After Pentecost (Proper 11 ) | Year A | Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 | TJ Torgerson
When I was growing up, seeing the letters WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) among church friends was a common occurrence. It was on t-shirts, bumper stickers, bracelets, and once I even found it carved into a park bench, which, I was pretty sure, Jesus wouldn't do. "What would Jesus do?" was a popular sentiment.
"What would Jesus do?" is certainly a good question to ponder as one lives their life and makes decisions. However, we also need to remember that there are some things for which only Jesus is qualified. For example, consider the story of Jesus flipping tables and running the money changers out of the temple. When I consider the story, I know two things. First, Jesus was able to act in that moment with righteous indignation because he was and is perfectly righteous. He could flip a table and also do so with perfect love. Second, I could not flip a table and run you out of town while remaining perfectly righteous and loving. There would be so many things that would seep in at that moment: pride, judgmentalism, perhaps even hatred. Flipping tables and making whips might be something only Jesus is qualified to do.
This week’s Gospel reading is in the book of Matthew, chapter 13. It is known as the parable of the weeds. A farmer sows good seed, the enemy sows tares, and the workers are instructed to wait patiently for God to sort it out. The reason is simple: separating the wheat from the tares is something only Jesus is qualified to do.
Because here is the thing, if you are in the church community for long, many people will, at some point, seem to you to be a tare. Maybe they are, but maybe they are not. They will say something that hurts, do something that offends, and sometimes it will even seem intentional. In these times, if we were the judge, we would pull the weed, throw it in the yard waste bin, and wait for waste management to pick it up on Tuesday. The problem with this is that we are not fully righteous and we do not have all the information. Our perception of events might be wrong, and if we cut down the weed and cast it out, we may unintentionally damage something good that is happening or on the way to happening.
The other side of the coin is also true. If we are in the church community long enough, we will be the tare to someone else. We will forget something, say something, do something damaging to another, sometimes intentionally. What if the last time you stuck your foot in your mouth or intentionally or unintentionally hurt someone, you were cast out? Where would you be today if your unrighteous peers were your judge?
One of the many things we can learn from this parable is that the church will always be messy. We will sometimes cause the mess, and we will sometimes be victims of the mess. But the mess will persist. The only way to continue forward despite the mess is to practice humility, knowing that our judgments are imperfect. We could be wrong and not recognize it. Therefore, we continue in humility, but we also continue in faith that the God who began a good work will bring it to completion, and in the end, His perfectly righteous and loving judgment will prevail. And that is good news because that’s just not something we are qualified to do.
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton
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