Sow Your Wild Wheat!
July 21, 2002
Exodus 3:1-12
1 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his
flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the
LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing,
yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight,
and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4 When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5 Then he said,
‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing
is holy ground.’ 6 He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look
at God. 7 Then the LORD said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I
have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and
I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land
to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress
them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of
Egypt.’ 11 But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12 He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for
you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall
worship God on this mountain.’
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43
24 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone
who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed
weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then
the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him,
“Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?”
28 He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go
and gather them?” 29 But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the
wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest
time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned,
but gather the wheat into my barn.”’
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying,
‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37 He answered, ‘The one who sows the
good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is
the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the
weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son
of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and
all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom
of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
A week ago I went to the lectionary to figure out what to preach on. Imagine my joy when I got to the page in my book and found these great scripture passages—the burning bush, the parable about the wheat and the weeds, and psalm 103. Now imagine my disappointment when I realized I was looking at the wrong year of the lectionary! As you can see, I went with these passages anyway. Actually, the parable of the wheat and weeds is used in both years.
So something... ok, someone is telling us that we need to think about “call” and about what happens when weeds creep into our plans.
If you’ve seen the 10 commandments, or for those of us from the younger generations: the Prince of Egypt, you know this story from Exodus. God calls Moses out. And Moses replies: Here I am.
I suspect that Moses probably didn’t have any idea what he was getting himself into. Yet he doesn’t run away. He stays. He listens.
And God says: There’s this evil empire, you see. They’re not very nice. Go convince them, and their leader, to let my people go.
Here Moses is at his most real: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?
All God offers is: I will be with you.
You and I are called. We are all called to something great: worship, prayer, the service of god’s people. Sometimes we feel as though we’re “called out.” We going along happy as can be and suddenly God asked us to do something we weren’t expecting. We find ourselves in a place we’ve never been before, with a job we’re not sure we can do.
When we read this story in Exodus, we know that God comes through. God sends the plagues; protects with a pillar of fire, splits water in two… God backs Moses up so clearly that there is no doubt about God’s presence.
But at this moment in the text, standing in front of a burning bush, Moses doesn’t know this. Moses doesn’t know if God’s really going to come through. Yeah there is a bit of humility in that question: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? But there’s also a bit of doubt. You’re really going to make me do this? Are you going to hang me out to dry? Will you be there for me?
In June, I started working at Mass General Hospital. I am doing the 10-week summer, intensive CPE unit—chaplaincy. Or, as I have explained it to my friends who’ve never heard of it: ministerial boot camp: 9-5, 5 days a week, visiting patients and spending time with a small group doing a lot of processing. We’re thinking in our group about turning it into a survivor series—every week someone gets voted off the floors. You’re a horrible chaplain! Git!
When I began visiting with patients, I was struck how frightening it was to ask the simple question: How are you doing?
My favorite response is: Oh fine, and you, Father? [eep!]
But sometimes this is all the patient needs to open up. Some patients are eager to tell me about how awful it is being in the hospital. They’re sick. They’re away from home. They’re scared of living, they’re afraid to die. They’re angry at God.
And I’m left thinking: Who am I that I should do this?
Hear in that both the humility and the question to God: Will you be there for me?
And God says: I will be with you.
It took me a while to get used to the hospital, heck it took a week to figure out where my floors were. But God stayed with me as I stayed with my patients.
[pause]
Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a field full of weeds. Can you imagine it? You’ve got your plans in order, your ducks lined up; you’re ready to go, and BAM!!! You’ve got crab grass. You’ve got dandelions far as the eye can see.
You have an amazing church, you’re growing, you’re thriving and your pastor announces that she’s leaving.
Some of you are wondering if I think Heather’s a weed. I don’t.
But for some of us, her leaving feels like an interruption of our plans. I know you’ve all heard a lot about bar ministry, from Heather. She and I have been working together on this new field of mission and ministry. Since the moment I met Heather back in September of 2000, Heather and I have been dreaming together. You’ve been apart of that. You’ve also been dreaming with her for 8 years!
And look what you’ve done. Look how much you’ve grown as a community!
You’re attracting new members. This is the second summer in a row where you’ve have enough momentum and community to worship together. During Heather’s sabbatical you were able to not only survive, but thrive! Trust me. I was here just two months ago. I know what I’m talking about!
There are going to be times when Heather’s departure from this church is going to feel like a burden. Who’s going to be on the search committees? Who’s going to replace her? What’s going to happen?
But the truth is… it’s an opportunity. It’s an opportunity to grow and take yet another step forward. This is an amazing church. Don’t settle for some half-baked, two-bit pastor. Expect the best there is. Get a pastor who will challenge you, who will help you grow even more
[pause]
The gospel of Matthew provides us an explanation of this rather cryptic parable. Turns out, some scholars don’t think that this explanation is even part of the original Gospel. Which is such a relief for me, because I have to admit it does nothing for me. It’s too surface level. It’s too obvious. Jesus is not a surface level kinda guy.
He’s deep. So what is Jesus really trying to get across to us?
In the story, a farmer plants really good seed. And an enemy comes and plants weeds. This explanation would have us believe that the good seeds are the good people, and the bad seeds are the bad people. That the farmer is Jesus and the enemy is the devil. Ok, whatever.
I believe that the wheat is the church, the communities who are struggling to make God’s Kingdom real here on earth. And the weeds are simply the obstacles that get in the way. Some are going to be small: a leaky roof, a difference of opinion about choir robes or no choir robes. Some obstacles are going to be bigger: your pastor leaving, your organist and choir director leaving, the uncertainty about the future.
The advice of the householder is this: Let both of them grow together. If you let both grow, the wheat will still be wheat, and the weeds will be only weeds. You still have several months together with Heather—use them. Don’t let the good wheat die in the process of dealing with the obstacles of the weeds. This church has some big challenges ahead of it. Don’t let those challenges deter you from your vision, from the call you have been given.
I don’t have any answers that will make the journey ahead of you any easier. I wish I did.
If you want, light a few bushes on fire and see if that speaks to you.
And when you find yourself asking: Who am I that I should do this?
When you ask God: Will you be there for me?
Know that God’s answer is always: I will be with you.
God will be with us.
This is the Good News.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
This sermon was preached July 21, 2002 for First Congregational Church of Somerville. The week prior the pastor of the congregation announced that she was leaving the church. The leave was due to her husband getting a job in a different city. It was difficult news for the congregation to hear.