Well, I better tell you up front what I know about planting wheat and pulling weeds, harvesting and agriculture I could fit very comfortably on the head of a very, very tiny pin.  I never have had and never will have a green thumb.  I can remember my mother getting me to pull weeds in the backyard and the only thing I remember is I hated it – I didn’t like it at all.  But the parable of the wheat and the weeds reminds us that whatever we plant in our backyard or in life and whatever we plan in our backyard or in life, sooner or later weeds are going to come along uninvited and unwelcome.  That’s part of the message.

You know, I’ve been thinking this through for the last several months about Jesus, every time I read one of his stories or something he’s doing.  What kept driving Jesus?  As one theologian says, what got him up in the morning, because he obviously was driven and faithful to what drove him even when it drove him to the cross.  He would not give up, he had something to do.  What was that something?  I think that something was he was so much in touch with the presence of God within him that he wanted us to know where God can be found, what God is like, what God is about.  He wanted to tell us about the mystery, the power, the presence of God.  He wanted to let the whole world know and he did it, first of all, by saying where God is found, don’t look too far, don’t look too far cuz the word he used was the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God to tell us about God.  The kingdom of God, he said, is within, the kingdom of God is at hand, the kingdom of God is near.  That’s what he wanted to tell us – that our God is so near.  And what is our God like, what is our God about?  Well, he made that clear to us by three things.  By telling stories, by healing people and by going to parties and, you know, the trick of figuring out what his message was is to look at the parties and look at the guest list and on the guest list are scribes and Pharisees, scholars and rabbis, publicans and sinners, men and women, room for everybody – you and me.  The kingdom of God is that near.  That’s where our God is, that’s what our God is like.  So he kept driving that message home by going to parties, by healing.  By healing people to let us know that our God is a God of compassion, that when sickness comes, it’s not God’s will but God’s will is rather that we respond with service and prayer and help and healing to people.

And, finally, he told stories.  He told stories about the deep questions people had in their hearts.  Stories about forgiveness, stories about hope, stories about the problem of evil, stories like the wheat and the weeds, the wheat and the weeds.  And by that story he told us our God is not a punishing, controlling God who plants evil.  Our God only plants what is good, our God is not a punishing, controlling God but a patient God who says let’s let it grow.  Let it grow, let’s see what happens.  Our God waits alongside us just as eager to be surprised at what turns out as we are and our God stands by us and is loving all the time.  That’s what our God is like.

You know, a few weeks ago I gave that adult education evening on a pastor looks at God and asks why and I put up three phrases:  Is there a reason, Is there a good reason, Is there a God reason?  Does God have a reason?  When bad things happen, like nine-eleven or the earthquake in China or the tsunami or Katrina or the Virginia Tech massacre.  You know, sometimes when bad things happen to us, you know what we say?  We say it’s God’s will.  Or, when things are really bad, we say it’s an act of God.  Well, I put up those phrases:

Is There A Reason?
Is There A Good Reason?
Is There A God Reason?

And my answer to all three is absolutely not, absolutely not.  It’s not God’s blueprint, it’s not God’s intention, it’s not God’s will that there might be evil, but rather God stands with us when there is evil, stands alongside us.  There is always a cause for things.  Earthquake is caused by the moving of tectonic plates, hurricanes are caused by low pressure systems, nine-eleven is caused by anger and hatred and the Virginia Tech massacre is caused by mental illness.  There’s always a cause, but is there a reason and is it God’s reason, I don’t think so.  What God does is stand alongside us, like the man who planted the good seed, stands alongside us and offers opportunity and offers us a surprise.  In the face of Katrina, what an opportunity and a surprise it was that people’s generosity, people’s compassion throughout the United States.  In the face of war and chaos, what comes forth?  What comes along in that opportunity is compassion and service, everything from Florence Nightingale to the Red Cross to Catholic Relief Services.  And what happens to us?  We at least learn.  Someone has said when bad things happen to me, I either become bitter or I become better.  I either become bitter or I become better - weeds and wheat.

The one thing that story adds is sooner or later there will be a day of reckoning.  Sooner or later there is a day or reckoning, but it’s not that God’s spying on us, it’s not that God’s waiting to punish us, but it’s rather that our actions have consequences, our actions we have to be responsible for them and we either become bitter or we become better.  Wheat and weeds – the problem of evil.  Where is God in all this?  God always desires our good, gives us gifts to respond, to grow and to learn, gives us courage and strength to do more than we could ever ask or desire.

Let us give thanks to our God who is so good.

Congregation and Fr. Brian:  Amen.