"…Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you…" (Genesis 28:15)

Today we have yet another of Matthew's parables of the Kingdom with, like last week's "The Sower." Has an agrarian theme. In this, Jesus used images that the hearers could understand. Weeds and tares when they first begin to break the earth look remarkably alike. As they mature they will become differentiated. If one attempts to separate them too soon, much of the good grain will be destroyed both by the weeding and the workers stepping on them. As Jesus said, the wheat symbolizes the children of God and the tares, the evil one or evil deeds. If we take this image further we can see that one cannot know if a plant is good or bad till it is ready for harvest.

If we are honest we will acknowledge that we are like those plants. We cannot predict future behavior either on an infant or toddler's performance any more than we can expect that all of God's children will always behave in a way that pleases God. Judgment is reserved for God and God alone at the end time. So often we, and the Church may be the greatest offender, want to, like the workers, separate the good from the bad, the wheat from the tares, ourselves, judging by our own standards. Jesus says: "Whoa…hold it a moment that is not your job!"

Further, it is clear that God is not seeking perfection. We only have to look at the lesson from Genesis today at the story of Jacob to make this clear. Jacob was a scoundrel by all counts. He stole his brother's birthright and tricked his blind father into giving him his blessing. Actually, Jacob was worse than most of us sitting here today. In his early years he was the 'wily coyote' of the patriarchal period! Yet, we hear that, in a dream, God promised to be with Jacob always – keeping the promised that had been made to him and to God's people.

By the treatment of Jacob and in this parable we are assured that God loves us despite our imperfections and are assured in the psalm for today that God will never leave us. Given that, what are we called to do? First, we must acknowledge that evil exists. It exists in us and it exists in the world. God has given us boundaries around our behavior and treatment of ourselves and others. It is human nature to wish to test those boundaries. We are to be realistic about who and what we and our fellow sojourners in this world are.

There was a funny story of "…a young seminarian who was taking a pre-ordination oral exam. One of the examiners asked him if he believed in a personal devil. The young man replied: "No, I do not believe in the devil." This caused the examiners to question his fitness for ordination. They were on the verge of disqualifying him when one of the older faculty members spoke up: "Don't worry about this young man's present disbelief in a personal devil. This whole thing will take care of itself. He won't be working in a parish for more than two weeks before he changes his mind." (Copied)

The second point of the parable charges us to leave judgment to God alone. If we judge we are in great risk of making a mistake or judging too soon. Only at the end time will that determination be made, and we are in grave danger if we take it upon ourselves. It is so easy to be critical of our families, our co-workers and our fellow believers. I don't know about you, but I am hardest on my family of origin. Perhaps it is because I have unrealistic expectations or a faulty memory about the past. That part of my life cuts to the tender places in me and challenges my identity. Those more distant from me don't have that power. As Christians we are called to make a hard inventory of ourselves, remembering that discord is a two way street.

It is so easy to see ourselves as a cut above but, as Carl Jung would often say: "The brighter the halo, the smellier the fee." (Copied)

So, what are we to do in the meantime? First, we are to claim the abundant love God has bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ. I judgment is left to God, then we are granted incredible freedom. We can rejoice in the here and now of that love, celebrating each day of our lives that we are cared for and will never be abandoned. As the Rev. Dr. Ralph Edward Peterson has said:

"Unless we are able to live the reality of God's presence here and now we will discover that Christianity's past becomes meaningless and its future impossible. As we live in eager anticipation for the fulfillment of God's salvation, the life we live in Christ is one of participation. We are asked to life at its most human, in which we experience God's presence in the mundane moments of our days."

("Selected Sermons," The Episcopal Church, NY, NY; July 22, 1990)

Finally, I am reminded of the final line from the movie "On the Beach" in which the world was destroyed by an atomic holocaust. It was: "There's still time, Brother." Once again, the Kingdom of God is present with us this very moment, in and around us. It was ushered in by Jesus, breaking through in his teaching, death and resurrection. It will come in all of its fullness at the end time. We, God's children, are called to be partners in bringing it about. We are to be realistic about the presence of evil, not closing our eyes or turning our heads. We are to give one another the benefit of the doubt, knowing that each of us is till growing and changing into what God is calling us to be. Finally, we are to rejoice in the present, basking in the incredible love that embraces us every minute. As the final two verses of our marvelous Psalm 139 say:

"Search me out, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my restless thoughts. Look well whether there be any wickedness in me and lead me in the way that is everlasting." (Psalm 139:22-23)

AMEN