With all the talk of wheat and weeds and weeding out - or not -- in our gospel text, I thought it might be helpful to have a prop for my sermon this weekend...

Earlier this week I asked some of our staff in the office whether or not anyone happened to have a garden tool to remove weeds that I could borrow. I was thinking of one of those little hand tools with a fork on the end that I used to use as a kid to get rid of dandelions in our front lawn.

Well little did I know that technology has improved on that hand tool. Debby Nimtz our administrative assistant brought in something - let me show you - the garden claw! Now this is a weed puller!

As Debby describes it, it's enormously effective. The four claws go into the ground; you step on the little crossbar and then twist the handles and voila! -- the weeds are gone - pulled out at their roots no less.

Pretty amazing, huh? Of course after her testimony I wanted one of my own...

I'll preface this by saying that I'm speaking as one who has a very small yard without many weeds...but I find that there's something fulfilling about weeding. After an hour of weeding I look at my pile of weeds and feel like I've accomplished something. There are other hours in my day where I'm not so sure...

We weed out more than our gardens of course. All of us have probably been weeded out ourselves at some time or another.
* We might have been weeded out from a pile of job applications.
* Or we were weeded out when we didn't make the cut for the varsity team.
* Or we were weeded out when our audition didn't go quite as well as we had hoped.

We know how it feels to have been weeded out. And yet still, there often seems to be within us a particular compulsion to weed out others. Like the slaves who come to the householder asking, "Do you want us to go and gather them?" "Do you want us to go and pull them out/get rid of them?"

As if we knew who belongs and who doesn't. As if we knew which were the true weeds and which were the true wheat. As if we knew for sure the mind of God.

I don't know about you but I've made mistakes in my weeding. I've pulled out plants that I've thought were weeds and I've left in weeds that I've thought were plants. Knowing what's a weed and what's not can be difficult.

The simplest definition I've found of a "weed" is that a weed is any plant that grows where it's not intended. Weeds are often only weeds in the eye of the beholder.

When I was in kindergarten I was devastated to learn from my older sister that dandelions were weeds. To me they were the most beautiful flowers in the world and I picked bunches of them to bring home.

When they went to seed and became those wonderful round puffballs, I walked home from school blowing the seeds all over watching the wind take them across the yards of our neighbors. (Which is why I feel a little guilty now as our neighbors must have asked, "Where did these weeds come from?" The answer from our gospel? "An enemy has done this.")

Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to this. When we hear the phrase "kingdom of heaven" we might substitute the words, "God's work in the world." And in this portion of the gospel of Matthew we hear about God's work in the world in six different ways with six different parables.

Next week we'll hear about God's work in the world described as a mustard seed and as yeast, as a treasure hidden in a field, as a net of fish and as a pearl of great value.

Today we hear the kingdom of heaven - God's work in the world -- compared to a field with wheat and with weeds. As so often happens with Jesus' parables, this one is full of surprises.

When the slaves come to the householder, pointing out the problem with the weeds, one would expect him to say, "Get rid of them! Pull them out immediately!" Everyone knows that weeds will compete with the good wheat for needed nutrients, sunlight, and water. Best get rid of them as soon as possible so as to not inhibit the growth of the wheat.

But the owner of the field doesn't say that. The owner of the field is concerned for the wheat indeed - and says that in pulling up the weeds the good wheat may be taken along with it.

Some have said that this story relates to the type of weed called darnel. Darnel is a grass with long slender bristles which look very much like wheat. Furthermore in its early stages of growth, the roots of darnel intertwine with the roots of wheat so that in pulling up the darnel, one would very likely pull up wheat as well.

The weeds are therefore allowed to grow alongside the wheat. That which is sown by the enemy is allowed to grow alongside that which is sown by God.

And isn't that disturbing? Why is it that evil in the world is allowed to continue alongside that which is good in the world? Why doesn't God uproot the evil? Or perhaps the question more pertinent to today's parable...why doesn't God encourage us to uproot the evil?

Our parable seems to say that part of the reason is that very often it is not black and white. It is not our job to determine here and now what is evil and what is good. Even within our very selves aren't there both some weed-like qualities along with the wheat-like qualities?

Very often what seems to be evil is intertwined with good and what seems to be good is intertwined with evil. When we're given the job to do the weeding out, we often make mistakes. We sometimes pull up plants that look like weeds.

God's plan as described in this parable seems to be that God's way to deal with evil in the world is to wait. And God will deal with evil in the world, finally and completely.

A word of caution here... I don't believe that this parable is intended to mean that God's people should not strive to work for justice in the world, to correct abuses, or to resist evil.

I do believe, however, that it calls us to remember that we are human. The slaves thought they would be able to simply pull out the weeds - they thought they could easily distinguish between the good and the bad. The householder reminded them that judgment belongs to God.

Waiting isn't easy. As St. Paul writes in the letter to the Romans, the whole "creation waits with eager longing.... We hope for what we do not see now, and we wait for it with patience." (8:19ff) God will deal with evil in the world, finally and completely.

Meanwhile, isn't it rather miraculous that evil does not snuff out the good in our world? The wheat continues to grow despite the presence of the weeds. God's good and gracious work in the world - the kingdom of heaven - continues despite what the enemy has sown.

Nothing can stop God's work in Christ.

And so I'll close by paraphrasing some tips from a couple of on-line gardening websites. Trying to achieve a weed-free world is a demanding, unrealistic goal. Many plants considered weeds in the garden have positive attributes. By simply accepting weeds as part of the mix, you will encourage diversity. Try to relax about the weeds. Weeds won't destroy God's garden. Wait with patience until the harvest.

Nothing can stop God's work in Christ. Thanks be to God! Amen.