What Can We Do with the Weeds?

Jesus told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?” “An enemy did this,” he replied.  The servants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” “No,” he answered, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.”

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Introduction – So the sower sowed the seed on the soil and some of it started to spout. The roots went deep, the thorns weren’t a threat,and the plants produced. That’s the part of Jesus’ parable from last week thatdescribes us. We’re the people who hear the Word and understand it and produce a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus told another parable. The scenario stayed the same. We’re still in a field and we’re growing there with all the otherbelievers who have been germinated by the power of the Word. Jesus calls thesepeople—he calls us—the people of the kingdom. The people of the kingdom are members of the Holy Christian Church, which is the communion of saints, the gathering of believers. So this is a parable about the church. But it’s not just about our church or about our church body, the synod. It’s not just about 2023 or about Mequon. The parable is about the whole Christian Church in all places and in all times. The parable explains what we can expect to happen whenever believers gather around the Word and the sacraments and the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens faith.

So this is what Jesus said can happen: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. Whenthe wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. Jesusexplained the parable like this: The one who sowed the good seed is the Sonof Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of thekingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows themis the devil. The point is obvious, isn’t it. Wherever there are Christiansthere are also going to be people who try to harm Christians. Jesus called themweeds. The weeds block out the sunlight of the gospel. They secrete thechemicals of false teaching that depress growth and they attract pests that eataway at the roots of faith. Jesus defines a Christian as wheat that lives amongweeds.

OK. Wherever and whenever Christians gather togetherthroughout history, the devil always inserts weeds to attack and destroybelievers. So what do we do with the weeds?  That’s the question Jesus answers today.  

Part of the problem is that the weeds aren’t always obvious.Jesus said, The enemy came and sowed weeds while everyone was sleeping. Usuallyit happens that nobody really notices; nobody’s expecting trouble. At firstnobody even recognizes the weeds. The weeds look like the wheat. When thewheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. A newteacher arrives on the scene and he’s good looking and down to earth. He’severything you’d want a Christian to be. He has an interesting way of sayingthings and his new ideas are exciting. People trust him and they buy in. Butthen, little by little, people start to realize that this is really nothing buta weed.

So how do you know it’s a weed?  Well, you compare the weed with the wheat:this is what the wheat people say and this is what the weed people say. Whatthe wheat people say is what God says in his Word. A person who doesn’t saywhat God says in his Word is a weed. He’s a weed not because he’s Asian and notEuropean, not because he’s brown and not white, or because he’s young and notold, or because he has new ways of doing things and not familiar ways. Peoplebecome weeds when they say something different from what God’s Word says. Thinkwhat Christian churches have had to endure through the centuries and eventoday. Then and now they heard teachers insist that Jesus isn’t the Son of God,that life with God requires more than faith in Christ, that people have to makea decision to be saved, that the Bible contains errors, that Jesus’ body neverrose from the grave, that infants don’t have to be baptized, that the bread andwine only represent the body and blood of Christ, that homosexuality is anatural lifestyle, that abortion is a woman’s right, that living rightguarantees financial prosperity. You and I have been so blessed. Most of uswere born into Christian families that belonged to Bible-believing churches. Wenever heard false teaching preached from our pulpits or taught in our Bibleclasses. We never witnessed our seminary polluted by heresy. We didn’t have tocheck out what a church believed before we joined; we just looked for theclosest WELS church. But it doesn’t work that way for most Christians. Whenthey go looking for a church, they have to check the field for weeds. Some ofthem see the weeds and stay away but some of them don’t. And the weeds of falsedoctrine eat away at the wheat of faith.

You and I dare not be naïve about the reality of weeds. Wecan’t pretend weeds don’t matter. Wrong teaching always matters, wrong teachingalways hurts, and wrong teachers always attack Christian faith. I wouldn’t tryto count how often Jesus and the Bible writers warn us about this. All threereadings today address it. There are people we love who are the victims ofthese attacks in their own churches. In some cases the wounds are fairly superficialand not especially harmful. But in many cases the wounds are deadly and canchoke and destroy faith in Jesus. We need to know about the weeds and we needto care about the people who live among the weeds. So what do we do with theweeds?

Over the years Christians have tried all kinds of weedkillers—literally. They exterminated heretics by burning them at the stake and theyburned the heretics’ followers, too. They forced families who followed falseteachers to leave their homes and move away. They converted people with a swordagainst their throats. They established laws that robbed people of their well-beingand wealth. None of that happens much anymore and it can’t happen in ademocracy like we live in. But some Christians think of ways they’re sure will killoff the weeds: Fight for laws to make godless acts illegal; limit buildingpermit for mosques or temples; make life miserable for neighbors who worship atfalse churches; pick a fight at family gatherings and neighborhoodget-togethers. And they all thump their chests: “So much for the weeds!” InJesus’ parable, that’s what the owner’s servants wanted to do. Theservants asked him, “Do you want us to go and pull the weeds up?” What didthe owner say? No, because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uprootthe wheat with them. The religious Round-Up we use to kill the weeds maykill the tender plants more quickly than the weeds.

So what do we do with the weeds? If Jesusdoesn’t want us to exterminate false teaching, maybe false teaching isn’t asbad as we think. Maybe we shouldn’t worry about it. And maybe Jesus can’t doanything about it anyway.  That’s whatsome people think, but that’s not what Jesus teaches. Jesus wants us to treatthe weeds with the power of his Word. No swords or spears, no rage, no laws.  We speak the truth in love. In the fourthcentury church fathers treated the weeds of anti-Christian heresies with theNicene Creed. In the 16^th century Lutherans treated the weeds ofCatholicism with the Augsburg Confession. In the 20^th century WELS treatedthe weeds of modernism with the statement This We Believe. In ourcongregations we treat the weeds of defiance with the steps of Christiandiscipline. When we witness, we’re always ready to give a reason  for the hope we have. What we do with theweeds is put the Word to work.

And then we wait. Here’s what Jesus said: Let both growtogether until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: Firstcollect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheatand bring it into my barn. And here’s what Jesus meant: The harvest isthe end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled upand burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Manwill send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything thatcauses sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace,where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The question is not “Whatdo we do with the weeds” but “What does Jesus do with the weeds?” Jesus willtake care of the weeds in his own time and his own way.

That’s how Jesus does things…in his own time and in his own way.When the time was right Jesus descended to our world as a child, not as a king.Time and time again Jesus carried out his Father’s will and supplied theperfect obedience we lacked. At his time and at no one else’s time Jesus wentto the cross and endured the divine punishment we had coming. Before three dayspassed, Jesus rose from his tomb to assure us that our sins were forgiven and thatwe had life with God forever. At the time of our birth Jesus worked faith inour hearts in baptism and joined us to the family of God. Time and again Jesusfeeds us and strengthens us with his Word and sacrament. When our final timecomes, Jesus will carry our souls to the pleasures of heaven. And then at atime no one knows Jesus will come again. At that time he will exterminate theweeds and destroy all those who worked to choke and starve and destroy thepeople in God’s garden. And then—you heard Jesus say it--The righteous willshine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Amen.

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