July 20, 2008 Message

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Romans 8:12-25 “Wait and See”

There is a story about the boy and his dad who were planning a fishing trip for the next day. That evening as the father was putting his son to bed, the boy hugged his dad’s neck and said, "Daddy, thank you for tomorrow."

That boy had no doubt about what was going to happen the next day and he was excited about it. Unfortunately, we may very well be living in what could be the most anxious time of our lives, a time of uncertainty about the future when sage advice seems to say, “let’s wait and see.”

Things were going pretty good for a while, we got used to a gallon of gas and a loaf of bread pushing a couple of dollars and then wham – prices explode. The economy’s downturn starts to look more like a tailspin, banks involved heavily in the housing market start to go belly up, and investments go in the tank. Sadly, today's investors can easily relate to Bob Hope's humor of forty years ago when he said: “Three of my stocks went off the financial page, into the help-wanted section. What bothered me was the speed of the drop — I called my broker last week and his busy signal cost me $8,000.”

A lot of people are hurting. For many, all that is left is the hope of a better day. But hope involves more than wishful thinking. Mother Teresa put it this way, she said, “To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”

Edward Demning, the fellow who taught the Japanese how to rebuild their nation following World War II, once said that, “hope without a method to achieve it is merely hope”. We can do a lot of wishful thinking and somehow believe that a miracle will save us - that wishing will make it so. But we know better, don’t we? Wishing really has no backbone, no substance, no serious resolve. Paul Tillich wrote that to hope is to work for its coming.

Yesterday, at men’s breakfast, we talked about the devastation of the flooding in the Time Czech and other areas of Cedar Rapids and the hopelessness that can result. We talked about the hope provided by the recovery effort - the work teams coming from other states to ‘muck’ out homes and our own efforts to help by providing meals for the work teams hosted by First UMC – Marion. We talked about the coordinated effort of our United Methodist churches in this area, from around the state and throughout the nation. And we talked about the need for ‘agency’ and ‘pathway’ – the importance of a goal, as well as a plan for accomplishing that goal – to overcome the feeling of hopelessness. Hopelessness is now being replaced by hope because there is a coordinated and planned effort rather than a “wait and see attitude.”

Demning talked about ‘hope’ and a ‘method’ for accomplishing it. Tillich talked about ‘hope’ and the ‘work’ required for achieving it. And psychology talks about ‘hope’ in terms of ‘agency’ (the goal) and the ‘pathway’ (the plan) to it. For me then, that raises the question: “As Christians, as followers of Jesus, what is it we hope for? Is it a matter of wait and see, or are we taking good advantage of this extra bit of time given us?”

The apostle Paul once again provides some helpful advice. In Romans 8 he talks about hope. Now Paul lived during an uneasy time very much like today. But the hope Paul talks about is not a “wait and see” kind of hope. Rather, Paul sees it as a great struggle, an effort of huge importance – in which creation is eager and poised, waiting for fulfillment — “like a woman about to give birth.”

There is the same sense of waiting in the story that Jesus tells: the field is almost ready for harvest, but it is far from perfect and we must wait for the sorting out of the weeds from the wheat. We wait for the time of decision that comes in the end, but only after things have grown to maturity.

Both texts remind us that we are not there yet. We must wait. We have not reached our potential. We need to let things unfold. We need to look forward with confidence to what is going to happen. We need to live in the “not yet,” trusting God’s ‘pathway’ or plan for us. Both Paul and Jesus are actually announcing the inbreaking of God’s rule on earth, the fulfillment of our hopes and the answer of our prayers when we pray the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…”

The Paul who sits in chains speaking of hope is not a wishful thinker. He has experienced what God can do in a person’s life. He knows firsthand how God changes lives for the better. So for Paul it is all gain. He is sure - as sure as a person can be - that nothing in this world or the next will be able to separate him or us from the great confidence or certainty he has found in Jesus the Christ. But are we as sure as Paul? Do we really want to wait and see?

What about the weeds in the story? A fiery furnace can get pretty hot, a lot hotter than the middle of July in Iowa. Maybe I’m not in such a hurry after all. But there’s still hope, right? Even if the weeds may have something to do with me and not just someone else, someone unworthy of saving, you know, those who have no place in God’s kingdom. It’s more comforting to hope I’m pure wheat rather than a weed.

What if though, I am pure wheat with some of the characteristics of a weed, what then? At times I seem to be my own worst enemy. It isn’t others who cause me to stumble and fall so much; it’s me. I would need to free myself of those ‘weedy’ things before I could become fruitful. I have to free myself of those things that choke and hinder my growth, right? It’s good news then that I’m living in a ‘not-yet’ time.

William Willimon writes, “The world is not yet destined for incineration by God, but rather for fulfillment, completion, healing, and restoration by God. The present world… is not God’s final act.” I want God in my life. I want to be part of God’s ‘field,’ active and growing toward a fruitful harvest. When I think of the separation of the wheat and weeds, the idea that God is not through with me yet, that God has a plan, a ‘pathway’ for me… and for you is Good News indeed. We wait. We labor. We hope for that which is not seen, yet somehow knowing that being a child of God is a good thing.