Small towns and dandelions.

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Ahh that Jesus, he is a sneaky one. He gives us parables that seem to be so black and white in meaning, when in fact they are far from it. And actually this parable is probably more green than black and white anyway.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away.  26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.

First of all, the word translated as wheat is not a word that is that specific. It is a word that can mean grain, corn, wheat, fruits or who knows what else. Strong’s Dictionary says that it is a word of uncertain origin. This is important because it is so like us to want absolutes and we simply can’t have one here.

So, someone goes out and sows good seed. What that seed is we do not know. It is one that will produce a crop according to what the sower is looking to reap. And in the midst of that crop, the servants of the one who has sown the seed, see things growing that they are certain are weeds. And in service to their master they want to rip those suckers out.

Have you ever attempted to weed a garden as things are just beginning to sprout? It is nearly impossible. Everything looks like little green plants, which of course they are. And if you are not careful you are pulling out “good” plants and leaving the “bad.” I have learned to wait until everything has grown up a little so that they are more easily identified. This is one easy way of understanding Jesus’ parable. While not wrong, I believe it is a seriously truncated version.

The process of determining what is a weed and what is “good seed” has left our creation in a grim state. For instance, the milkweed is a weed to some but to the monarch butterfly it is life. The dandelion is a weed to some but to the pollinators of our world it is the first sustenance of the season. And now that we have become so accomplished at poisoning and eliminating these “weeds” we are finding that they are in fact good seed because we need our pollinators and our souls rely on the beauty that is nearly gone.

Jesus knows that our point of view is severely limited and he knows that we must rely on the wisdom of the Creator, the Sower, for better discernment. 

So what's your opinion? Is Jesus simply teaching us the better way to garden? Is he only telling us about seeds and wheat and corn and dandelions and such? My best guess is that he probably has something more to say than “save the dandelions.” (By the way, I like dandelions!)

I need to confess that I am a little nervous about taking this next step in this message but I just can’t help it. This all came together for me in one big bang if you will. So I feel compelled to talk it through with you.

A dear friend posted something on facebook that I was curious about. It read “I stand with Jason Aldean. Try that in a small town.” My initial response will tell you how out of the loop I am. I replied “Who?” She responded with “Who is Jason Aldean?” I’m guessing she couldn’t believe there was anyone who didn’t know. So I googled it. Yes, that is correct, I had no idea. And when I read the song lyrics I realized that somewhere along the lines I had in fact heard the song. I just hadn’t paid any attention to it. 

I also gathered there is some controversy over the lyrics. And that’s probably why I get a little nervous bringing it up. 

For those who might be out of touch like me, here are a couple lines out of the song:

Well, try that in a small town

See how far ya make it down the road

Around here, we take care of our own

Of course robbing and carjacking and the like are wrong. (These are things mentioned at the beginning of the song.) I am not arguing with his desire for protecting one another. But I need to ask Jason who exactly is the “our own” that  we take care of? That is the part that makes me nervous.  Are we trying to sort out the weeds according to our own perceptions and protect the crops we prefer? 

Perhaps Jason’s intent is not as limiting as I fear but it is, nonetheless, what came to mind. We have become so attuned to the “us and them” mindset that we lose the whole concept that it is actually all us. 

Peter Mayer (a singer I listen to) has a song called All the Word Is One. Here is a sampling of the lyrics.

You can say that you stand apart

Put a fence around your yard

You can build a tall rampart

And guard it with a gun.

You can dig yourself a moat

Burn the bridge and burn the boat

It won’t matter much you know

Because all the world is one.

You can march in a big parade

Every independence day

You can raise up your own flag

And sing your own anthem.

It will ring out in the air

With all the other anthems there

Till the winds of the earth declare

All the world is one.

What if we stop trying to sort out the “us" from the “them” and begin to understand that it really is all “us"? 

Now back to the good seeds. What are the good seeds that the Lord of the Universe would plant? What is the crop our creator would most want to grow? Do we know what it might be called? In my mind it is pretty easy to discern if we listen to all that Jesus lives to teach us. The seeds of love are the good seeds that are the kingdom of God. And the reason we can’t go out there pulling out what we don’t understand is because love looks so different to each person in each situation. 

A very simple example: at different times of life love will look like reading a book to someone and other times it will look like letting them read that book on their own.First as a child and later when one grows older and unable to read. Or perhaps it looks like teaching someone to dance and then later giving them the ability to dance as they hear the music. Even if they dance differently than what we taught.  The trouble is, that it isn’t always easy to discern. That is why we must learn to listen to the master planter of love to weed out our misconceptions. And wait for the revelation of love.

We are all one. We are all good seeds planted for love.  So maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we do in fact live in a small town called the world. In another song Peter Mayer writes:

Now, it’s feeling like a small town

With seven billion people downtown

At a little sidewalk fair

In Earth Town Square

Maybe we need to learn to take care of our own. And maybe we need to learn that “our own” includes everyone who lives and breathes. Every race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, political party, hair color etc.  It is ultimately not for us to weed out the “bad seeds” because they may not be as bad as we had been taught to believe. They might in fact be love in a different genus.

Let’s be a really big small town that takes care of our own, even the dandelions.

Angels Unawares (Matthew 10)

40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”  Matthew 10 (NIV)

Our gospel reading today comes just after Jesus telling his disciples many hard things. Division in the family is perhaps the hardest to swallow. Although taking up one's cross is also less than inviting.

He also tells his disciples “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” But don’t take any extra money or clothes or staff with you. So far this is not an ad that will bring crowds of applicants. We think good help is hard to find now. Try being Jesus looking for laborers with these kinds of benefits. Or lack of!

So today's three verses are meant to be a little bit of encouragement for them. People are going to want to help you because they are going to be blessed. And when they see their neighbor blessed for helping you then they will want to do so as well. So don’t worry, you will be cared for in the kingdom of God, the kingdom that is here and now, wherever love is preached.

As I read these verses another story came to mind. Do you remember the story of Abraham? In Genesis 18 we read:

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”

“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

The blessing of hospitality. This is what Jesus is talking about.

Paul writes in Romans:  Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (apparently not just those people who agree with you or are like you.)

In Peter’s first epistle we read: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

And the writer of Hebrews writes to us:

Let brotherly love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.  Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. Hebrew 13

It has become easy for us to find excuses to not help the stranger. We can always assume they are or would try to take advantage of us. They may have a disease or as we might have said in elementary school, cooties. But of course the biggest reason to avoid strangers is the violence we see reported on the news daily. It’s scary.

The verses I just read to you were not written in less dangerous times. They lived in societies where men were beaten and robbed and left to die in the ditch. (Good Samaritan story). They were written in times when the conquering race could be as belligerent as they pleased. (if you have any doubts read the Acts of the Apostles.) They were written in times of poverty where sharing bread with a stranger might mean you would go hungry. They were written in times when it was dangerous to be Christian and no one really knew who was or wasn’t. Much like today?

But all these stories–all these readings seem to ask one thing we tend to forget. What if that stranger is a prophet, a disciple of God, a righteous person, or even an angel? 

The news gives us all the news that we want to hear. The thrillers if you will. There are a plethora of stories of people who honestly believe that they have encountered angels in this life or who have been blessed by helping another. But somehow we don’t hear a lot of those stories.

 Instead we hear the stories that make us afraid, that are thrillers. Maybe one is more believable than the other? Maybe one provides excuses for us to not help and one stirs up something in us we don’t want to admit to? I dont have the answer here. Just guesses based on my own internal search.

Recently I was caught up in the story of the submersible that disappeared with 5 rich men in it. Rich men who chose to take their chances as thrill seekers. But the 350 migrants, all of them fleeing poverty and violence, got hardly a mention. In fact I never did see it on the news. 

Certainly one of these stories makes me far more uncomfortable than the other. One of these stories turns my heart and mind to the words of the scriptures. One of these stories makes me wonder about where the angels in need of hospitality might have been. (One of these stories reminds me of the words in Hebrews, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.)

 “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”

Can we know who is trying to be a disciple of Jesus? Not just who believes the right things but who is trying to follow Jesus’ example and teachings of love? Which stranger has a heart of love? Can you tell?(many of those migrants came so they might bring hope to the families left behind. That is love.)  Which stranger might be an angel? 

I googled the words “angel unaware” for this message to see what I could find. Some of you may remember the Dale Evans Rogers story. Their baby was born with severe handicaps and passed after only a couple of years.

But I also came across a breathtaking sculpture that I wish I could share a picture of with you. Please google “Angels Unawares” so you can see it.  (Of course you reading this on line can see the picture included.)

Since September 5th, 2019, a life size sculpture called “Angels Unawares” stands in a corner of St Peter’s Square as part of an initiative of the Migrants & Refugees Section. The work belongs to Canadian artist and sculptor Timothy Schmalz.  

Schmalz calls his work a visual prayer.  It is a sculpture of a boat packed with people, migrants, and rising up from the mass of people is a pair of wings. To which one of these individuals might these wings belong? When that boat goes down will anyone know or care?

We are called to open our eyes and see God in all people. We are called to believe that in the midst of the crowds there might be angels. And Jesus tells us, when we do, when we are hospitable to those in need, we will be blessed.

As Jesus is quoted as saying: Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.

Amen.