Living with those diabolical Darnell
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. 27 "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?' 28 "'An enemy did this,' he replied. "The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 29 "'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. 30 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.'" … 36 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." 37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 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. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
I was reading recently that farmers can get obsessed with weeds. Basically, farmers tend to “over Roundup” their fields. Studies have shown that they could get by with fewer applications of Roundup. Their yield would be less, but their profits would be higher when you factor in the cost of the extra applications.
So, why do farmers tend to over-apply Roundup? Image. A good farmer wants a field with no weeds in it because he’s afraid that if other farmers see his field with weeds in it, they’ll think less of him as a farmer.
Jesus tells us a parable about a different kind of farmer – a farmer who is more concerned about his crop than the weeds. So he allows the weeds to grow and live among his wheat until harvest time. Then, and only then, will the wheat and the weeds be separated. The wheat will be gathered into the Master’s barn, while the weeds are bundled and burned.
Last week Jesus talked about planting seeds. Then the seed was the Word of God. This week the seed is the elect, Christians, the sons of God. We would call this “mixing metaphors,” but when you are the Son of God, I guess you can teach however you want.
This parable is pretty easy to understand. The Sower is the Son of Man – Jesus. He is sowing His Christian Church in the field of this world. But the enemy enters the field to wreak havoc. He is the devil. In the Greek he is called diablos, meaning “thrown down,” the fallen angel. He attacks the Christian Church by “throwing down” weeds into the good field. These weeds are unbelievers, enemies of Christians, atheists and heathens, persecutors and oppressors. The believers and unbelievers live together in the field of the world until the harvest is gathered by the angels at the end of time on Judgment Day. Then the angels will throw the unbelievers into the fiery furnace of hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The angels will also bring the righteous into God’s barn of heaven where they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
This parable answers two questions that people love to ask: 1) Why are there bad people in the world? And 2) Why doesn’t God get rid of them so our lives would be better and easier? The answer to the first question is easy. The reason there are sons of the evil one in the world is not because God has planted bad seed, but because diablos, the diabolical one is working in the world, working stealthily as under the cover of darkness, working against God’s people, working to grow those who do not fear, love and trust in God above all things.
This is the enemy’s work. The enemy who not only attacks God and His Word, but also attacks the people of God in the world, striving to attain victory at any cost.
But if God knows there are sons of the evil one intermingled with the sons of God, why does He leave them here? Wouldn’t this world be a better place, if the weeds were pulled?
We see the result of the weeds’ work all around us – rioting in England, flash mobs at the State Fair, violent revolt in Libya, suicide bombers in the Middle East, helicopters being shot down in Afghanistan, the scourge of abortion on demand, the breakdown of marriage and family, the increasing advocacy of the homosexual agenda in our society, and the growing hostility toward the Christian Church and her mission around the world. The world we live in is decidedly overrun with noxious weeds of every variety … and more are coming as we get closer to Judgment Day.
So, where do we begin? How do we get rid of these weeds? Where’s the Roundup?
But if you’ve done any gardening you know that getting rid of the weeds is much more difficult and time consuming than the actual growing. As someone said: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” There is a corollary to that truth: “To distinguish flowers from weeds, simply pull up everything. What grows back is weeds.”
Jesus doesn’t plan on weeding His garden until the end of time. Why? Because these are no ordinary weeds. They are Darnell. Darnell is a weed that looks exactly like wheat, and for much of the growing cycle, it is pretty much indistinguishable from wheat until the heads of the grain and the Darnell appear.
What would happen if we decided to do some weeding right now? What would happen to those who look and act like weeds most of their lives, but who turn to Jesus at the end and are saved? What would happen to those who seem like agents of the devil, but in reality are weak in faith? What would happen to you? It isn’t easy identifying people as either wheat or weeds because we are both saints and sinners at the same time. How many churchmen throughout history have tried to separate wheat and weeds in the kingdom with rules or monasteries, with inquisitions or trials? They end up uprooting the faith of the weak who fall into sin or they trample the faith of the strong by feeding their pride. Evil is so much a part of us and so entangled in our lives, that to eliminate sin and evil completely now would also mean our destruction. We, too, would be cut down and uprooted.
And so there is great wisdom in this parable. Great wisdom in God allowing both to grow until the harvest. For you cannot pull up sinners without uprooting saints. This is the way it is going to be, Jesus says, as long as the Church is in the world. We’re never going to live in a completely Christian world or society. We’re never going to live sin-free lives in a sin-free world. It will never be a utopia. Sons of God and sons of the evil one will continue to grow together. We are going to have to live with these diabolical Darnell.
But this parable really is not about the Darnell. It’s about the wheat. The weeds are a reality, but it is the wheat that the farmer is focused on. And it is the wheat God is focused on. And because God wants what’s best for His wheat, because He does not want even one little bit of His harvest lost, God allows both the diabolical Darnell and His sainted wheat to grow together … for a time. It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable. It’s imperfect. But it’s what the kingdom of heaven here on earth is like.
Jesus announces at the end of His explanation of this parable: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” We are the righteous ones, the sons and daughters of the kingdom – not because of who we are, but because we have been joined to Christ. Joined with Christ in His Church, our focus is not to yank the weeds – as if we could tell the difference! – but to cultivate the field. And so the water of Holy Baptism is applied to sinners, and in those waters faith is given and grown. The Holy Scriptures are truthfully taught and faithfully proclaimed, and the Word that enters our ears and hearts grows roots strong and deep. Holy Absolution is pronounced on sinners bent under the burdens of our nature and the world, so that forgiven and restored we grow strong and produce fruit. The Holy body and blood of our Lord is given into our hungry bodies and souls to strengthen and preserve us in the struggles of this world.
Now, none of this makes the weeds go away! They will be with us as long as we are in this world. But we do have hope – hope that owner of the field knows what He’s doing, hope as we wait for the final Harvest, when we will finally be gathered together, separated from the weeds and taken into the kingdom of our Father.
But until that time, as long as the Church is in the world, God’s people will be attacked. And while no ordinary farmer likes weeds in his field, Christ is a different kind of farmer. Jesus isn’t concerned about image. He’s concerned about not losing a single grain of wheat. And so Christ is willing to put up with these diabolical Darnell for a little while, for your sake. For He is not willing to let even one piece of His harvest be lost.
He who has an ear, let him hear. Amen.
9th Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany onAugust 14, 2011
Growing up on the farm there were some pretty difficult and nasty jobs. At the top of the list had to be shoveling manure and picking stones. Taking care of the weeds in the fields, though, was always low on the nasty farm job list. That’s because by the time I was really able to work in the fields, Roundup had been invented. Crabgrass, thistles, milkweed and other broadleaf weeds that before could only be hacked at with a hoe or sickle, miraculously withered and died within two weeks of application – dried up at the root. A wonderful invention!
I was reading recently that farmers can get obsessed with weeds. Basically, farmers tend to “over Roundup” their fields. Studies have shown that they could get by with fewer applications of Roundup. Their yield would be less, but their profits would be higher when you factor in the cost of the extra applications.
So, why do farmers tend to over-apply Roundup? Image. A good farmer wants a field with no weeds in it because he’s afraid that if other farmers see his field with weeds in it, they’ll think less of him as a farmer.
Jesus tells us a parable about a different kind of farmer – a farmer who is more concerned about his crop than the weeds. So he allows the weeds to grow and live among his wheat until harvest time. Then, and only then, will the wheat and the weeds be separated. The wheat will be gathered into the Master’s barn, while the weeds are bundled and burned.
Last week Jesus talked about planting seeds. Then the seed was the Word of God. This week the seed is the elect, Christians, the sons of God. We would call this “mixing metaphors,” but when you are the Son of God, I guess you can teach however you want.
This parable is pretty easy to understand. The Sower is the Son of Man – Jesus. He is sowing His Christian Church in the field of this world. But the enemy enters the field to wreak havoc. He is the devil. In the Greek he is called diablos, meaning “thrown down,” the fallen angel. He attacks the Christian Church by “throwing down” weeds into the good field. These weeds are unbelievers, enemies of Christians, atheists and heathens, persecutors and oppressors. The believers and unbelievers live together in the field of the world until the harvest is gathered by the angels at the end of time on Judgment Day. Then the angels will throw the unbelievers into the fiery furnace of hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The angels will also bring the righteous into God’s barn of heaven where they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
This parable answers two questions that people love to ask: 1) Why are there bad people in the world? And 2) Why doesn’t God get rid of them so our lives would be better and easier? The answer to the first question is easy. The reason there are sons of the evil one in the world is not because God has planted bad seed, but because diablos, the diabolical one is working in the world, working stealthily as under the cover of darkness, working against God’s people, working to grow those who do not fear, love and trust in God above all things.
This is the enemy’s work. The enemy who not only attacks God and His Word, but also attacks the people of God in the world, striving to attain victory at any cost.
But if God knows there are sons of the evil one intermingled with the sons of God, why does He leave them here? Wouldn’t this world be a better place, if the weeds were pulled?
We see the result of the weeds’ work all around us – rioting in England, flash mobs at the State Fair, violent revolt in Libya, suicide bombers in the Middle East, helicopters being shot down in Afghanistan, the scourge of abortion on demand, the breakdown of marriage and family, the increasing advocacy of the homosexual agenda in our society, and the growing hostility toward the Christian Church and her mission around the world. The world we live in is decidedly overrun with noxious weeds of every variety … and more are coming as we get closer to Judgment Day.
So, where do we begin? How do we get rid of these weeds? Where’s the Roundup?
But if you’ve done any gardening you know that getting rid of the weeds is much more difficult and time consuming than the actual growing. As someone said: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.” There is a corollary to that truth: “To distinguish flowers from weeds, simply pull up everything. What grows back is weeds.”
Jesus doesn’t plan on weeding His garden until the end of time. Why? Because these are no ordinary weeds. They are Darnell. Darnell is a weed that looks exactly like wheat, and for much of the growing cycle, it is pretty much indistinguishable from wheat until the heads of the grain and the Darnell appear.
Too often those diabolical Darnell look and act pretty much like the wheat. They look good and trustworthy and harmless. They may even look better than the wheat. So who should get pulled first and who should get left? It isn’t always easy to tell the difference between the sons of God and the sons of the enemy.
But it works the other way as well! Not only do the weeds look like wheat, but how often doesn’t the wheat look and act like weeds?
And you know this from your own lives because sin isn’t just in other people, it’s in you, it’s in me, it’s in all of us. Speaking filthy curse words, texting the Lord’s name in vain, surfing inappropriate websites, shouting with outbursts of anger. If we were going to start weeding based on the Ten Commandments, how soon would we be uprooted? Do we uproot and bundle up the couple that gets an unscriptural divorce or the member who sleeps with her fiancé or the mom who cries herself to sleep at night with worry or the businessman who drinks too much at an office party or the member who cares more about vacation and personal items than worship and offerings? Where do we begin?
What would happen if we decided to do some weeding right now? What would happen to those who look and act like weeds most of their lives, but who turn to Jesus at the end and are saved? What would happen to those who seem like agents of the devil, but in reality are weak in faith? What would happen to you? It isn’t easy identifying people as either wheat or weeds because we are both saints and sinners at the same time. How many churchmen throughout history have tried to separate wheat and weeds in the kingdom with rules or monasteries, with inquisitions or trials? They end up uprooting the faith of the weak who fall into sin or they trample the faith of the strong by feeding their pride. Evil is so much a part of us and so entangled in our lives, that to eliminate sin and evil completely now would also mean our destruction. We, too, would be cut down and uprooted.
And so there is great wisdom in this parable. Great wisdom in God allowing both to grow until the harvest. For you cannot pull up sinners without uprooting saints. This is the way it is going to be, Jesus says, as long as the Church is in the world. We’re never going to live in a completely Christian world or society. We’re never going to live sin-free lives in a sin-free world. It will never be a utopia. Sons of God and sons of the evil one will continue to grow together. We are going to have to live with these diabolical Darnell.
But this parable really is not about the Darnell. It’s about the wheat. The weeds are a reality, but it is the wheat that the farmer is focused on. And it is the wheat God is focused on. And because God wants what’s best for His wheat, because He does not want even one little bit of His harvest lost, God allows both the diabolical Darnell and His sainted wheat to grow together … for a time. It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable. It’s imperfect. But it’s what the kingdom of heaven here on earth is like.
Our Lord Jesus, the owner of the field, came to live among the weeds. He didn’t apply some kind of cosmic Roundup to the field, sanitizing it before He became flesh and dwelt among us. He immersed Himself into the grime and grit of this sin-infested world. He lived flawlessly among the devil, the Darnell and the diabolical ones all so that His blood might turn sinners into saints, so that He could protect the wheat living among the weeds, so that He could convert and save, and so that He could raise the dead for His final Harvest.
Jesus announces at the end of His explanation of this parable: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” We are the righteous ones, the sons and daughters of the kingdom – not because of who we are, but because we have been joined to Christ. Joined with Christ in His Church, our focus is not to yank the weeds – as if we could tell the difference! – but to cultivate the field. And so the water of Holy Baptism is applied to sinners, and in those waters faith is given and grown. The Holy Scriptures are truthfully taught and faithfully proclaimed, and the Word that enters our ears and hearts grows roots strong and deep. Holy Absolution is pronounced on sinners bent under the burdens of our nature and the world, so that forgiven and restored we grow strong and produce fruit. The Holy body and blood of our Lord is given into our hungry bodies and souls to strengthen and preserve us in the struggles of this world.
Now, none of this makes the weeds go away! They will be with us as long as we are in this world. But we do have hope – hope that owner of the field knows what He’s doing, hope as we wait for the final Harvest, when we will finally be gathered together, separated from the weeds and taken into the kingdom of our Father.
But until that time, as long as the Church is in the world, God’s people will be attacked. And while no ordinary farmer likes weeds in his field, Christ is a different kind of farmer. Jesus isn’t concerned about image. He’s concerned about not losing a single grain of wheat. And so Christ is willing to put up with these diabolical Darnell for a little while, for your sake. For He is not willing to let even one piece of His harvest be lost.
It is at the final Harvest when Christ is vindicated. Then we see that though living among the diabolical Darnell is often confusing, messy and flawed – in the end, the weeds have not been able to destroy the wheat. No permanent damage has been done to the Lord’s harvest. The Enemy has failed. Because the One planting the seed, caring for the field and directing the Harvest is the Lord of the Harvest. He is the One who died on the cross for you, who placed His name on you in your baptism, who absolves you, who gives you His own body and blood to eat and to drink and who knows you. You are His own. You are precious to Him. You will not get lost among the weeds. Amen.
He who has an ear, let him hear. Amen.
9th Sunday after Pentecost at Epiphany on
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