Message: Still Growing / Matthew 13:24-30

Today’s Gospel reading from Matthew begins with someone sowing good seed in a field. This reflects the biblical view of the world. The world did not begin with evil, but with goodness. In Genesis, after God created the world, God declared that it was good. Everything in creation has its beginning in the goodness of God’s love. Human beings, in particular, were created in the image of God. God has planted good seeds within each of us. We were created with the ability to love, to feel compassion for others, to help one another, and to live together in community.

But one night, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. Jesus’ listeners would have recognized this as something that could really happen. Roman law even dealt with cases where someone sowed weeds in another person’s field to ruin the crop and allowed the owner to seek compensation for the loss.

Jesus compares the enemy who sowed the weeds to the devil (13:39). In the Bible, the devil or Satan represents the forces that tempt us and draw us away from God’s peace and hope. These forces may be understood spiritually, but they also appear through people, systems, and situations that pull us away from God's way. They can lead us to react without discernment and tempt us to fall into despair. They fill us with anxiety, cloud our judgment, and make us lose heart when we face challenges in life.

The passage does not explain the source of evil in detail. But the people listening to Jesus’ parable would have understood what it meant. Sometimes such evil begins with resentment or jealousy. In farming communities at that time, disagreements may have occurred over property lines, the use of water, or the harvest. Someone who felt that they had been treated unfairly might secretly damage a neighbour’s field as an act of revenge.

It may also have come from greed for money. If a competitor produced less, the price and profit from one’s own crop could increase. Even today, nations, corporations, and individuals sometimes intentionally harm others in order to gain more for themselves. We might think of the United States ignoring existing agreements under the slogan “America First” and using tariffs as a weapon, creating economic hardship for other countries. The war with Iran led by the United States is contributing to an energy crisis for people around the world, while oil companies may profit from that suffering.

These hostile forces can also appear within the church. The church is meant to be a community where we encourage and care for one another. Yet sometimes our words and actions can cause others to lose the strength to serve, discourage their desire to love, and leave them in despair. Words and actions that make people feel unwelcome, drain their courage, push them away from the community, and make them give up their ministry are the tools of the devil.

In this parable, the weeds can be understood as darnel, sometimes called false wheat. When it first begins to grow, darnel looks very much like wheat and is difficult to distinguish from it. The difference becomes clear only after the plants mature and the heads of grain appear. The heads of wheat bend downward under the weight of the grain, while the heads of darnel tend to remain upright.

Of course, this is a parable. It does not mean that the darnel itself is evil. Even the plants we call weeds are part of God’s creation. Each has its own name and its own place in the ecosystem. The problem is not the plant itself. The problem is when it is misused by those with evil intentions.

The resemblance between darnel and wheat shows us something important. Evil does not always look like evil. Sometimes it can look like something good. It can control people in the name of protection. It can exclude others in the name of keeping things pure. It can silence those who raise concerns by saying it is necessary for the peace of the community. It can promise blessings while feeding human greed and promise safety while using fear.

Through this parable, Jesus draws our attention to how people respond to such evil. When facing such situations, there are two responses that the devil wants from us. The first is a hasty reaction without patience. It grows out of anxiety. A time will come when the wheat and weeds can be identified, but we do not want to wait. We judge good and evil according to our assumptions and prejudices, and we begin pulling up what we think are weeds. In the process, the good wheat may also be harmed.

The second response is despair. We see the weeds and decide that the whole field is ruined. We no longer believe that the good seed is still growing, and we give up on the possibility that God is still at work. We worry about things that have not yet happened while failing to do what needs to be done now.

Haste and despair may seem like opposites, but they come from the same root. Both come from a failure to trust God’s timing. When Jesus told this parable, his disciples were experiencing a similar situation. As Jesus planted good seeds through his ministry, opposition also began to grow. His opponents used the law and tradition to attack him. They used their religious and political power to threaten Jesus and his disciples. Yet Jesus did not act out of fear or anger, nor did he fall into despair. He trusted that God’s goodness would prevail in the end.

Jesus emphasized that the time would come when the wheat and the weeds could be distinguished. Therefore, we should not spend all our time focusing on the weeds. Our anger toward evil can become so strong that we lose the strength to do what is good. We can become so focused on those who cause trouble that we fail to notice those who are quietly bearing good fruit.

One day, a bird complained to God that the frogs were so loud that no one could hear its beautiful song. Then God replied, “The frogs sound louder because you are not singing.”

Augustine described evil as the absence of good. Darkness does not exist on its own. It is the absence of light. Evil gains strength where goodness and hope have grown weak. So, the deepest way to resist evil is to live more faithfully in what is good. Resisting evil is not only about being angry at the weeds. It is also about caring for the wheat. It is not about giving in to the darkness. It is about shining the light entrusted to us.

Above all, within the church, we should notice and appreciate the many ways people serve. We should support and encourage those who give their time to the ministry of our congregation. We should give people with new ideas opportunities to try them. We should help those who have made mistakes begin again. And we should say to those who are hurting, “You are not alone.”

The church is sometimes described by the Latin phrase corpus permixtum, meaning “a mixed body.” The church is not a community of perfect people. It is called to follow Christ and show love to the world, but it is also a human community that must continually be renewed and reformed. Keeping this in mind, we must continue doing what is good, even when someone does wrong or tries to discourage others.

Last week, we reflected on the God who is still sowing. Even when there are paths, rocky ground, and thorns, God does not stop sowing seeds. In today’s passage, we meet the God who is still making things grow. Even when an enemy sows weeds, God does not abandon the field. God gives the good seed time to grow, does not abandon the wheat, and prepares for the harvest that will come.

In time, the truth will be revealed. So let us not become exhausted from staring at the weeds. Let us not judge others so quickly that we pull up good grain along with them. Let us not doubt the good seed planted within us because of the challenges and difficulties we face.

God is still caring for the field. The good seed is still growing. No matter how loud the harsh sounds of the world may become, may we continue to sing the song of love, justice, and hope that God has entrusted to us.

 Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Min Hwang