The Rev. Richard W. Budd, Ph.D., Rector
The Church of the Good Shepherd, Richmond, VA
Ninth Sunday of Pentecost, 7-17-05, Proper 11, Year A

 

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

 

He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear


     Our lessons for today speak with dynamic emphasis of the power of God. In the passages from Wisdom we read of God’s presence in the life of his people, a presence combining firmness and power as well as compassion and caring. “Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness, and with great forbearance you govern us….” God moves among God’s children, showing them the way for life. In the Gospel we find that the faithful will  “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

     In this age of diversity these lessons give hope to a changing world. In Wisdom we read: “…you have taught your people that the righteous must be kind, and you have filled your children with good hope….”

      “Let anyone with ears listen!” writes Matthew in today’s Gospel.

     And if we have ears to hear, we cannot avoid a presence that overshadows both this Gospel and the one we heard last week—the presence of the evil one, of Satan at the core of both parables.

Clearly to talk about Satan in the 21st century is to venture into unchartered waters.  It is rarely the topic of sermons in our Churches. 
 There is a sense among many that to acknowledge Satan in this day and age is tantamount to embracing superstition.  Some people are 
embarrassed by such talk.  As a society, we have found many ways to minimize Satan’s existence:  We think of little red devils as 
cute little imps that sit on our shoulders and urge us to have another piece of that chocolate cake. Flip Wilson got decades of laughs 
out of his line, “The Devil Made me do it,” and red devil outfits, complete with horns and tail, are one of the favorite Halloween customs
 for little kids. And the depiction of Satan in movies—relegating him to fantasy and science fiction—has certainly helped add to our disbelief.
 
Even our pulpit humor makes light of this character as in this story sent me by a fellow clergyman:
 
Struggling to make ends meet as a young priest at his first church, the pastor was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt 
for a $250 dress she had just bought. 
 
"How could you do this?!"




 
"I was outside the store looking at the dress in the window, and then I found myself trying it on," she explained. "It was like Satan 
was whispering in my ear, 'You look fabulous in that dress. Buy it!'" "Well," the pastor replied, "You know how I deal with that kind
 of temptation. I say, 'Get behind me, Satan!'" 
 
 "I did," replied his wife, "but then he said, 'It looks fabulous from back here, too!'"
 
But I must share with you a comment from one of our young adults at the mid-week service who said—“Maybe one of Satan’s 
greatest accomplishments was to convince us all that he really doesn’t exist.”
 
*  *  *  *  *  *
 
But Jesus clearly was not dissuaded of Satan’s existence—He refers to him not fewer that 60 times in the Gospels as Satan, the Devil, 
the Evil One, and committed as I am to sharing the Word, I will persevere.

 

But be clear, we know only what Scripture reveals about Satan—and as Christians we are not a dualistic faith —no good God-bad God here. 

 

But at the same time, It is evident that the existence of a personal hostile power, whether called Satan, or the evil one, or any other name, is taken for granted in the NT, and that is cannot be explained away by any theological perversion.

 

He is the tempter, aiming to undo the work of God (Mk 4:14), seeking to persuade men to sin, desirous of leading them to renounce God (Matt 4:9-10); Paul refers to the danger of being tempted by Satan (I Cor 7:5).  Satan is even held responsible for certain types of physical sickness (Luke 13:16).  He is, however, under the control of God.  Only by God’s permission can he pursue his malicious designs (Job 1:12; 2:5-6).

 

The demonic elements of temptation and guilt are real, and it takes more than "self-help" techniques to resist temptation. Satan never steps outside the boundaries God has set for him, but he still operates in this world and can hinder believers in their work–as can the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:7).

Satan approached Jesus with temptation (Matt 4;1-11; Mark 1:13).  He steals the word from the heart of the ignorant or inattentive hearer (Mark 4:15.  He entered into the heart of Judas before he betrayed Jesus (Luke 22:3; John 13:27).  He had to do with Peter’s Fall (Luke 22:31-32).  It was under temptation by Satan that Ananias and Saphhhira lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3).  He hindered Paul in his ministry (1 Thess. 2:18), and the thorn I Paul’s flesh is called a  messenger of Satan to harass him (2 Cor. 12:7) Men with hearts unchanged are under Satan’s power (Acts 26:18).  He is, moreover, so plausible that he is seen as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).  He has designs to gain advantages over Christians, but the good news,

he shall ultimately be overcome by those faithful to Christ (Rom. 16:12).

 

 

We are talking about the battle of good and evil. But you see, there is both hope and freedom in this battle—this battle for our minds and our souls.  The hope that we all here share is found in our Savior Jesus Christ.  You see, that is what it means to be a Savior, to be the one rescues and saves and protects.

The gospel reading today - the reading about the parable of the wheat and the tares-- is instructive for us. The freedom found here in this 
Gospel is subtle, but is the answer to how we deal with Satan and his dissuading work.
 
It is instructive 
    - not because it prophecies the ultimate destruction of evil doers, nor because it teaches us that the blights on our lives and the weeds
 that suck up the nutrition of better plants  are afflictions that come from Satan --
 
No, it is instructive for us because it counsels patience:
    - patience in the face of situations that seem bad to us,
    - patience in the face of attacks by Satan,
    - patience in the midst of our urge to go out and fix things and make
         them right.
    - patience in the face of our desire to make judgments about others 
         and to act on those judgments.
 
We do not know what is going to come next, nor can we pin down just where God is and what he is about. In fact we can't even 
be sure that the weeds about us will remain weeds
and that the wheat will remain wheat.
 
The freedom God has bestowed upon us is the freedom from having to judge others, to make them right thinking, to conform to our 
own judgment of others.  Indeed, as the Biblical record clearly demonstrates, to so impose our judgment may well be in service to Satan. 
 
Consider Moses - a murderer, 
Consider David - an adulterer,
Consider the Apostle Paul - a religious vigilante and persecutor of, the followers of Christ
Consider the disciple Peter - a hypocrite and a coward.
 
Who would think that God would work with them?
that God would be present with them?
that God would love them?
that God would make them great?
that God would grant unto them the blessings of his kingdom?.
 
 
Consider yourselves....
What judgment do you make upon yourself?
 
Master - say the servants in the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Master, do you want us to go out and gather the weeds for burning - 
do you want us to pluck out the evil sown by your enemy, to try to separate out the roots - to destroy that which is doing harm?
 
No - says the master - for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.  Wait till harvest time - wait till the reapers go forth.  
Wait.
 
He who has ears, let him hear.
 
But we can be sure of one thing - we can know one truth - we can rely on one verity - and that is  - God will surprise us.
 
God will surprise us by embracing us when we feel dirty and unclean. God will surprise us by turning our greatest afflictions into sources 
of strength and healing; God  will surprise us by taking the lost and lonely and making them great lights;  God will surprise us by changing 
the wicked into saints and by casting down those whose righteousness turned out to be only something they wore on their sleeves; God
  will surprise us by making sour lemons into thirst quenching drinks; God will surprise us by converting moments of pain into stripes that heal. 
 
He will surprise us by changing a time of death into an eternity of glorious life.

And knowing this, after all, is the ultimate weapon against Satan, isn’t it— and there are many ways in which we gain such knowledge.  It is said that the Word of God is the “sword of the Holy Spirit.”  When Jesus confronted Satan in the wilderness, he turned the tempter away by quoting Scripture.  “It is written,” he said, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that that proceeds from the mouth of God.’.”  And after two more attempts—both being repelled by the Word of God—the devil left him, for he could find no entry point into a soul filled with God’s words.

Let anyone with ears, hear.  But to hear we first must read, and study and inwardly digest the word—to know it as well as we know our favorite department store or golf course or fishing grounds.  For if nothing else, we know that Satan finds the word of God offensive and indigestible.

Alka Seltzer anyone?

Amen