, so you won't be judged the measure you give will be the measure you get." In other words let God be the judge because only God knows well enough to make judgments.

An interesting part of Jesus statement is that he says, "Don't judge" and then tells how we will be judged when we judge others. Maybe Jesus knows we can't resist making judgments. At the very least he is saying don't judge too soon; don't judge too harshly. You will be judged as harshly as you judge other people. Let God be the Lord of the Harvest.

IV

There are some times when we can't allow obvious evil to continue, though. It would have been wrong to sit back and allow Hitler's Nazi regime to spread through Europe and the world.

When we see a child being abused, we can't say, "I'll let God judge this abuser at the end of time." We have to help the child right now. When a city or state or country is making laws that are unjust, unfair, or when they are taking advantage of the poor, we have to make a judgment and try to stop it.

Sometimes we have to step in. If the life of the wheat is threatened, we have to begin to weed. To allow an obvious evil to continue would itself be wrong.

Conclusion

How do we live in a world of good and evil? We trust in the mercy of God. We hold back from judgments, especially premature judgments and harsh judgments. We remember that Jesus said, "Judge not that you be not judged because the measure you give will be the measure you get."

In the 1919 World Series game there were accusations made against some players of fixing the outcome of the game. It was a huge scandal. One of the players involved played second base.

During a game after the scandal broke, a player from the opposing team ran for second base. He slid into second, aiming not so much for the base as for the shins of the player who was involved in the scandal. He flew into him feet first, his cleats hitting him right in the shins. The second baseman fell over in pain. His team came running to help him.

One of his team mates pulled up his pant leg and you could see the second baseman's shin bleeding and covered with scars. It looked like ground beef.

"Another person wanted to teach him a lesson," his team mate said as he helped him to his feet. The second baseman limped off the field, once again.

Amen

© Richard J. Henderson 2008