Our country has been devastated in recent days by storms and floods. First it was Hurricane Katrina, and now Hurricane Rita. But they are not the only things we have faced as far as natural disasters in the world. Wildfires started by lightning, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, disease and plague, hurricanes and tornados, earthquakes and floods, landslides and avalanches, famines and droughts are all things that make us question how safe the world is and why these things happen. For many people it makes them question the goodness of God, or even the existence of a good God.
The parable that we are looking at this week speaks to the issue of evil in the world. There are four basic truths I see Jesus teaching in this parable. The first is this: There seems to be injustice in the way the world works. We sometimes find ourselves saying, “Wait a minute! I thought you were a good God and that you made a good world. How did this evil get into it? Why do all these terrible things happen?” We are like the Master’s servants in the parable who say, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” We read the opening pages of the Bible that say, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31), and we want to know what happened. Did God make a mistake, or lots of mistakes? Since he created everything, did he also create evil? After all, many good people died in the recent catastrophes in the South. Churches, children’s homes and church camps were destroyed, and Christians were numbered among the dead.
When something bad happens to you or someone else, it is not because of some specific sin in your life or theirs, but the fact that you live in a fallen world — a world that has fallen away from God. The human race as a whole has invited evil into the world through our collective sin. This is, therefore, a world where evil is present and real. And part of what makes evil so evil is that it is so unfair and unjust. Good people suffer while bad people sometimes prosper. Why do bad things happen to good people, and why do good things happen to bad people? This was the prophet Jeremiah’s complaint. He said, “You are always righteous, O Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” (Jeremiah 12:1).
I have read articles on the Internet about the hurricane and floods hitting New Orleans being the judgment of God on that wicked city. They point out that it hit on “Southern Decadence Day,” otherwise known as Gay Mardi-Gras. But most of the revelers had not arrived, because it did not hit on the day of Souther Decadence, but two days before. And how do you explain that the French Quarter where the event was to be held was the least affected area? The thing that really angers some people is that God does not punish the wicked and destroy them like they think he should. This was the problem of Jonah who was placed on suicide watch because God spared the evil Ninevites instead of destroying them. Jesus declared the awful injustice of God when he said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:43-45). God not only exercises mercy in the place of judgment, but asks us to do the same. This is the scandal of God: his inexhaustible mercy.
Sometimes we get impatient with God, because as the Psalmist said, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:8-10). We like it when God does that for us, but we are angry when God does it for our enemies, or those we consider worse sinners than ourselves. Do you remember the time that the disciples came across a man who had been blind from birth? They said to Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). And Jesus said, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” The disciples had everything in a neat little package: “When something bad happens it is because of some sin, known or unknown in the person’s life.” But Jesus clearly said it was not that way.
Or do you remember the story of the disciples coming to Jesus and telling him about some people that Pilate, the Roman governor, had murdered? They assumed it was because these people had committed some terrible sin that this had happened to them. But Jesus said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:1-5). We always think our sins are better sins than the sins of other people. But that is why Jesus told them all to repent, instead of thinking that the other people got what they deserved. The truth is that people do not always receive their due punishment here. In fact, sometimes it looks like those who are evil have life really good, while good people are struggling. It is possible more good people than bad died in the recent storms. Isaiah the prophet had an important insight when he wrote: “The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil” (Isaiah 57:1). So God’s ways often seem unfair and unjust, and they are, because God operates on the principle of mercy.
But the second basic truth that the parable shows us is: The evil in the world is the work of the evil one. Theologians use a term called theodicy. It is an attempt to justify God’s actions, and explain the evil and injustice that exists in the world. Many thousands of pages have been written trying to explain the problem of evil in the world. And much of what has been written has ignored Jesus’ simple statement: “An enemy has done this.” Who is this enemy? The Bible explains that our enemy is the devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). You are free to deny the existence of a personal spiritual reality known as Satan or the devil, but what you cannot deny is that he is a part of the biblical story from beginning to end. You may not believe that he exists, but it is clear that Jesus taught that he exists. Our spiritual enemy is never presented as merely a symbol, but always as a reality.
But this is no medieval character in a red suit with pointed tail. He is not a mere mythical dragon. He is much more sophisticated than that, and far more dangerous. He knows how to make good appear to be evil, and evil appear to be good. That is what he does in the parable. The weeds he sows in the world grows up to look exactly like wheat. The weed he sowed was called darnel. In the New Testament era it was not unusual for someone’s enemy to plant darnel in their field. It was a dirty trick, because you couldn’t tell the difference between darnel and wheat until they had grown up, and by that time the roots were so intermingled that if you tried to pull up one you would pull up the other. The weed looked like the wheat, and the wheat looked like the weed. The only difference was that in the end there was no fruit produced by the darnel weed. By planting the weed in the wheat field, it diminished the yield of the wheat and made the harvest a much more difficult process. Wanting to avoid these problems, the servants wanted to go and pull up the weeds immediately. But the Landowner knew that if they did, they would mistake some of the wheat for weeds, and the wheat would be damaged in the process. In the end there would be less yield. The only thing to do was to wait for the day of harvest. It doesn’t seem fair. Why should good people suffer? Why this injustice? Why doesn’t God do something? Because as bad as the evil in the world is, it would cause more damage to try and remove it at this point.
This parable takes us back once again to the Garden of Eden. God has planted a wonderful garden in a perfect paradise. Two people walk the earth in this idyllic setting. But an enemy appears in the garden. He begins to sow seeds of doubt and suspicion against God. The couple begins to question the goodness of God. And what started as an evil seed in the mind of Adam and Eve has become a full grown crop of disastrous weeds in the human family. God could have pulled the weeds right at that point and destroyed them, but much good would have been destroyed along with the evil. There is evil in the world, but it is not because God has placed it there — an enemy has done this.
The third basic truth of this parable is that: There is a reason that God tolerates evil. A few years ago Stephen Spielberg released a film entitled Minority Report. The futuristic story takes place in the year 2054 in Washing D. C. Murder has actually become a thing of the past with the advent of the Precrime division. The police are using what they call Precogs, a type of psychic who lives in a drug induced coma while floating in an isolation tank. They are supposed to have precognitions — to be able to see a murder before it happens, telling who will do it and when. Tom Cruise plays John Anderton, the chief of the Precrime division. He has a passion for it since his son has been murdered six years prior to when we meet him. Using a futuristic computer linked to the precogs, Cruise leads his troops in apprehending the people who have not yet committed murder, but who would if not apprehended. The twist in the story comes when Cruise himself is framed as a suspect in a precrime case, even though he is innocent. It turns back on his own head, and through a series of events he learns that there is a secret minority report that some of the people condemned by the Precrime Division would have had an alternate future. In other words, they were actually innocent. The point of the story is that as nice as it would be to know who is evil and who is not, it is not possible. Innocent people will suffer in the long run.
What would it be like if we had “Thought Police” or “Sin Detectives” in Mount Vernon, Ohio? People with badges and guns who would be turned loose to determine who was Christian and who was not; who was evil and who was good. It is frightening to think about isn’t it? In the world of fantasy it might sound like a good idea to do away with the evil and preserve the good, but the reality is that it is impossible. Great harm would be done. Some of the most dangerous people I have known are those who claim they know what is right and wrong in every situation. They know who is bad and who is good. TV evangelists blame sinners for disasters and call for the assassination of world leaders. They want to pull out the weeds before the harvest. They are afraid of what the weeds will do, but they do not seem to think about what evil would be done by pulling out the weeds.
God tolerates the weeds, because in the end, some who appeared to be evil will become good, and some who appeared to be good will be revealed as evil. We can’t always tell who is who. God tolerates evil, because it would disrupt life as we know it if God immediately punished every sin and every sinner. But actually this is a danger, and not a blessing, for those who sin or practice evil, because it makes it seem like they are getting by with something when they are not. So they live only for today and ignore the day that is coming. There is a reason God tolerates evil.
Which leads to the fourth basic truth of this parable: There is a day of reckoning. In the end the weeds are separated. The wheat is gathered and stored in the barn. The weeds are tied in bundles and burned. If you understand the simple truth of what Jesus is saying here, it is not a happy day for those who lived their lives away from God — those who rejected God’s ownership of their lives and lived to please only themselves. It will not be a time of frivolity for those who practiced injustice and evil and flaunted their immorality and heresy. Those who harmed others will be repaid in full. They will reap what they have sown. I do not know all that it means when Jesus said, “At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned,” but I know I do not want to find out. I want to be counted among those who are wheat and taken into the Master’s barn.
Have you experienced injustice and been harmed in this world? Jesus is saying that God will be your avenger. This is why we do not take revenge, because God will take care of it. He will more than make up for what we may have suffered in life. Jesus said, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:28-29).
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians who were suffering unjustly from the evil in the world and said: “Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels” (2 Thessalonians 1:4-7).
Father Henry Fehren was quoted in Christianity Today saying, “The fact that evil people prosper is a problem that goes back into the Old Testament. But Jesus said that our Father causes the sun to shine on the bad as well as the good, and his rain to fall on the honest and dishonest alike (Matthew 5:45). The passing ‘rewards’ of evil should not tempt us to abandon good. The evil person is like the man who jumped from the 50th floor without a parachute. When he passed the 30th, someone shouted, ‘How’s it going?’ And the jumper answered, ‘So far so good.’” When evil happens and evil people prosper it is like the jumper who is only at the 30th floor. Their end is inevitable. . . even if it is delayed.
Rodney J. Buchanan
September 25, 2005
Mulberry St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
An Enemy Has Done This
1. Have you heard people questioning God because of the natural disasters which took place here and other places in the world?
2. Has your life been affected by the evil which exists in the world? How did you handle it?
3. If God is good and he has made a good world, how can there be evil in the world?
4. When bad things happen, is God punishing specific people? What does Psalm 103:8-10 have to say to this?
5. Read Luke 13:1-5. What is Jesus telling us in this passage?
6. When Jesus said, “An enemy has done this,” who, or what, was he talking about?
7. Read 1 Peter 5:8. Why are people often willing to accept any explanation for the presence of evil but this one?
8. Why does God tolerate evil? What possible good can come from it?
9. What does the harvest represent in this parable?
10. What happens to the wheat? The weeds? What does this have to say to us?
