A Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost: The Parable of the Weeds

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Something that every Christian ought to be doing is reading their bibles. Some folks like to read from start to finish, and that’s fine, but we can easily get distracted if we began in Genesis and Exodus and then we hit Leviticus. The laws of Israel get us bogged down and we lose interest and stop reading. However, if we were to sit down and read through a Gospel say, Matthew, in one sitting it might surprise you how many connections the Gospel has interwoven throughout the book. Matthew was a master at this, as He was crafting and using his Gospel to teach new Christians about Jesus, the faith granted to them and the new life of faith in Christ.

Consider Matthew’s gospel as a catechism book, God’s Word, but crafted and put together in such a format that every chapter builds on the themes before it, word choice and ideas that show up in the beginning get refined, and more poignant as the book progresses. Jesus’ parable of the weeds picks up a few ideas from St. John the Baptist primarily the fire at the end, and the parable that precedes it with the words and ideas of the seed, planting, and the field. It also deals with some of the themes from the Sermon the Mount, primarily the part of judging. Reading the Gospel of Matthew in sitting certainly helps begin to see how masterfully Matthew was in tying together any loose ends.

So, lets imagine shall we that we are students of St. Matthew and the best catechist ever: Jesus and see what this parable says to us in our day and our age. It is nice that Jesus like the parable of the Sower gives an explanation for us because if he had only given us the explanation of the first parable we would just assume the seed had the same meaning, as well as the field, etc. And we could certainly see how this would fit. But Jesus has another meaning in mind, which is why he gives this parable an explanation as well.

He explains the parable: “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

While Jesus does not say it this way, we can take this parable as analogy of what happened at the beginning in the other book of beginnings: Genesis. There God called everything he had made good, especially his prized creation: man, made in his image, able to reflect his love in the rest of creation. But we know the story, the Serpent came and disrupted all that was good. He seduced Adam and Eve to eat of the tree which God had commanded them not to eat. All that was deemed good and fruitful by God, turned bad and fruitless, everything became weeds and barren.

The workers, the angels were at the ready to pluck the weeds from the word go. But the Lord knew better because what had been made good in the beginning had been so corrupted that nothing of man was good, there would be sons of the kingdom, unless God Himself acted on behalf of his creation. His own son would need to be planted into the world. The Son, born of the virgin, the seed of the Woman would have to come into the world in order for there to be any fruit at harvest. Without the coming of this “son of the kingdom” there would be no additional sons and daughters of the kingdom. It would only be a harvest of weeds ready for the fire. And God did not want that. God does not desire the death of anyone. Jesus later in another parable concerning the last day speaks of the fires being first and foremost created for the devil and his angels, not for people, but people who reject this preaching of Jesus and the promise Jesus gives in this preaching will be sent their as well.

So, having heard the first parable of this chapter the parable of the sower, you see that God has shown mercy upon his creation. He did not destroy it when He saw the corruption of sin and the fruit of that sin: death. He has sent His Son into the world, to sow the seed that is His Word into the hearts of men, who have been corrupted. But by that word, the men who hear and believe, in others words have been called to a knowledge of Christ Jesus as the Son of the living God, Emmanuel, would be transformed from weeds to a plant that bears fruit and a harvest, making them sons of the Kingdom. Note this is strictly being done by the grace and power of the Lord’s Word. And this merciful and powerful work has taken place in you, for you gladly hear it, and learn from it. By hearing Christ’s preaching, you have been called by His Gospel to faith in Him, and have been made a son or daughter of the kingdom by the waters of Holy Baptism. And you are made righteous for the sake the very Son of God, Jesus Christ, who came to restore and reconcile you to your heavenly Father.

You have been made and accounted Righteous before God in Holy Baptism, but you still live in a sinful world, and you yourself still live in a body marred and corrupted by sin. You still have evil thoughts that come out. You still show your weediness. You having been called sons don’t always act like sons of the kingdom. More often than not we are just like the weeds when it comes to the kind of fruits we produce, good for nothing but the fire. But remember the promise given you in Baptism. You are deemed righteous for the sake of Jesus. And you have forgiveness and life everlasting because Jesus has granted it to you.

And let’s remember folks, Jesus is pretty clear that the enemy is still sowing his seed. We see evil still around us, and its easy to spot as it does not even seem that enemies of Christ and his Church try to hide any more. They are coming from all angles. Even within the tent that is “called Christianity” we have folks who speak the opposite of what Scripture speaks. So how much longer until the end? How much longer do we have to wait? We don’t know. I don’t know, and if you hear someone give an exact date, run from them for they are not speaking for God. Jesus even says he does not know the day or the hour of the return of the Son of Man.

But what is clear also is that Christ is still sowing his own seed. He who has ears let him hear. Jesus still showers us with his mercy and his grace. He has not returned yet for harvest. Until that day, there is still time for his mercy to work to on the hearts of those who are his enemies. He has made you his own. He has given His Words to preached, in order for faith in Him be created in the heart of men and women alike. Weeds can be transformed. You who were once weeds, have been made wheat for the sake of Jesus’ death on the cross, and you have been granted the name of son and daughter of God. And having been made wheat, you bear a harvest because you are grafted into Christ.

Jesus also teaches us to be diligent and remain awake. One of my favorite hymns for this day puts it this way:

Rise my soul to watch and pray, from your sleep awaken! Be not by the evil day Unaware’s o’ertaken; for the foe, well we know, is a harvest reaping while the saints are sleeping. Watch against the devil’s snares Lest asleep he find you; For indeed no pains he spares to deceive and blind you. Satan’s prey, Oft are they Who secure are sleeping, and no watch are keeping.”

The hymn is 663 and I strongly encourage you to learn this hymn and keep it on your lips during these days. Satan, the world, and our own flesh are fighting against us and the church, and we cannot let our guard down lest we lose what Christ has given us. He who has ears let him hear.

So, in catechetical fashion: How does one remain diligent and awake? And how does one with ears hear? Be where the word of Christ is preached. Be where the food which nourishes us and works in us good works is provided. Receive the watering of Christ’s Holy Gospel and the free forgiveness won for you by Christ’s bitter sufferings and death at the cross. Receive the “miracle grow” that is his body and blood, that works in your own heart to trust Christ at his word more and more as well as doing good works toward your neighbor. For by these things you are made ready and kept for the harvest when that day comes.

Out of faith and trust in Christ flows the fruit of the harvest. What those works look like are different depending on your stations and vocations. Perhaps you are a nurse, so caring for the patients put under your charge. Maybe you are a son of elderly parents, so making sure they don’t need to be mowing their grass in the heat of summer by mowing it for them if called upon to do so. Maybe you are the wife of a farmer and so perhaps it’s the simple act of driving the truck to the field with his lunch. What makes these good in the sight of God is that they are done in faith in Christ. Maybe you are student and you have to put up with the false teaching of evolution and listen to the dogma of the secular world, grin and bear it, yet speak the truth when able.

Though you might not feel it now, and you might not feel like you are shining, soon all that seems to have overtaken the truth and the sons of the kingdom on earth will be gathered into bundles and burned at the last. And you, being deemed righteous and good for the sake your Savior Jesus, will be made to shine like the sun, like you were supposed to always shine before our heavenly Father in his Kingdom. May God continue to protect us night and day from the assaults of the Enemy, strength and faith increasing, so that still mind and will shall unite to serve him and forever love him. Amen.

Note: If desiring to hear how this sermon came out in the service, email pastorhercamp@gmail.com. Blessings in Christ!

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO