Pentecost 6: A Troubling Field

Isaiah 44:6-8

Psalm 86:11-17

Romans 8: 12-25

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

A “Fair Warning” to Readers.

Just wanted to let you all know that most of the creative energy for this blog post went into the Gospel lesson for today.  If you are really looking for some good stuff on the other lessons, might I suggest you try:

  

First Lesson: Isaiah 44: 6-8

Challenges:

You might be tempted to see a challenge in the fact that here in Isaiah God says “besides me there is no god…” while in other places Scripture suggests that that the people of Israel believed that YHWH was one among many deities. You might be tempted, but is that going to be the main topic of your sermon? If so, how life changing will that be for the people listening to you?

Opportunities:

I like the style here, it’s as if God is throwing down the gauntlet for others to speak.  It reminds me of the question we can ask of so many other things that demand our attention and affection: do they love you back? Or, as Mark Allan Powell says in Loving Jesus, did they love you first?

Good News:

When there is a passage that proclaims God’s power, it becomes GOOD NEWS when we remember that the God of power and might is also a God of love, mercy and justice. A God of power is neutral when it comes to good news: a powerful God could be good or bad.  But when we encounter the God who is speaking here in other places, we know that the power of God is good news.

The Psalm: Psalm 86:11-17

Challenges:

“Save the child of your serving girl” and “you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol” could use some explanation.

Opportunities:

Sometimes when I pray I will take a phrase out of the Psalms and repeat it again and again. Verse 11 here provides such a phrase: “Teach me your way, O Lord.” You can add more to that, but sometimes I like to keep it simple. Come to think of it, there are quite a few phrases that could be good for prayer (the Psalms are like that aren’t they?) “Great is your steadfast love toward me…” or “Turn to me and be gracious to me.” And of course: “You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

Good News:

Well, it’s kind of spelled out here.  I like the fact that the psalm speaks about PAST gracious actions by God (“you have delivered”) while also asking for future gracious actions.  When Past and Future are brought into the Present, there is good Perspective. (I don’t know why I capitalized those words…it just seemed to make sense).

Second Lesson: Romans 8:12-25

Challenges:

Another week, another wordy, thick, deep reading from Romans. This lesson is perfect…for a bible study to really get into.  How useful will it be on Sunday morning? Hard to say.

Opportunities:

Paul’s line about the fact that we are debtors reminds me of Martin Luther’s last written words, “We are beggars.” Hmmm…I wonder if Luther was ever influenced by Paul? (He said sarcastically)

Verse 18 is an important one…(“In consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.”)…and like many other verses that talk about having future hope in the face of present troubles, it all depends on how you say it. If you say it smugly, sanctimoniously, or us it as an “easy out” for awkward situations (like consoling someone who has lost a loved one), it becomes worse that useless. But if you use it with humility and hope it can be life-changing.

Good News:

Paul speaks about hope in the Future actions of God while also being grounded in the Past actions of God. This makes a difference in the Present. (there I go capitalizing words again. What’s up with that?) Because of what has happened in the Past and will happen in the Future, our Present is tremendously, life-changingly, better.

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Challenges:

Okay, here we have a VERY challenging Gospel lesson. I mean any time you have Jesus talking about “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” you know things are about to get crazy. 

There are so many challenges, it’s hard to know where to start, but there is one challenge that Mainline Protestants like myself have to deal with: the desire to DOMESTICATE this text. Like the Parable of the Sower, which we heard last week, it’s very tempting to look at this parable and say “Well, maybe this isn’t about people in the world, the field is our hearts and the weeds and the wheat are the various thoughts in our hearts.”

This is tempting to do because it gets us away from the uncomfortable judgment, it also helps us talk about personal transformation. But ultimately I don’t think it holds us. It’s just a way to “play nice with the text” as one of my wife’s seminary professors once said.  Many of us don’t like to talk about judgment and fire…I get that. I certainly don’t. But we have to grapple with what is being said here. Jesus gives an explanation that says the field is the world.  That’s what he says.  The good see are the children of the kingdom and the weeds are the children of the evil one. This is problematic in so many ways, but it’s there. We have to deal with it.

Mainline Protestants like myself like to talk about how humans shouldn’t “put God in a box:” not the Temple in Jerusalem, not in a certain denomination, not in a certain language, etc.  I’m all about these things.  Yet we seem to put God in a box when we shy away from judgment.  Have we Mainline Protestants created our own box for God?

Yes, the idea that Matthew’s Gospel seems to say that some people out there are “children of the evil one is problematic to the point of being horrifying.  So wrestle with it.  Have a conversation with those verses…don’t just neatly sidestep them to have something much more appetizing.

Here’s the thing: I’m not saying preach a hellfire and brimstone sermon this Sunday, but if you are going to go the route of the field being our hearts…at least wrestle with the text a bit before you get there.  Acknowledge that Jesus was talking about something else, at least in one way.  Don’t play nice with the text, don’t put God in a box (no matter how comfy it looks), don’t forget about “Challenging Jesus.”

Approach the text expecting to hear from God…don’t approach it expecting to use it as an fodder for your own theological beliefs that are already firmly entrenched.

Opportunities:

Some quotes from N.T. Wright’s Matthew for Everyone:

“Would people really like it if God were to rule the world directly and immediately, so that our every thought and action were weighed, and instantly judged and if necessary punished, in the scales of his absolute holiness?  If the price of God stepping in and stopping a campaign of genocide were that he would also have to rebuke and restrain every other evil impulse, including those we all still know and cherish within ourselves, would we be prepared to pay that price?  If we ask God to act on special occasions, do we really suppose that he could do that simply when we want him to, and then back off again for the rest of the time?” pg. 168.

On God’s Judgment:

“There certainly are caricatures of God and his judgment which we should avoid like the plague.  God is not a sadistic monster who would happily consign most of his beloved, image-bearing creatures to eternal fire. But there are equal and opposite caricatures we should also beware of.  God is not an indulgent grandparent determined to spoil the youngsters rotten by letting them do whatever they like and still giving them sweets at the end of the day.  We must refuse the second just as firmly as the first.”  Pg. 173

As usual, N.T. Wright has good things to say. Another thing that these parables offer, is the opportunity to give our own imagery for God’s Kingdom.  Lately I’ve been trying to re-seed some grass in my lawn and have shaken my fist at crabgrass that seems to come up all-too-easily.  My temptation is to always pull it up, but I’ve noticed that when I do the good grass is taken out as well.  It’s a tricky thing, and that is a real-life situation many of my parishioners would understand. What images could speak to this in your context?

One final trick of the trade that can be useful: this parable talks about the need to wait. Waiting is never easy. If you want to illustrate this, in the middle of your sermon pause suddenly for about 15 seconds. The silence will be very unnerving and it really shows how hard waiting can be.

Good News:

On first reading, it might be a bit hard to find some “good news” here (those gnashing teeth can be a bit distracting).  But after you’ve spent some time with the parable, good news begins to “sprout up” if you will.

First off, it’s a relief to know that God is the one who will be doing the judging and that the angels will be doing the “weeding.” That’s not our job. Can you imagine the pressure if it was? Do you really feel like you are up to it, if it was indeed our job?  Have you ever been 100% right 100% of the time? Yeah, me neither.  It’s up to God, not to us. That’s a relief.

Also, it is good news that no matter how it looks now, God will set things to rights some day.  There will be a harvest, a “clean-up” and a time when things will be made RIGHT. I just heard an interview where John Dominic Crossan called the Kingdom of God a “divine clean-up operation” or (even more colorfully) “Extreme Home Makeover, Cosmic Edition.”

God’s Kingdom is coming. We’re just waiting for it. May we do so in hope and faith.