Song: Pulling Weeds | Book: Marvelous Myths |
Friends,
Back home, back to work, back to writing every day. Sometimes we say "back to the grind" but I will admit that I like the steady rhythm of an ordinary week. Some workouts, some walks, some quilting, a good book.
Liz
What to do with weeds among us?
I am a universalist--I do not believe in hell. Also, I want some people to suffer. I mean, yeah, I really believe they were probably wounded by someone in their early childhood and I wish we had better healing systems for that. And yeah, I really want them to be transformed into loving people and to start to care for the good of the community. But if they do not change, and soon, because the damage they are doing is long term, then I want them to burn in the hell I do not believe in.
I love the Marvel Universe, and Star Wars, and to win strategy games by crushing my opponents. That is, I engage the myth of redemptive violence for fun. And the myth of redemptive violence (that by threatening and killing evil you can defeat it) is, honestly, a sinful theology. It is exactly what Jesus preached against. He didn't even argue with Herod or Pilate, much less take up a sword against them.
With all that in mind I turn to this week's lectionary readings (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) and shrink away because it focuses on hell. This is the "parable of the weeds" where Jesus, clearly not a farmer, tells a story of a field where the weeds are left to grow with the wheat so that they can be burned at the harvest (something no good farmer would do.) In the explanation text after the story Jesus says:
Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Matthew 13:40-43.
My confidence that I am among the righteous (aren't we all confident of that?) makes it easy to enjoy this story of the destruction of the evil other people and yet I don't believe in the hell it predicts. So what do I preach?
Some people solve this with the annihilation theory: that there isn't eternal suffering, just that the evil ones are destroyed (is that better?) Many simply accept it as written.
But this week, I think we are looking at the wrong part of the story. I am confusing the role of God (judgement, eternal life, etc.) and the role of human beings--the worker/slaves in this story.
What happens when we leave the end to God and explore what happens along the way. We have this field of people around us, and the instructions are not to weed out the bad ones early on, but rather to let the good and the bad grow together. Tend to the field, all of it. Provide water and fertilizer and, I suppose, for the humans if not for the crops, provide good news and love and caring.
If we turn our focus away from figuring out what happens at the end of our lives, or at the end of time, if we let the mystery remain a mysterious, what is left is instruction for our lives now. God is the judge. We are Body of Christ called to set aside our hope of violence against the bad guys, and leave them be. As congregations and as individuals we are called to proclaim what is good, to care for the oppressed and the needy, to work for the common good, without focusing on how to punish those who are doing otherwise.
Rather, we are called to transform those close to us where we can, to transform them with love and the good news that God's way is at hand. We don't try to change people with threats, with hatred, with promises of eternal punishment. Honestly, we know already that those things do not work to change people, but importantly, we know also that that is not who we are called to be by our creator.
We are not called to try and figure out who is the problem and eliminate them, we are called to figure out how to make the common good the priority of our nation, our community, our church, and to raise up the people who can do that.
This does lead to an odd metaphor. If this parable is an allegory, we are trying to insist that the weeds might be transformed along the way into wheat. Which of course in farmer's field is a ridiculous idea. But in this story, all of the farming components are ridiculous. No one plants weeds! No farmer is shocked when weeds appear. And no one leaves weeds to grow with the wheat--imagine how much work that would be to separate the plants?
I'm going to go with the ridiculousness of the possibility that weeds around me, and the weeds running our government, and weeds that voted for the our present leadership, I'm going with the radical idea that some of these can be transformed into wheat. And that God will figure out what to do with us all (me included) at the end.
What is your church doing for the common good? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening.
My DMin advisor The Rev. Dr. Russell Dalton got to meet Stan Lee and wrote about Marvel, our faith, and the myth of redemptive violence.
In real gardens, you've got to pull the weeds or they choke out the flowers or wheat. So this song is exactly the opposite point from above! This is Sean Scott White
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