Pentecost 12: Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56

Aug. 15, 2010

    Recently I was over in Champaign to check on my mother who is in a nursing home there. And she is doing relatively well, not great (she will be 92 in September) but she can still stand and walk short distances and likes to visit. I have to talk louder, but she still laughs and smiles.

    On the drive over in the summertime I always keep an eye on the crops. From the highway everything looks good and I was much impressed how clean the fields are again this year, especially the beans. By clean, of course, I mean free of weeds and by "again this year" I mean that weed control has come a long way since I was teenager back in BC time, Before Chemicals.

    I remember some of the weeds I wrestled with as a youth like the cocklebur. It was very prolific and could quickly crowd out the beans if you didn't get with it and do something. Its tiny burs that stuck to your socks and pant legs like Velcro were a nuisance too. In fact cockleburs were the inspiration for the invention of Velcro. The plants don't grow erect either which as I remember made it difficult at times to find a good spot to whack them with my machete. And also according to the sunlight they can blend in so well with the beans that you can walk right by and not notice them. I remember crawling along on my hands and knees at times to clean out patches of these.

    And then there were the Smart weeds. Their stems sprout new roots along the ground. To pull up one root means you'll end up pulling several. I guess that's why they are called "smart" weeds. Jimson weeds. I actually liked them. They grow erect and look like a small bush and can easily be whacked. I always felt bad though because they have pretty flowers.

    One weed that I haven't seen much in recent years is the milkweed. These are perennials. You can pull them up one year, but they will come back the next because of their root systems. What's interesting about the milkweed though is that in addition to its beautiful flowers, it also has been used for medicinal purposes, it's partly edible and its fluffy white seed fibers were used by the Army during WW II as stuffing in life jackets. They also tried to use the milky sap to make rubber tires during the war. Both Germany and the United States tried this but neither was successful. Milkweeds are a commercially cultivated crop these days for cosmetics and other uses. Both the milkweed and the cocklebur are examples of weeds that have been redeemed for a good and useful purposes.

    These and many other weeds reminds me of walking the beans as a youth to do the "cleaning" by hand with my machete which now has been replaced mostly by "chemicals" and new weed resistant seed varieties. One exception is water hemp. This is extremely prolific and I've read that in some places it has become resistant to certain kinds of herbicides.

    All this comes to mind this morning because the Psalm talks about the Lord's vineyard of long ago. Vineyards were such a basic staple of ancient agriculture that this became symbolic of Israel itself. The text of the Psalm refers to Israel as a vine that God brought out of Egypt. God was like a gardener who cleared the ground, planted and cared for Israel so that its boundaries grew and spread from the Mediterranean Sea on the west to the mountains of southern Lebanon, to the Negev desert in the south and beyond the Jordan River to the east. God's vineyard became very strong and prosperous. But then something went wrong, terribly wrong.

    The Psalmist laments how the walls that protected Lord's vineyard have broken down leaving it unprotected against predators. Now "the boar from the forest" comes in and plucks its fruit freely and ravages the people to whom the vineyard belonged. The Psalmist has in mind how the Northern Kingdom was overrun and destroyed by the invasion of the Assyrian armies in 722 B.C. And then Judah in the south was captured by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Both of these events were devastating not only physically to Israel as a nation, but also to the psyche of the people. God's word through the prophet Isaiah asked: "What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?"(Is 5:4)

    What went wrong was due to the weeds that had sprung up in the vineyard. The worship of other gods was one. Abuse of the poor and the weak was another. The mistreatment of foreigners. Corrupt political leadership. The more powerful and prosperous the vineyard became the more its caretakers competed with one another to gain all they could for themselves. Their blessings became the source of the sins that undid everything God had planted. And so God withdrew his protection and let Israel suffer the consequences of turning away from his righteousness and truth. "I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."(Is 5:5f) And so it was.

    The parallels between now and then are uncanny. For the same "weeds" grow and threaten the vineyard of our world. The worship of other gods is prolific like the cocklebur with many branches and burs that stick to us like Velcro. Preoccupation with the things and ambitions of the world often blend in so well with our religion that it's hard to tell the difference. The competition to gain all we can for self at the expense of others is rampant. Immigration has seldom been as heated a topic as it is now. The poor and the weak are often ignored and blamed for their own problems. The really sad thing about sin though is that often its innocent people who suffer the most. That's not the way it should be. Where will it all end.

    Long ago God let events work out the reckoning for these sins. Will there be a similar reckoning in our time? Jesus said: "You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"(Lk 12:56) As bad as things can be, they may become even worse before they get better. Who knows what will happen and when.

    One thing we do know. Part of God's truth is that there is always a reckoning for sin. But out of that reckoning there comes a word of hope. Despite the reckonings of God's justice, the Psalmist and the prophets never lost hope in God's determination to restore his vineyard. After God's rebuke, the Psalmist asked for God's hand to be upon the faithful again. Never will we turn our back from the Lord. You will give us life and we will call on your name. "Restore us, O Lord God; let your face shine that we may be saved."(Ps 80:19)

    Out of shattered dreams and bitter sadness comes the hope of a God who is always ready to forgive and help his people pick up the pieces again. God is a God who wants his people to succeed, not fail. God takes joy in a vineyard that yields abundantly with righteousness, justice and peace. God perseveres and doesn't give up trying to restore life to the way it should be. God doesn't want us to give up either in working for the dream of the kingdom.

    Looking over the fields today one wishes that "cleansing" the sins of the world would be as easy as spraying a chemical. But sadly there is no easy answer. For us sin is like those milkweeds. Pull one up and another pops up next year. Send one governor off to jail and another one pops up who is likely to end up there too. Eliminating sin is hard work.

    John Wesley gave 3 simple rules to those who converted to Christ. Remember? "Do no harm. Do good. Love God." According to Wesley it takes discipline, perseverance, prayer, nurture, study and holding oneself accountable within a community of others who are all working on the same thing. But the most important thing of all is not to give up doing good in response to all the bad things that happen.

    There are still many weeds in the Lord's vineyard. And there is still too much pain and suffering. The temptation is to focus so much on all the bad things that we become stuck in the pain and sorrow they cause. And so we forget the hope of our faith and the God who leads us.

    The book of Hebrews was written precisely to Christians who were suffering a lot of pain. They were tempted in many ways – to give up their faith, getting revenge on their oppressors, being angry towards God for letting bad things happen. And so the scripture reminded them of all the brave examples of faith who lived and died before them. With great perseverance they kept striving for God's Kingdom despite everything against them. But now "they are a great cloud of witnesses" who surround us. They are cheering us on from heaven's balcony as it were as we walk the fields and strive for God's righteousness. Their witness was founded on the rock of Jesus who also suffered, who endured the cross, disregarding its shame, but who now "is seated at the right hand of the throne of God" in glory.

    In the end Jesus triumphed over all the soldiers of the devil. God's Love was victorious! As Jesus was victorious so shall we be victorious if we do not lose hope in the promises of God and the kingdom to come. As one of my favorite prayers says. "Lord, remind me that nothing is going to happen today that you and I can't handle together. Amen." Praise God!