The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43; 47-50
“Let Both Grow Together”
It was told that a farmer in Ireland had been renting a field but failed to pay his rent. So, the owner served him with an eviction notice. He had one month to get out of the house and off the land. Before leaving, the outgoing tenant got his revenge. He sowed wild oats in the owner’s field. The bad seeds took off and mixed with the crops so that it became next to impossible to get rid of them. The parable of the wheat and the tares is a tough one to interpret. Why is wickedness allowed to mix and bloom with goodness? Jesus tells His disciples a parable: the servants of a landowner notify their master that they have spotted tares growing all over the wheat field. The tares are weeds that look like wheat but are in reality poisonous counterfeits. The owner immediately knows the reason: “An enemy has done this.” In the middle of the night somebody had crept into the field while the servants slept, and scattered tare seed everywhere the servants had sown wheat seed. Thus, the two sprouted in tandem.
What is the meaning of this parable? There are two angles from which to look at it depending on how you understand the word “field.” One interpretation sees the field as representing the entire world; the other sees the field as the Church. Both positions have strong arguments. In favor of the field representing the world is Christ’s own explanation of His parable in Matthew 13:38. The Lord says directly, “The field is the world.” In favor of the field representing the Church is the parallel passage about the dragnet. The parable of the dragnet is found in Matthew 13:47-50. Let’s read that. [Read them.]
In this parable the fishing net seems to be the Church, and the sea is the world. From the sea (the world) the dragnet (the church) gathers some of every kind (people of every nation). At the end of history, when Jesus returns, the angels separate the wicked from the just. The wicked they cast into “the furnace of fire, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. Hence, the parable of the wheat and the tares can apply to the world and to the Church.
On this fifth Sunday after Epiphany we will attempt to figure out what Jesus wants us to know and how to behave based on the wheat and the tares growing together.
The close resemblance of the wheat and the tares is an important detail. They look the same. The fact that the roots of the tares are tangled up with the roots of the wheat is another detail. The entanglement creates a risk. If you pull out tares, you will probably uproot wheat too. That is why Jesus commands that the tares be left alone. They must grow side-by-side throughout spring and summer, and only be separated at the fall harvest.
I. If we take the field as a symbol of the world then the parable provides us a view of history. The wheat represents Christian families, individuals and nations; the tares symbolize the unbelieving ones. Notice the continuity between Christ’s First Coming and His Second Coming. There is no rupture between the two, no rapture. It’s just like the creeds say. The Great White Throne Judgment immediately follows Jesus’ return to earth in His glorified body, and that is the End of history. The tares are bundled up and burned the fire of Hell; and the wheat goes in God’s barn, the New Heavens and New Earth. The Millennium ends, and the Great Tribulation terminated the Old Covenant in A.D. 66-70. The wheat and tares grow together throughout history right up until the last day. God extends a certain degree of grace to the tares. They are not uprooted. At the harvest, however, their time runs out, and their common grace expires.
This parable offers a clue as to the general trajectory of history between the First and Second Advents of Christ. Is the world getting better, or worse? That is a common question, and many Christians hold that conditions are worsening. Compared to the standards fifty or one hundred years ago, morality, we are told, has deteriorated dramatically. Abortion, pornography, the gay agenda, radical Islam: these trends are new and alarming. It seems as though the world is getting progressively darker, and evil is the conqueror. That is part of the picture, no doubt. The tares are maturing, the bad is getting worse. But according to Christ’s parable the wheat is maturing as well, and the good is getting better. Christ’s Kingdom is spreading and developing. It has been doing so for 2,000 years. It will continue to do so in the future. There are positive signs even in this present generation. Christian scholars are laying the groundwork for total cultural transformation. Christian scientists are standing up against the evolutionists. A few young believers are turning from the mediocrity of pop culture to the beauty and richness of tradition. An increasing number of Christian writers and artists are honing their skills. Christianity is growing dramatically in the Southern Hemisphere. A recent book by Phillip Jenkins points out heartening trends in South America, Africa, China, South East Asia, and other places. The Church is growing especially fast in the face of persecution. The Anglican, Catholic, Baptist and Charismatic branches that enjoy the most growth are conservative strands, traditional and biblical. Yes, the tares in the field are getting tall, but the wheat is shooting up just as fast, if not faster. There are broken families in the slums where children grow up amidst gangs and drugs and filth and violence. At the same time there are Christian couples who are teaching their children a Christian worldview, preparing a future generation of young people to “cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). For every area where we see moral decline we can find an area of Christian advancement. Both sides are becoming more consistent in living out their faith and worldview.
C. S. Lewis wrote: (in his book, That Hideous Strength) “If you dip into any college, or school, or parish, or family – anything you like – at a given point in its history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow room and contrasts weren’t quite so sharp; and that there’s going to be a time after that point when there is even less room for indecision and choices are even more momentous. Good is always getting better and bad is always getting worse: the possibilities of even apparent neutrality are always diminishing. The whole thing is sorting itself out all the time, coming to a point, getting sharper and harder.” [Close quote. p. 283] These are some of the implications when we interpret the field as the world.
II. There is a secondary application to the parable. The field can symbolize the Church. What are the ramifications for the Church if it is comprised of wheat and tares? It means that the Church will never be entirely pure. There are people in the Church who appear to be believers but who never truly believe. Satan infiltrates the Church with false teachers and hypocrites. The baptized are a mixture of wheat and tares. During this age, the Body of Christ will never be unspotted or infallible. Just as the Lord walked in Judea with Judas Iscariot, good grain and the weeds exist side by side. Yes, the Church is holy, for that is one of the notes of the Church we profess in the Nicene Creed. She is “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” The Church is holy because Christ, our Head is perfectly holy and righteous. We are only holy and righteous by grace through faith as God declares us that way on account of Christ’s work on the cross. In and of ourselves we remain sinners. Thus, as Luther put it, the Church is simultaneously holy and sinful. Not until the Second Coming will the Bride be presented unto the Bridegroom a perfectly pure Spouse.
This mixture of good seeds and bad seeds in the Church is a reality many servants are reluctant to accept. They detest the defects in the field. Their request to “go and gather up the tares?” is a demand that serious stamping-out measures be implemented against the tares. But the owner responds, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest…”
Should we blame the zeal of the servants? No. Their request is righteous. God has placed in the hearts of many a discontent with the second-rate. They loathe mediocrity. They hunger for holiness, and thirst for devotion. Fired by a pietistic zeal they strive for flawless beauty. They frown on the weeds, for they want the best. Some Christians have more of a purifying spirit than others. So what is the problem? Why are they forbidden from removing the tares? The Lord knows the hearts of men and women. They become too conscious of being the wheat, and too trigger happy to classify others as the tares. They boast of their purity, thank God they are better than others, and by doing so become prideful, barren and sectarian. So Jesus halts them, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat.” Let both grow together.
St. Augustine had to deal with a schismatic movement overzealous to separate the wheat from the tares. They were the Donatists of northern Africa. For them it was a duty to exclude from the Church everybody guilty of heresy. Augustine wrote several books against them. Among other things, he claimed that the Donatists were guilty of disunity and arrogance. He argued, “no man ought to sever himself from the unity of the Church before the time of the final separation of the just and unjust, merely because of the admixture of evil men in the Church.” Then he quoted Cyprian concerning judgmental pride, “What swelling of arrogance it is, what forgetfulness of humility and gentleness, that any one should dare to believe that he can do what the Lord did not grant even to the apostles, -- to think that he can distinguish the tares from the wheat… or endeavor to separate the chaff from the grain!” The bottom line is this: God allows the children of Satan to remain for awhile, just as a farmer allows weeds to remain in his field, so as to avoid the uprooting of wheat.
And yet, a balance must be maintained. Christians are patient, not easily offended, and tolerant of others, yet it is necessary from time to time for the Church hierarchy to yank out a few tares when they get too big and bad. The Church must exercise discipline. Matthew 18 commands the Church to excommunicate an unrepentant sinner after due process (Matthew 18:15-18). Our Book of Common Prayer instructs the minister to bar from the table of the Lord any “open and notorious evil liver” (p. 116). Article XXVI of the Thirty-Nine Articles exhorts the Church to defrock ministers found guilty of a serious offense. (pp. 617-8). As a parish, we have carried out discipline and will continue to do so when necessary. There is a boundary line to patience and toleration. Sin that becomes flagrant and notorious crosses that boundary line. The extreme cases are dealt with.
However, Christ, in this parable, is not setting up rules for Church discipline, He is inculcating a certain tone and tenor in the Church, He is cultivating a spirit of patience. Why does the Lord exhort us to tolerate the tares? Why does He want us to put up with those who are lukewarm and uncommitted? A loving atmosphere is important. Patience towards others creates a charitable environment. Besides that, he who today is selfish may tomorrow become humble. Some of the tares may one day convert to wheat. Every day backslidden souls return to God. Our patience gives them the opportunity they need for salvation.
Then, our judgment of others is often skewed. There are people whom we would classify as unbelievers, as tares, yet God has classified them as wheat, His adopted children. In effect, we misjudge. At the clericus two weeks ago, Bishop Grote told us about a minister who claims that his parishioners are unredeemed pagans. What makes them such? According to this minister, they do nothing. They are stagnant. But Bishop Grote believes they are decent believers. They come to church and they tithe, and they listen and they learn. To declare they are without grace is severe. Jeremy Taylor described the fiery types of his day: “They would cut off a man’s head if they see but a wart upon his cheek, or a dimple upon his chin, or any line in his face to distinguish him from another man.”
The doctrine of election can be tricky because we don’t know who will ultimately end up in the barn or in the furnace. The Heavenly Father is the One who infallibly knows the wheat and the tares. God never errs, but we do. And in our zeal to uproot noxious tares, we yank out genuine grain. This is no imaginary danger; the mistake has often happened, and it may happen again.
Does the parable of the wheat and the tares establish an absolute law of toleration? No. There are times when we must practice discipline and excommunication. The purpose of this parable is to create a spirit in the Church; to produce an environment of patience, love and forgiveness. Working for purity in the Church is a noble goal, but beware, purity and perfectionism can be taken too far. Peace of mind, love for others, and quietness are better. If you feel that some Christian people close to you are in reality tares, pray for them, and be patient. Remember Jesus’ words, “Let both grow together until the harvest.” Remember the example of Christ. He put up with Judas Iscariot. Until our Lord, and King, comes again at the End of time, you will continually deal with weeds. The roots are so intertwined that a premature pulling up could be destructive. Ask the Lord for patience.
Let us pray.
