A Patient Farmer

God’s Kingdom is Like…

Today, we continue in our God’s Kingdom is Like… series. Again, this afternoon we are led to yet another agricultural metaphor for God’s kingdom. Having read about vineyard managers, mustard seeds, and yeast, we read today about a farmer who plants a crop of wheat only to have thistle sprout up with it.

Still coming from the Gospel of Matthew, let us hear the word of the Lord.

Parable of the Patient Farmer

He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’
“He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’
“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’
“He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”

Matthew 13:24-30

Commentary

Many of Jesus’ parables use agricultural metaphors because nearly all of the people listening to him teach were familiar with agriculture. These metaphors served as ways for Jesus to open up the world around them to reveal God’s nature and kingdom within their lived experience. This parable is one such metaphor.

Jesus says the Kingdom of God is like a farmer who plants good seed, only to discover that someone has planted thistle overtop of it. The wheat and thistle grow as one unit, and rather than weed the garden to remove the thistle and risk ruining the wheat crop, the patient farmer instructs his workers to let both crops grow together to be separated at the harvest.

Most farmers would tell you that this is a bad farming practice. Growing weeds alongside your wheat can have all sorts of adverse impacts.

If weeds grow beside wheat, they compete for resources, and this competition will reduce wheat yields as the plants get less of what they need to thrive. Weeds bring with them insects and, sometimes, diseases, both of which have the potential of damaging the wheat crops. Dense weed infestations create dense, moist plant matter which can clog equipment and slow down the harvest. Toxic weeds, like darnel, produce poisonous seeds which can make the flour made from nearby wheat dangerous, and if the weeds are allowed to reach maturity, they will go to seed and thus increase the weed seed bank within the soil, leading to an even greater presence of weeds.

Farmers do not typically let weeds grow with their crops, so why does Jesus tell us here that God is like a farmer who would let the wheat and weeds coexist?

Well, there are a few things weeds can tell us or do for us that the wheat crop cannot do on their own.

Weeds can sometimes teach us about the state of the soil. As some weeds thrive in compacted or low-nutrient soils, the presence of some weeds may signal a need for soil health improvements. Weeds keep the soil from eroding, and when they die and decompose, they add nutrient back into the soil. Just as weeds can host damaging bugs, they can also host beneficial insects like pollinators, and some weeds, like dandelion, have deep root systems which bring nutrients up from deeper within the soil than wheat is able to reach by itself.

That is to say that while weeds can reduce the yields, overcomplicate the harvest, and keep the wheat crop from thriving, they also bring up the deepest nutrients for the wheat to digest and help to ensure the longevity of the soil in which the wheat crop grows by keeping it from eroding, adding to its nutrients, and signaling the state of the soil’s health. For these reasons, a farmer concerned with the long term growth of his wheat over multiple seasons might choose to let the weeds remain.

What does this have to do with God’s kingdom?

Well, it is my own belief that this parable addresses the growth of God’s Kingdom on Earth. You might have noticed that churches are not perfect. They’re clusters of imperfect people just trying to follow Jesus’ teachings and bring God’s kingdom to earth. Within any given church, there is good fruit to be found, and there are plenty of thistles growing around. This parable addresses this phenomenon for all believers.

Jesus teaches us here that it is not our job to remove every thistle we see. Were we to attempt such a tast, we may also pull up the wheat with them. Instead, the patient farmer instructs his workers to let them coexist, and we, the workers (and maybe even the wheat and the weeds) are instructed the same.

Let them coexist. Let the roots of the weeds lead us to nutrients deeper than we would find on our own; let the bugs they bring pollinate us through conversation and dialogue as much as they nip at us.

Leaders, clergy, elders, deacons, and lay people with vested interests, should be on the lookout for indicators of soil health and do what they can, as God’s workers, to correct problems of disease and lack of nutrients when they can. No weeding, no cutting down, no division, just careful attention to the health, nutrition and depth of what their wheat is planted in.

Ultimately, the harvester will separate wheat from chaff, and the good fruit will be kept while the waste and weeds are thrown away. That is a job for another; ours is to grow, to watch, to respond with encouragement and loving care that our wheat might grow strong from amongst the weeds.

Questions

Jesus taught his parables using commonplace practices and objects for biblical communities. What kinds of objects or activities might be used in a modern day parable about God’s kingdom. Can you imagine or even write one of your own?
Do you see wheat and weeds growing within your faith community? Are they distinct or are their roots tangled together? Do any of them coexist in positive ways? What freedom or blessing does this parable give to churches in their messiness?
Looking at the wheat and weeds in your church or in the Church at large, how can the state of the weeds help us to better care for the wheat? What might the diseases, bugs, or quantity of weeds teach us about how to best tend to the wheat? Said another way, what nutrients or healing might our soil need to grow stronger wheat despite the weeds?

A Blessing for Your Week

Beloved Child of God,

May you grow
With roots, deep and wide
And stalks, tall and abundant
May you coexist
With loving wheat
And helpful weeds
May your workers watch your garden bed
With careful eyes and discerning hearts
That poor soil might be made rich
That diseased plants might be nursed to health
That all might have what they need
And should you find yourself a worker
With a garden bed of your own
May grace and patience guide you
And may Love bring healing water to the soil.

Amen.