Marty Folsom—Year A Proper 11
Anthony: All right. Let’s transition to our next passage of the month. It’s Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 11 in Ordinary Time, July 19.
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!
So, Marty, what does the parable of the weeds have to teach us about the kingdom of God?
Marty: The one big thing is the kingdom of God is the one who comes and plants good seeds.
Anthony: Yes.
Marty: If we ask about the intention of God, we always know, if there’s good seeds, we know where they came from. The nature of the intent of one who plants seeds is that they envision abundance and provision and good things for all the earth. And so, to say the parable of the kingdom is to say that where you see the kinds of things that live out the heart of God the Father, you know where the seeds come from.
And when they’re not, you know that they’re not things that he intended. And Karl Barth says, “If you want to know what sin is, you have to say, we can’t give it an ontology or a being that’s truly real, because what’s really real is the love of God, the freeing love of God, and the heart of the Father that goes out into the world. And that is imaged in these seeds, and it produces all that is good.
Anthony: Yeah, looking at verse 37, the one who sows is the Son of Man, and so often I hear people proclaiming this in such a way that it feels like I’m the one that’s doing the sowing of the good seed, but it’s truly the Son of Man. Let’s look to him.
What else would you … you know, Jesus says, “Let anyone with ears, listen.” So, we want to listen. What else should we hear and respond to because of this pericope?
Marty: Yes. Interestingly, the word listen is key here. We tend to think today if only I could see Jesus, all would be well. If only I could see the good things in the world.
But the nature of hearing is something that penetrates more differently, so that the nature of the Jewish confession, Shema Israel, “Hear, O Israel,” to say the world of modern science wants to study that which is observable, but the science of the personal, that is to truly know persons, including the person of God, one has to learn to listen.
And so, listening goes beyond just the lips moving. It goes into the very depths of the heart. And so, in this parable, Jesus is saying that if you listen to this parable well, you will be invited to recognize that there is life in the planting of a seed that is good, that is the seed of the kingdom, that is the seed of the presence of God who brings life, who when there is goodness in the world, we know that it is the intention of the Father being fulfilled in the world in the same way that the good of the days of creation was, and that’s good, and that’s good. And here, this is the good of God in the world.
We’re still living, being focused by Jesus not to ask, “Who are the ones that are weeds?” That’s not the call of this parable. The call of this parable is to be those who are aligned with, attuned to the heart of the One who calls us to listen to his heart. And when you know his heart, then you’re able to discern for others and yourself what it means to follow the way of life. And that is the invitation of this.
Anthony: In thinking about listening, It took me to a reading I did of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together and talking about the community of the church. And I’m loosely paraphrasing, but he said, “Often pastors under shepherds of Christ think that their first service to another is to speak,” because we’re often invited- to speak. But he said, “No. The first service to another is to listen and to know.” And so, I think what you’re saying here is vitally important, that we want to have ears to hear and that we can know him through that. Is there anything else from this text that you want to expound on?
Marty: The idea of shining like the sun the last statement, “The righteous will shine …”
Anthony: Yeah.
Marty: “… like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” There’s something about what it means to be those who have grown up as seeds that were planted and grew well ― which things are growing really well here right now. When the sun shines, things seem to blossom in ways that they are being what they were intended to be.
And so again, the nature of the likeness of the person who grows because the seed has allowed the sun to do all that is there, those people shine like the sun, too. And the phrase the glory of God is to say that the very nature of glory is not just lightness and brightness in the world. It’s that the very character of God becomes implicit and glows in that person ― which if you’ve ever seen somebody who’s just full of delight, they’re glowing.
There is something in there that this shining of the glory of the goodness of God is in them. And I think that is the invitation to this parable, is that we don’t make ourself shine any more than we make the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But it is fruit, and it is shining because the seed has grown into what the kingdom has called it to be, fully alive, fully with God, fully in the world.
Anthony: Fully alive. Amen and amen.