I am a horrible gardener. I suppose my problem is not so much that I can't take care of plants as much as it is that I don't. If you have ever seen the plants that were living in my office you would know what I mean – there is a cactus in there that is just barely hanging on. It usually only gets watered when I am looking to get rid of some stale coffee.
This spring, the Schlueter family decided to try its hand at gardening. Being all too aware of my own limitations I was skeptical about the undertaking, but it was argued that the kids would enjoy watching the plants grow and they could help take care of it so I consented and now we have a small patch in the back of the house with a few vegetables growing in it, along with half a dozen sun flowers or so.
Up until a few days ago, if you would have taken a walk back to my garden and taken a look at it, other than the sunflowers that stand up tall above the rest you might have thought that I was cultivating a weed patch. The small plot was entirely overgrown with all kinds things that we certainly did not intend to be growing there. You might have wondered if there was any plan or intentional planting there at all. It mostly looked like a breeding ground for thistles and crab grass and the like. I finally got out and began pulling away some of those weeds – but there is still more work to be done...
In my garden, the reason for all the weeds is my own negligence. As I said, I am a terrible gardener. I don't take the necessary time to care for the things that I am supposed to be cultivating. I let them go and so it is not surprise when I look out in the back and it is overgrown. Jesus also has weeds in his garden – there is a world that is filled with unbelievers and certainly he could pull these weeds out and throw them away. But he does not! And the reason for that is he doesn't is not because he is a bad gardener (as I am) No. Jesus allows the weeds to remain. And the reason he allows them to remain is precisely the opposite – he is a good gardener. He loves every living thing that is growing in that garden and he is patient.
All this talk of gardens comes from our text. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that Jesus told a a parable in which He compared himself to a gardener who went out to sow seed in his garden. The seeds he sowed were to plant Christians – those who believe in the one true God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And after Jesus had finished planting his seed, His enemy the Devil came along and planted some weeds. Unbelievers. Non Christians. Worthless plants that have been sown by Jesus' enemy the Devil. Those who are doomed to be thrown into the fire and destroyed.
As much as weeds are unsightly and inconvenient in my little garden, for those of you who are farmers, weeds are a much bigger problem. After you have gone out and spent the money to buy the seed, gone to the trouble and expense of planting the seed, you hope to get some return on your investments. Weeds take away from your bottom line. They keep your crop from its maximum yield. So you do what you have to do to spray the weeds to get rid of them.
You would think that it would be the same in God's garden. You would think that God would be in a hurry to get rid of the weeds and be done with them. But he allows them to remain. In the parable, even when the harvesters, the angels came to ask the farmer if he wanted them to pull the weeds he said no. He commanded the angels to let the weeds remain. To us, that simply does not make sense.
Again, the answer to the conundrum is God's patience and his forbearance. God the Divine Farmer is merciful and He is good. He has patience with those things that are growing in his fields. He does not pull them out so quickly but allows them to remain.
A nuance in Jesus' parable that is not immediately seen is the type of weeds that have been sown in the field. Jesus calls them in Greek, Zizania. These days, zizania is a type of wild rice. In ancient times, zizania was a weed that looked very much like wheat. It's stalks and heads were similar in shape and appearance, but the grains were black. The weeds and wheat on the outside looked very much the same.
This is not to say that God's angels cannot tell the difference. The angels do God's bidding. If he wanted them to pull the weeds to get rid of them, they would pull only those God commanded them to pull. When the farmer in the parable commanded the workers to leave the weeds it was not that he was concerned that they couldn't tell the difference.
But for you and I that is a different story. When we look around at those who are planted beside us, we can't tell the difference. We can't see inside to someone's heart to know for certain if they are among the sons of God or among the sons of the devil. To us they all look the same. We are easily deceived.
On the outside you can't tell the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. They look the same. Side by side there is not much difference. But what is inside, the condition of the heart is where the difference lies. The heart of the unbeliever is black with sin. The heart of the believer has been washed clean by the blood of Jesus.
That truth is important for us to keep in mind. Often we want to determine our value in the kingdom of heaven, as Sons of God based upon how we look on the outside. Most of the tallest and healthiest plants in my little garden were weeds. And just a few days ago I pulled them out and threw them away. Some of the strongest, most successful, most well adjusted and selfactualized people on the planet are also weeds – sons of the devil. They look great on the outside. But on the inside their hearts are filled with sin. Some of the weakest, most frail, most conflicted people on the planet are believers like you and me who feel like we are going to fall over break apart with the next breeze that comes along. It is not a matter of outside appearances, it is a matter of what you have done or how well you are doing. It is a matter of what Jesus has done for you.
Jesus didn't want the weeds to be uprooted and thrown away and burned because he is patient. Again, it is hard for us to understand what his patience is all about . Weeds are weeds and they need to be gotten rid of. There is no sense in letting them hang around. The longer they remain the more problems they will cause for your crop.
But Jesus is a farmer unlike any other farmer. He does not share our same limitation. You and I would not love weeds, we hate them and get rid of them. Jesus loves them. In fact he loves them so much that he has died for them. When it came time for the weeds to be thrown into the furnace Jesus said – no leave them in their place, take me instead. Jesus the farmer gave up his life for the weeds, for you and me.
That doesn't make sense. I wouldn't give up my life or the life of my child to save the weeds growing in my garden. But God did that for us, for you and for me. Jesus died in our place on the cross to save us from the destruction that we deserve. We were those weeds doomed to be burned in the fire but He saved us when he sacrificed himself for us.
But that is not all.
Our farmer is a miracle worker. What if there was something that you could spray on the weeds to, instead of killing them, actually change them. Imagine if you could turn thistles into corn. Imagine if you could turn goldenrod into soybeans. You be a millionaire no doubt.
This is what God does with us. We were weeds in his garden but he changed us. He turned us from weeds destined for the fire into a crop guaranteed for the harvest. We were sons of Satan we are now sons of God. God is patient because he knows that there are weeds in his garden that he still intends to change, to turn, to reclaim. He plans to steal those seeds away from the devil and rescue them for his harvest. He is patient because he does not want to loose them. He does not want them to be destroyed.
If God were a farmer like me, we would all be destined for hell, there would be no hope for any one of us. But he is not. He is loving, he is gracious. He is merciful. He is kind. He cares for those things that grow in his garden. He sacrifices and surrenders himself. He works miracles to change us from what we are into what he wants us to be and then he brings us in to his harvest.
Truly our god has given to us more than what we could ever ask for or deserve. We were worthless yet because of his love and unheard of mercy we are his own and we will be called in at his great harvest.
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