There’s a story about a Sunday school teacher who was asking his class questions one day. He began, ‘If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the poor, would that get me into heaven ?’’No !’ the children all answered. ‘If I cleaned the Church every day, mowed the grass, and kept everything really clean and tidy, would that get me into heaven ?’ Again the answer came back, ‘No !’
‘Well then, if I was kind to all people and animals, and if I gave sweets to children, and chocolates and flowers to my wife, would that get me into heaven ?’ Once again the same answer came back, ‘No !’
‘Well’, continued the teacher, ‘then how can I get into heaven ?’
A 5 year old boy shouted out, ‘You’ve got to be dead !’
People often talk about the wisdom of children and sometimes as Jesus told us, we have to be more like little children as we try and make sense of the world.
Today's gospel reading (Matt 13:24-30,36-43) points us towards thoughts of heaven. Heaven has often been a subject of discussion and debate in the church - it has also been used as the great contrast to hell. But simply to judge in such a black and White way is to ignore the grace of God in calling his people to him.
For years some preachers have earned their living out of frightening people about what hell might be like – for them heaven is not a wonderful gift but an alternative to the darkest and most painful experience imaginable.
But Heaven is a gift and a gift isn't something that is earned but something that is freely given to give joy to the person receiving the gift. The American preacher Billy Graham once said, 'it is so easy to receive Christ that millions stumble over it's sheer simplicity.'
And so our thoughts should never be on the perils of hell but on the benefits and privileges of having a place in God's kingdom. Our thoughts should not be about punishment but on what we or others might miss out on if we are not enjoying a relationship with God.
We’re reminded of some of the privileges as we think about the Old Testament reading (Isaiah 44:6-8) where the awesome power of God is revealed – the first and the last, the one in whom we can trust, the one who allows us to not be afraid, the one who is the most secure rock…
And then in Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:12-25) Paul describes some of the privileges of being children of God, not slaves to be bossed about and not God’s little playthings that he moves about as if he was controlling a chessboard. We are children of God, loved by Him without limits…
But now let’s think again about the gospel reading that we heard… It’s another parable of Jesus. Bear in mind as we read it those other readings – the incredible power of God as described in Isaiah and the fact that we are called children of God in Paul’s letter to the Romans. We’ve got the awesome power and the incredible love of Jesus there…
And now we think of the kingdom of heaven – a kingdom where surely everything will be perfect, a kingdom where God rules completely, not by force but with love, but what’s described in the reading isn’t as straightforward as that…
We’re given a picture of this field in the reading. Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered his good seed in a field, but then, when everybody was asleep, an enemy came into the field and scattered weeds among the seeds.
When the crops began to sprout up, the workers in the field could see that there were weeds mixed in with the good wheat, so they asked the farmer how the weeds were so thick when they had seen him plant only good seed in the field. The farmer answered, “An enemy did this.”
Then the workers offered to remove the weeds but were told to leave them until it was harvest time when they could be properly separated from the good crop.
There are different ways of thinking about the full measure of what Jesus was saying here. It could have been that we are to look at the parable in terms of ourselves. Much as we might not like to, we can look at our lives, our character, our habits, and see that each one of us is sort of like a field full of a mixture of wheat and weeds. That is, each one of us is a mixture of good qualities and bad qualities – hopefully obviously rather more good than bad !
And this mixture within us is a real challenge – we try (hopefully !) to do good when we can, to not hurt others and so on, but sometimes we get it wrong. So what does that mean? Does it mean that we don’t have to worry about it ?
It obviously doesn’t. I think it just means that there is a danger in thinking that we can, if we try hard enough, make ourselves perfect, but actually only God can do that and that’s why we pray over and over again the prayers of confession in our services – it’s not to feel bad, it’s not just a routine way of making everything ok, but a way of honestly saying to God that we want to do and be better….
And there are other interpretations too of this parable… Perhaps we look around at the church or the world and we see good and bad all around us, and we might be tempted, with good intentions, to weed out those that aren’t so good…
I’m always reminded when I think about these things of the old chapels where some sort of misdemeanour had been carried out by a member during the week and on the Sunday, the rather stern minister would call the person to the front effectively to be humiliated in front of the other people, none of course who were perfect themselves…
This is a pretty strong reminder of the dangers of us setting ourselves up as judges of other people – God is the only judge – our job, and it’s enough to concentrate on by itself, is to love people…
And that really isn’t easy. It isn’t easy to stand by and watch as the weeds threaten to choke the good wheat that is growing in this field. It isn’t easy to keep from making judgments. It isn’t easy to practice the ways of peace-making. And it especially isn’t easy to love our enemies.
But that’s just exactly what this passage is about. Jesus says very clearly that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us, for that is the way of God, who makes the sun rise on both good and bad people, and who sends rain both for those who do right and for those who do wrong.
There is another interpretation to this too and that is the one that is offered by Jesus himself as he explains the story to his disciples. This is that the field is the whole world.
The good seeds are those who practice the ways of the Lord, and the weeds are the ones who, put most simply, don’t ! And that’s often why in the world we see so much good clashing with evil, so many things happening which don’t seem to be things that God would want to allow…
Sometimes evil seems to be winning in the world – there’ve been too many recent examples to think about, but this reading reminds us that ultimately God is in control – ultimately God is the rock on which we can depend and ultimately we are his children whom he loves absolutely…
And so he calls us to be his witnesses living as people who know his power and his love, living as people filled with hope because of the kingdom of heaven – a kingdom that is at hand when we find joy and love, sometimes even in the midst of pain; it’s at hand when we are strengthened to love someone that we find it pretty difficult to even like; it’s at hand when we know God’s protection all around us in whatever situation we find ourselves, even in the middle of a world where there is conflict and suffering and economic pain and so many other problems…
Part of the Psalm (86:11-17) read, ‘I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name for evermore…’ And so with thankful hearts may we live secure in the knowledge of God’s love, may we be continually transformed by that love and be ready to share that love as far as we possibly can… AMEN
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