“Weeding” Matt.

I hate weeding. I don’t know about you, but I really hate it. Mowing grass, trimming hedges, raking leaves is okay. I don’t love it, but I don’t really mind it. Weeding however, that’s another story…

So our Gospel this morning has the prospect of excellent news. Jesus tells a little story about a Man who has a field with wheat and lots of weeds growing together. And the man’s servants volunteer to weed His field. These must be really good servants, I say, if they volunteer for weeding. Wouldn’t catch me volunteering to weed!

Anyway, the Master declines their generous offer to weed, saying: “Nah. An enemy has done this. But let the weeds and wheat grow up together, lest pulling the weeds you harm the wheat, and at the time of the harvest I’ll take care of it with my reapers who will sort it out just fine. Till then, don’t worry. Don’t weed. Be happy.”

Later, Jesus explains the parable (after mentioning in the verses we missed that the kingdom of heaven is like the smallest of seeds, like leaven hidden in a loaf of bread).

Jesus explains that, in the little weeding story, He is the One who sows the seed and the good seeds are sons of the kingdom and the weeds are sons of the wicked one and the field is the world. The enemy who sows weeds is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels of the Lord. So, at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send out His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness—that’s the binding up of the weeds for the fire. But the righteous will shine like the sun then in the kingdom of their Father. And all of us should have ears to hear this!

Seems simple, doesn’t it? We can’t weed out the evil from this world and shouldn’t even attempt it ourselves. And as much as I hate garden weeding, I hate the idea of trying to weed the evil from our world even more. Because that’s an even more daunting task, because once you start uprooting evil and the evil ones, man, there’s just no end to that task it seems!

So this Gospel has this encouraging prospect—there is no weeding that needs to be done by us, ever. Even though we are surrounded by evil, not to worry! Don’t try to weed on your own. Let it all be. Live and let live, and at the end of the age, Jesus will send angels for a clean up. Till then, we can just sit back and wait for that great day. And I like the sound of that, I must admit. Don’t worry. Don’t weed. Be happy. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?

And it is nice: as long as we are sure that the end of the age is something for some far distant day—you know end of the world stuff and all that, when Jesus sends these angels, those supernatural heavenly beings that pop up in the bible from time to time to slaughter enemy armies, or give cool concerts to shepherds, to do this gathering He speaks of. As long as it’s a last day, end of the world deal, there’s nothing to concern us here and now, right?

I would be happy to tell you that’s the way it is and to close at this point with a final “Don’t weed. Don’t worry. Be happy”. But I can’t. Because that’s not exactly what the text says. See, if you read Matthew’s Gospel carefully, you will come to the uncomfortable realization that the end of the age happened 2,000 years ago, on Good Friday, when Jesus died on a cross on a hill in Jerusalem and then rose from the dead three days later on Easter Sunday. That was the beginning of the End, the beginning of something new. So see: we’ve been living in the end times, really—all our lives.

And, hitting your lexicon, you’ll also discover the Greek word aggeloi doesn’t always or even usually mean “angels” in the way we use the word, to refer to the cherubim and seraphim and other purely spiritual beings of the angelic hosts. Literally, the Greek means “messengers”. St. John calls the pastors of the New Testament church aggeloi or messengers. I’m pretty sure that’s the way Jesus uses the word “angels” here—messengers, apostles, pastors, teachers who minister in His Name. Which is to say that if the end of the age has already come and the angels, or messengers Jesus is talking about here have long ago been sent—the apostles, pastors, and teachers of the New Testament called by Christ and sent in His Name for the work He Himself does through them, then this weeding and gathering is something that does concern us…

Yikes! We never realized all this weeding and burning and gathering and shining like the sun was going on even in our midst, even now, did we? But it is. That’s the somewhat uncomfortable truth of our Gospel this morning. So what does it mean for us exactly?

Well it’s like this: uprooting evil from the world is indeed a job we cannot do ourselves. It is nothing to volunteer for. Jesus never asks you to do His work for Him. The work is too difficult and demanding for merely human beings to do. It requires divine power and promise to do it. So, you really are still off the weeding hook, and I am too, well, mostly—but not exactly as you are.

When Jesus told his disciples to pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest for gathering, He turned around and immediately apostled 12 of them and sent them as His messengers. Then He apostled 70 more. And when He ascended, He promised to be with these messengers of His all through the end of this age. And Jesus keeps sending messengers to His church, pastors and teachers who are called and ordained in His Name. And that would be me and other pastors. We are weeding and gathering both at the same time with every sermon we preach, every bible class we teach, every sacrament we administer in Jesus’ Name.

But never fear! It’s not really me, or Pastor Schmidt, or Rev. Schmoe who’s doing this. It is Jesus Christ who does this. It is a Divine Service, this weeding and gathering. Jesus uses the hands and mouths of men like me, but it is still Jesus’ work and doing, start to finish. So relax, you’re in good hands, Jesus’ hands…

And here’s how Jesus does it: by the Word of His Law, He exposes the sin and evil—not only in the world, but that has grown up in you, in me, and surrounded us. And by the Word of His Gospel, He forgives all our sins, pulls all that weedy, rotten stuff out of us, burns it, and plants His own seed in place of all that, which makes us shine like Himself, little reflections, mirrors of Him...

Wherever the Gospel is preached and taught in the name of Jesus, by the messengers He apostled, wherever His Baptism, Supper, and Absolution are given out in His stead and by His command, the end of the age has come, and the weeding has begun! It’s going on right here, right now! It can sting, a little. But never fear. Because it’s Jesus who does all this. All that you lose with Him is the weedy, rotten, sinful stuff in you. All you gain is everything of His: His life, goodness, righteousness, holiness, and everlasting kingdom. So here, when Jesus is through with you, you truly shine like the Son, for the end of the age has begun. And it’s all good.

Because the peace that surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, the Master Gardener. Amen.

Rev. Kevin Martin