Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 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?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 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.’ ”
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.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children 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 collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
The beauty of Jesus’ parables is that they continue to speak a surprisingly relevant, timely word to us in this day and age, just as they did for those who heard them the first time around. And if you believe, like I do, that a parable is allowed to – that a parable is even supposed to – generate new meaning in new situations, it seems entirely possible that Jesus’ parable of the weeds and the seeds has something to say to us regarding something Jesus may never have been able to guess about our life in the 21st Century: this new-fangled thing called “Cancel Culture,” I mean.
You know about this, right? This 21st Century, social-media-fueled phenomenon where someone does something or says something that is offensive, if not reprehensible enough, to enough people, with enough power and influence, that said person is “canceled” in whatever way seems fit – or feared – or appropriate – according to the masses. In the words of Jesus’ parable, you might say, the weeds get cancelled – pulled out by their roots and burned up with fire – right where they are.
I have to admit, I’m sort of inclined to “Cancel Culture” sometimes, and I’m not sure how to think about myself because of that, thanks to Jesus’ parable. For example, I didn’t feel bad when I found out that that white woman in Central Park lost her job when video went viral of her, choking her dog while threatening to call the cops on a black man, and using his race against him, in the meantime, all because he asked her to stop breaking the rules. I also felt no small measure of righteous indignation when I saw another white couple had suffered similar consequences – they lost their jobs after being relentlessly shamed on social media – when they called the cops on a black man for writing with chalk on the wall surrounding his very own house. They thought it unlikely, if not impossible, that a person of color could or should live in such a neighborhood.
The owner of GOYA foods was threatened with being “cancelled” just last week for speaking kindly about the President of the United States. Anyone accused or guilty of sexual assault or misconduct in the day and age of the “Me Too” movement is pretty much doomed – just ask Matt Lauer, or Al Franken, or Louis C.K. And the list goes on. You can Google “Cancel Culture Victims” to find more of this sort of thing.
So I wonder … in the words of Jesus’ parable in today’s Gospel … are the words and actions of these people … are these people, themselves … weeds or seeds? And are they worthy of being pulled out or plucked up or called out or canceled in such ways?
Again, my sinful, broken, score-keeping self is inclined toward the former – the weed-pulling, I mean. If someone is so blatantly, obviously, offensively, ignorantly racist, or sexist, or violent, for example, I find some measure of satisfaction to learn that they have suffered some consequence for their words or actions.
And that’s why Jesus’ parable in this morning’s Gospel can be sort of hard to swallow.
See, his disciples want to know about how they should handle this cosmic sort of weeding project Jesus seems to describe. We know – and the disciples finally figure out – that the weeds in Jesus’ story represent sin and evil in the world, and Jesus wants them – and us – to think about those weeds and all they represent – differently than we’re inclined to a lot of the time.
Like is true for me, it seems our first intention, our first temptation, is to determine who is or what are to be considered “weeds” and who is or what are to be considered “good seed.” When we talk about heaven and hell, about the end of time, about the coming of God’s kingdom – our first temptation is to want to be on the right side of it all; to be on the winning team so that we aren’t one of the ones who gets “left behind.”
But this just leads to even greater, scarier temptations: Temptations to point fingers and decide who’s right and who’s wrong. Temptations to make decisions about who’s worthy and who’s not. Temptations to judge – by our own standards – who’s good or bad, who’s saved or damned, who’s forgive-able or not, who’s welcome or not, who’s loved or loveable or whatever … or not.
And we can find examples of it all over the place. In Jesus’ time, it was the Pharisees who did a lot of the finger-pointing. They worried about who was eating what, or who was working on the Sabbath, or who wasn’t following the law to the letter. And based on their worries, they pretended to determine – with very good, faithful intentions, mind you – who should be in and who should be out.
And, whether it’s sexual or political or religious or racially motivated persuasions, we don’t have to look very hard to find instances in our world where people take it upon themselves to make decisions about who should be in and who should be out; again, decisions about pulling weeds from the good seed, as Jesus might put it.
But I hear Jesus drawing a distinction this morning, between what we might relish in the “Cancel Culture” of this day and age and the Kingdom of God in the age to come. In other words, I’m hearing that, while “Cancel Culture” may be a thing on this side of heaven, “Cancelling the Kingdom” may not be ours to claim on the other side of it all.
What I hear in Jesus’ parable is that there are too many of us choosing not to grow alongside too many others. And I believe Jesus is challenging us with this parable, to remember that the “Cancel Culture” we have come to know might not be our work to do; our garden to tend; our Kingdom to cultivate, all by ourselves.
Whether we do it out of fear or out of love… out of genuine concern or out of ignorance… with all the Biblical scholarship and well-reasoned theology or not, Jesus tells us that this sort of thing is not our job, when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Jesus tells us he is the one – “The Son of Man will send his angels” he says, and then “at the end of the age.” What that means to me is we’re to leave the weed pulling, the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, for another time.
Instead, Jesus teaches, with this parable, that now is the time for something altogether different. Now is a time for planting good seeds of promise, of hope, of reconciliation, and of love. Now is a time for growing together. Now is a time for growing alongside. Now is a time for being the good seed that grows and bears fruit in spite of – and in the face of – whatever weeds might threaten or challenge or scare us along the way.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting we “live and let live” to the point that the weeds of sexual assault and racism, discrimination and injustice are given a pass for the sake of “going along and getting along.” I’m suggesting – and I’m hopeful – that the good seeds of justice and love and grace, the good seeds of mercy and forgiveness and transformation, can grow boldly and bravely and faithfully alongside all of those weeds – in spite of all of those weeds – and until all of those weeds – are transformed, themselves, to bear fruit worthy of God’s Kingdom “on earth as it is in heaven.”
That is hard, holy work for sure. And some of us – people of privilege, mostly – have some heavy lifting to do, in this regard.
If the weed is racism, those who benefit from racist systems have some growing alongside to do with those who take advantage of their status and privilege.
If the weed is sexism, good men in our culture have some growing alongside to do with those who take perpetrate injustices against women.
If the weed is poverty, those of us with means have some growing alongside to do with those who take advantage of those who are poorer than others.
And this “growing alongside” is hard and holy because it looks like humility and repentance and forgiveness and persistence. And it is God’s call to the Church, because it is much more Christ-like than all of the world’s weeping and gnashing of teeth. And it’s harder, frankly, than the “Cancel Culture” that surrounds us so much of the time. It’s harder to “grow alongside” and to bear fruit among the weeds, trusting that God’s way of grace will win the day. But I believe it will, in the end, for the sake of the world. I believe we can do this work precisely because God’s grace has – already – won the day, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
