Wednesday, January 10, 2024

“When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.”  (Matthew 13:26. New Living Translation)

                Weeds have a bad reputation, biblically speaking.

                Weeds are signs of lost opportunities, broken faithfulness, corrupt living. In Hosea, God vents his displeasure over the fickle hearts of his people: “They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So, injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.” (Hosea 10: 4, NLT)  Or listen to this  piece from Proverbs: “One day I walked by the field of an old lazybones, and then passed the vineyard of a slob; they were overgrown with weeds, thick with thistles, all the fences broken down.” (Proverbs 10: 30 - 34, The Message Bible)

                Both texts could easily be background material for Jesus’ Parable of the Sower.

                But the reason I am writing about weeds today is because of the comic strip, Agnes, a precocious, ten-year old, odd-ball who lives in a trailer park with her grandmother. Her best friend is a sarcastic, witty girl with the peculiar name of Trout.  This past week, Agnes decided that she is going to try to rehabilitate a weed. “Through rehabilitation and soul cleansing forgiveness, they will become lovely flowers.” As the story progresses, Trout asks how it is going. Agnes replies, “I praise it when it exhibits flower tendencies. I condemn it when it lapses into the sinful world of weediness.” When Trout protests that a weed is just that, a weed, Agnes responds, “It’s weediness has been forgiven.”

                I have told you the story of preaching a sermon, suggesting that there were components of weeds that we might think about emulating as Christians – like their resiliency, their perseverance, their ability to grow under adverse conditions. I was taken to task by one person who strongly objected to the analogy, feeling “weedy enough” a lot of days. Point well taken when considering Jesus’ own interpretation of his parable, “the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one…” (Matthew 13: 38, NLT)

                I get it: weeds are really bad; harvest bearing plants are really good!

                But I can’t help think that Jesus also has a great deal of Agnes’ determination to overcome the weediness in our living, “which the master cultivator, weeds and prunes and ties up and waters and thoroughly irrigates and so tames the jungle of habits and passions.” (4 Maccabees 1:29, NLT) The Love of Jesus seeks to cultivate a goodness from the depths of the roots of our souls. He nurtures the best in us and persuades us to toss the useless, weedy bits into the compost. In the end, our weediness is forgiven which doesn’t mean that we should remain weeds but work to turn ourselves into fruit bearers for the Kingdom of God, full of good works, loving thoughts, caring hands, open hearts, healthy minds.

                “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tender hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”  (Galatians 4: 31 -32, NLT)

                We are going to need Jesus’ help to get beyond our weediness. We usually can’t do it by ourselves. To throw my own words into my face, weeds are tenacious, persistent, pervasive, invasive. Left alone, they can take over. We need the attention of Jesus Christ to help us conquer the weeds and become far better.

““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower… Live in me… In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.”  (John 15: 1, 4 -8, TMB)

                Now, where did I put my hoe? I’ve got some weeding to do.

Dale