Richard Davenport

July 23, 2023 – Proper 11

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

            The life of a disciple is a rough one.  It’s not as bad as Jesus, I suppose, but we aren’t called to actually BE Jesus, just act like him.  That’s what the disciples were learning to do and it occasionally ran them a little ragged.  Jesus runs here.  He runs there.  Sometimes the crowds around him are so thick you can’t even breathe.  Other times he’s saying things that get everyone all riled up and he has to make a quick exit.  Not that he’s afraid, but clearly he isn’t going to be allowed to talk anymore. 

            He’s not afraid, but you get worried now and then, for yourself, for him, for all of it.  Jesus sometimes does things that seem flat out dangerous.  He picks verbal fights with people who have power and influence, people who could find ways to retaliate.  They aren’t always so great at following, but that’s why it’s a learning process.  Jesus doesn’t call them to follow him and then expect them to know it all already.

            There’s a reason we call God our Heavenly Father and God’s people are repeatedly referred to as his children.  Children learn by emulating their parents.  Laurie and I are constantly surprised by some new phrase or mannerism Paul uses.  We’ll look at each other and say, “He got that one from you.”  That’s how kids are wired.  More than teachers, siblings, pastors, or anyone else in their lives, kids learn from parents.

            We are meant to learn from God.  So the disciples follow God as he walks around on earth.  Through it all, the disciples are learning what it means to be disciples.  They have the name, but they don’t know how to do the job.  It isn’t just a matter of following Jesus, the goal is learning about God.  Jesus tells the disciples later that disciples are made through teaching and baptizing. 

            So they follow him around for 3 years or so, learning what discipleship means.  Jesus doesn’t explain everything point-for-point.  He knows the disciples won’t put it all together until later, after the Holy Spirit comes.  The disciples will have grown up a bit by then, but they are still following God like children.  That learning is life-long.  It must be, because we never match the wisdom of God.  Even as we mature and grow spiritually, we never have it all figured out. We always need the support and guidance of one who is wiser than we are, who understands life a little better than we do.  As parents, there have been more a few times we’ve called up grandpa or grandma and said, “Your grandson just did this, what do I do?”  God knows.  God understands.  God’s been there too. 

            So Jesus leads the disciples around, teaching them by words and deeds what it means to be a disciple.  He teaches them what it means to preach and proclaim the truth like the prophets of old.  This will be part of their job as disciples, a job they are given through baptism, a job God’s people were always meant to have.  They are to confront unbelief and the infiltration of sin at every level of society, calling it out for what it is.  Everyone who is baptized is meant to be a prophet and baptism is part of being a disciple.

            The same goes for being a priest.  St. Peter says what God told the Israelites is just as true for God’s people today.  We are the royal priesthood and the holy nation.  We are to share God’s grace with the world.  We are to lift up the cares and concerns of the church and the world to him.  We are to act on behalf of those around us to ask God’s favor, reminding God of the promises he made to us and to his creation.

            We are also to be kings and queens under him.  The first duty given to Adam and Eve was to care for the world he had made.  We provide the world with order and structure.  We help bring out the beauty of creation and help it to grow the way its supposed to.  Taking care of the world around us is a pretty big juggling act and we need all the help we can get trying to do a good job. 

            All of these things are part of discipleship. It’s a lot to handle and it’s a big part of the reason why we never stop being disciples until the day we die, and beyond.  We always have more to learn about the job we’ve been given.  There’s never a point where you’ll have it all absolutely figured out.

            That’s where the problem comes in.  Being a disciple means being just like a kid.  It means acknowledging I don’t know a whole lot. It means I need to follow God around and learn from him.  Wherever he goes, that’s where I go.  What he says is what I learn to say.  What he does is what I learn to do.  That’s the only way I learn to be what I’m supposed to be when I grow up in the faith.

            So, the disciples hear this parable and they don’t understand.  It’s a little worrying.  Jesus just talked about the seed falling on good soil last week.  It sounds like that’s who they’re supposed to be.  So what are these weeds?  Why are they out there?  Why doesn’t God do something about them? 

            Jesus is teaching them something extremely important here.  This is something they need to know.  Being a disciple means being under attack.  It means people will hate you.  It means people will try and tear you down and destroy everything you’re doing. It means people won’t care that you’re trying to help or that you’re trying to show how much you love them. They will revile you, insult you, undermine you, drive you away, people who will wish you weren’t alive.

            The disciples have seen this only a little bit. Like kids watching someone be mean to their dad, they get a little defensive now and then, but dad shows he isn’t worried about them and so they aren’t worried either.  But the time will come Jesus isn’t right there with them anymore. It will feel like the kids are on their own now.  Jesus has been managing all of the hate, the rage, the insults, so far, but some day soon he’ll just let it happen and they will win. 

            After that, all of the rage and anger in the world will find a new target and dad won’t be there anymore.  The disciples are learning that to be a disciple means following the Master wherever he leads, even if that means suffering and death. The disciples hear the parable and don’t quite understand it, or maybe they do but they don’t like the implications. It certainly doesn’t sound pleasant.

            The good grain and the weeds grow up together. They’ll be a part of this world until the very end.  That is a hard message to hear.  Life will be filled with conflict.  God could get rid of all of the weeds right here and now…but he won’t.  That changes the relationship a little bit.  Now it’s like dad is standing around watching bullies beat up on his kids.  He could do something, but he doesn’t. 

            It’s the age old question. “If God really loves us, why does he allow things like famine and disease?  Why does he allow people to hurt one another through war, terrorism, or plain, old-fashioned greed?  If he can get rid of these things but he doesn’t, then he isn’t a God worth worshiping, or maybe he isn’t really able to get rid of them at all.  Either way, I don’t need him.”  That’s the attitude Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, had after watching people in poor countries dying of famine. 

            God hears all of this and tells the disciples, “I do love you, but I’m still not going to get rid of war, hatred, suffering, and all of the other evils people may do to one another, and especially to you.” That’s a really hard message to hear. The disciples are at least doing their job here.  They want Jesus to explain.  They realize they don’t fully understand.  They don’t have the wisdom and they need him to break it down into pieces they can get a hold of.  So he does. 

            Jesus tells the disciples that he won’t get rid of everyone who might want to hurt them.  Not because he can’t, but because he won’t.  The one time God rained down judgment on the world, the only righteous ones were Noah and his family.  The time or two God rains down judgment on a specific place, such as Sodom, there are only a couple of righteous there as well.  God rescues them before the judgment falls and wipes the city out.  But now, God’s people are all over the world.  There are Christians in every country.  For God to choose the nuclear option again, as he did in the days of Noah, there’s no way to do it without his own children suffering more.  He might deal with local problems here and there, but getting rid of everything all at once just isn’t the plan.

            Even if God did wipe out everyone who attacked his people, it wouldn’t really solve the problem.  Just like in the days of Noah, God got rid of all of the unrighteous people, but sin still persists, just as it does today.  Even those of us who would be left would still be tempted by sin and subject to death.  We’d be tempted to think we don’t need him anymore.  He dealt with those bad people, so clearly we’re the good ones and if we’re good, then we don’t have to rely on him.  We start thinking we’re more grown up than we really are.

            No, God has another plan.  He is going to deal with all of those problems permanently, but it isn’t going to happen right now.  Jesus has already proven to us this isn’t the end.  Whatever may happen to us in this life, we know we will rise again. Christ’s sacrifice has freed us from sin.  We are his disciples here and we follow where he goes.  We will go to the grave some day too, but, since we are disciples through our baptism, we will also rise with him. And, when that day comes, God will bring judgment down upon the sinful world and we won’t have to worry because our sin will already be cleansed and we will already be living in perfection.  We will live safe and secure with him.  When our dad steps up, the bullies will have to run for the hills.

            In the meantime, we keep doing our job as disciples, lifting up creation’s needs to him, caring for the world around us, speaking his truth to the world, in the hopes some of those enemies of God will hear and believe.  We continue to pray for his help in times of need, knowing that while the big problem of sin isn’t going away until he returns, he still promises to provide and care for us here and now.  We pray, “Thy kingdom come,” knowing he has promised it will and asking him to make that happen soon, so the world will finally be set right and we can all live in peace.  We lift up our thanks to him for making us disciples by teaching us and bringing to the font to be baptized and cleansed by him, so we are able to follow Christ through death and into life everlasting.