Loving God, we are not able to judge as we ought and need the love and the insight of your Spirit to help us determine what is best. Continue to guide us by that same Spirit, filling our hearts with your love, and leading us into what you have in mind for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The parable that Jesus tells in today's gospel brings up an interesting question: When do you weed, and when don't you? Obviously, in the parable itself, it is time not to weed. The weeds will simply have to grow together with the wheat until harvest time. Otherwise, in their zeal to get rid of the weeds, people will pull up some of the good plants as well, and destroy any chance for them to bear fruit (Mt. 13:29). This parable is a call for patience, for the distinction between the good and the bad will not be fully revealed until the end of the age, and God is the only one who can judge rightly and knows what is in people's hearts.

This parable is a warning to all those who would insist on having a pure community and getting rid of all the filth around them. Those with such an emphasis will likely not end up with a pure community, but with a community that gets torn apart through their efforts to purify it. Yet, this parable does not seem to be a statement for all times and all situations. In other passages in the Bible, weeding out the evil from the church community does seem to be called for. So when do you weed, and when don't you?

Perhaps we could begin to address this question by looking at the two passages in the New Testament that explicitly deal with "weeding out" people from the Christian community. Then we will look at some of the other passages that warn against judging others.

The first passage of which we need to be aware is found in Matthew 18:15-20, which lays out a process for dealing with a member of the church who has sinned. First there is to be a one on one conversation where the sin is pointed out and repentance is sought. If the person in question will not listen and persists in their sin, then one or two other people are brought in as witnesses. If there is still no repentance, then it is to be brought before the whole church. If the person still will not listen, then they are to be excommunicated, or removed from the community.

All of this is to be done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures, and with the agreement of the community that there is a serious offense that needs to be dealt with. It's also important to note that standing ready to forgive is what is emphasized in the following verses in Matthew. So, judging from Matthew 18, there are some situations where weeding somebody out might be warranted.

The other passage that deals with removing somebody from the community is found in 1Corinthians 5:9-13. In this case, Paul is addressing a specific situation in that particular congregation. It seems that a man in the congregation was living with his father's wife and was even boasting about this as his spiritual privilege. Paul is careful to distinguish between those outside the Christian community and those who are part of the church. He writes about how there will always be greedy and immoral people in the world. However, for those who bear the name of Christ, being greedy or sexually immoral or a drunkard or verbally abusive or cheating others is simply unacceptable. Those who persist in such behaviour are to be removed from the church.

Really, it is a testimony to our nature as human beings that there are so many more passages that talk about when not to weed and when not to judge. One of the first, and most engaging, answers to the question of when not to weed is when you have a log in your eye. It is such an amazingly silly image that Jesus gives in the gospel of Matthew where we read, "Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?" (Mt. 7:3). But isn't that exactly what we do? "Here - let me help you get that speck out. Oh. Don't mind this log. I can see just fine." Now, all of this is in the context of a passage that begins, "Do not judge, so that you may not be judged" (Mt. 7:1). Interestingly enough, though, the passage does include taking the speck out of your neighbour's eye. It says, "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye" (Mt. 7:5).

Another answer to the question of when not to weed is when you are quarreling over things that don't really matter in the end. This comes from Romans 14, where people are quarreling over what to eat or not to eat and over which festivals to observe. Into this context Paul writes,

"Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God" (Rom. 14:10).

It is simply not worth it to divide the Christian community into little groups over things which are adiaphora and have little or nothing to do with our salvation. Instead, Paul writes about pursuing those things that make "for peace and for mutual upbuilding" (Rom. 14:19).

Another situation, which comes from 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, teaches that there is to be no weeding when a person who has sinned is repentant and sorrowful. In this case, something had happened where this person had caused pain both to Paul and to the whole congregation. Some sort of punishment by the majority had occurred, yet even though this person was sorrowful, the punishment was continuing. Thus, Paul writes about the need for people to forgive the offense and to console the person who has endured this punishment.

How, then, are we to summarize all of this? When do we weed, and when don't we? Our gospel today makes it clear that it is not our job to get rid of all the evil in the world, for God will be the judge of that. In fact, according to the interpretation of the parable given in Matthew, it would seem that even in God's kingdom there will be "causes of sin" and evildoers who are found there and removed when Jesus returns (Mt. 13:41). And so we are cautioned against being too quick to judge, and especially against judging others when our own sin lies unexamined (Jn. 8; Mt. 7). We are also cautioned against judging others over things that are not essential to our faith and against holding a grudge against those who are repentant and sorrowful (Rom. 14; 2 Cor. 2). There are thus many occasions not to judge, for ultimately God is the only one who knows the thoughts and intentions of the human heart.

At the same time, when it comes to people who are within the Christian community, behaviour that is quite obviously opposed to faith in Jesus Christ is not to be tolerated. This means sinful behaviour as well as self-righteous behaviour. We need to keep in mind that as sinful human beings we often are not very good judges, and sometimes we just like to judge others because it makes us feel better, or more righteous. That is why the power and the guidance of the Holy Spirit are so important. This is also why we need to continue to listen to the Holy Spirit, as a community, in order to discern what is best and where God is leading us.

I'd like to close by sharing with you a passage from Paul's letter to the Philippians, which emphasizes love in helping us to determine what is best. Here is what Paul writes:

"And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God" (Phil. 1:9-11).

May that same love overflowing with knowledge and insight be found among us. Amen.

Proper 11(A) Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
July 17, 2005
St. Luke's Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison Moore

? 2005 Lynne Hutchison Moore All Rights Reserved