Over the past few months, my
wife has been slowly introducing our daughters to George Lucas’ masterpiece
Star Wars series. To some degree, viewing these movies is a rite of passage in
our culture. They’ve become a permanent part of modern folklore, and their special
effects expand the child’s imagination to include galaxies that are far, far
away. Many of us, I suspect, can remember the experience of seeing one of the
movies in the theater.
For our daughters, the
initiation is happening at home in front of the television screen. One by one, over
the course of weeks and months, the movies have been shown—although first Melinda
and I had to decide whether we should view them in the order in which they were
released, beginning with Episode IV, or if we should show them in narrative
order, beginning with Episode I.
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| Jar Jar Binks: Friend or Foe? I'll let the experts decide... |
As it turns out, I don’t
think it matters for our 6-year-old. She instinctively understands what is going
on, and although she may not have the vocabulary to explain it, she grasps that
there is a cosmic conflict between good and evil brewing. And she grasps that eventually
it’s going to lead up to a big showdown. In fact, every time a new character appears
on screen, she will lean over to Melinda and whisper, “Is that a good guy or
bad guy?” She wants to know right up front which side everyone’s on, whether
she can trust them or malign them. The fact is, of course, you can’t always
tell which characters are evil, especially at first…and especially just by
looking at them. After all, Jar-Jar Binks is a pretty freaky looking dude! Truth
be told, many of the characters end up having a little bit of sinister in them
at some point, and most of the sinister ones end up having a small streak of
purity somewhere. Regardless, there is much clarity, which makes it appealing. That’s
what the whole saga is based on, anyway: a battle for the heart of a kingdom
that is good, the stand against the creeping forces of evil and destruction.
They didn’t have Star Wars—or
anything like it, for that matter—but the disciples of Jesus were well-aware of
the creeping forces of evil and destruction. They were aware of the fact that
God’s good creation was afflicted with some dark corruption deep within, that
God’s purposes of righteousness and love were constantly being thwarted by
human selfishness and pride. Imagine how disappointing, then, it must have been
when they hear Jesus explain through a parable that God’s own kingdom is going
to be like a universe where, at least for the time-being, good and evil must coexist,
where that dark corruption is somehow allowed to spread and intermingle amidst the
growing goodness and joy!
After all, it was so easy—or
so they thought—just to lean over to each other as it all played out and
whisper about who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. It was so uncomplicated
to label who should be allowed to grow in the kingdom and then expel those who
shouldn’t. However, Jesus’ foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. As much as
the disciples would have liked to uproot the evil at once, as much as the
disciples would have liked to go in with light sabers blazing, God has a
purpose for letting it grow together for now, like weeds among the wheat.
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| "The Tares" Sir John Everett Millais (1864) |
It occurs to me that this parable
about the kingdom still plays out in so many ways today. Are we not like those
slaves, running to the householder, who are first surprised by the presence of
the weeds and then frustrated by the instruction not to pull them up? We look
around at a world that has so much going for it, at a creation that is filled
with beauty and goodness, and are perplexed by the ongoing existence of
evildoing. Initially Jesus likely used this parable to address the disruptions
of wickedness that often occur within the church communities. Sad to say, at
any given time it’s usually pretty easy for people to look at their congregation
and see so much potential if it weren’t for certain people, and especially if
it weren’t for certain pastors!
Jesus’ parable of the weeds
among the wheat teaches several important things to his disciples. First of
all, it acknowledges that not everyone at every moment is working toward the
righteousness of God’s kingdom, not everyone at every moment is producing the
fruits of justice and peace. Just as the householder’s enemy goes about sowing
bad seed in and among the good, so does the reality of sin take root in and
among our actions and intentions. Jesus’ whole ministry can be seen in this
light, after all. As he makes his way through the towns and villages of Judah
and Galilee, conflict and opposition to him crop up just as much as faith and
commitment from new followers do.
Second of all, it outlines
some faithful ways to deal with this reality by correcting some of our common
responses. One common response is to be so overwhelmed with the complexity of
the problems around us that we effectively throw our hands up and say that
there really is no such thing as evil, that everything is just ambiguous shades
of neutral, depending on where you stand. In doing so, we rationalize the weeds
as beautiful, too, and the truth is they’re not beautiful at all. The weed to
which scholars think this particular parable is referring, darnel, was actually
mildly poisonous. If it was ground together with the wheat at the end of
harvest and used for baking, it would render the food inedible. While it would
be helpful if all evildoing were as obviously repulsive as Darth Vader’s
visage, the reality is that it’s not always so. That doesn’t mean it isn’t
harmful, and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be vigilant against it.
Another response we have is the
desire to take matters into our own hands and immediately eradicate all evil at
its root. In our rush to label the good guys and the bad guys, to create
communities that are completely pure, we come up with solutions that are a
little too cavalier, a little too drastic for the issue at hand. For example,
we may look at the rise of immigrant children at the southwestern border and we
surmise that immigrants are nothing but weeds, evildoers who have broken the
law. Therefore we say, turn them away immediately, for their presence here
disturbs our good wheat. Or, on the other hand, we view that same situation and
conclude that borders and immigration laws are evil! Therefore, rip them out, for
they are preventing the wheat from prospering! In the situation at our country’s
border, as in just about every scene of conflict in the world and congregation,
Jesus suggests that a faithful response is much more nuanced and measured. Good
and evil often are intertwined in complicated ways. Indeed, they are truly
intertwined within our own lives! When we’re confronted with the presence of
evil, it is best to follow the instructions given to the slaves and continue to
tend to the field in ways that are good for the wheat. That is, we sow seeds of
righteousness and Christlike compassion to everyone and let the Spirit nurture
the growth.
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| migrant minors in Texas |
Indeed, the idea that evil
will always spoil the good is so false, so detrimental to our well-being, that
Jesus decides show us so on the cross. There, in his death, Jesus demonstrated
God’s full commitment to a final harvest of good wheat from all of us. There,
one grain of wheat surrounded by nothing but wicked weeds, he offers up his
life with the hope that God will still make it right in the end…for you, for
me, and for all the folks we label good guys and those we label as bad guys. The
cross is the place where the groaning world may plant its hope with the promise
it may grow. That particular death, more than anything else, assures us of whose
love will triumph in the end.
We read his Word and let the
Lord nurture the wheat that does grow within and among us. We take the bread of
forgiveness and drink the wine of compassion. Then from the border-towns of
Mexico to the avenues of comfortable suburbia, from the wreckage in Ukrainian wheatfields
to the service sites in Richmond where youth are using summer vacation to serve
the homeless and hungry, we gather with our Lord and with each other.
And even as it all plays out
in drama and suspense before us, we lean in to him with hearts that question “Where
is this all going?” just to hear him whisper so assuredly to us, over and over:
“My child, I am risen!”
Thanks be to God!
The Reverend Phillip W. Martin, Jr.
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