Pentecost 5

Pentecost 5 (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)
So it will be at the end of the age.

All things in this world of duality have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

This is very confusing and frustrating for one and only one terrestrial species. Humanity has the gift of self awareness. In that gift we perceive that there is the possibility for something greater and more enduring than birth, life and death. We can dream of and yearn for immortality. We can sense the reality of the eternal.

Having said that, humans can also choose to reject the reality of the eternal realm. We can choose to assert that this world of duality is all that ever was, is or will be. We have no direct evidence to support that assertion. There is substantial evidence in nature and in the way we think and feel and make choices to suggest at least the possibility that there are more things in heaven and earth than we can observe and analyze in our limited experience of the world.

Moses, the prophets and the apostles all teach that the reality of the Eternal Realm, of God, should be self evident to human beings. Moses, the prophets and the apostles also observe that most human beings most of the time reject that reality. We are lost in a very narrow self limiting reality that we ourselves create and maintain.

The logical question to ask is: why?

Jesus provides the answer to that question in today’s parable of the weeds.
The Bible, the written word of God, starts with the words: in the beginning God. The Bible never seeks to prove that God exists. The Bible assumes that God exists. The Bible makes this assumption because the person who commissioned the Bible, who invited scores of men and women over a thousand year time period to contribute to the Bible, and who over saw the writing and editing of the Bible is God.

God is not the subject of the Bible. Humanity is the subject. The Biblical writers observed human behavior, classified human behavior, developed some theories about human behavior, tested those theories and then came to a conclusion. The conclusion is that our species has chosen to separate from God. In that separation we rebel against God. In that rebellion we fall into fear, self will and pride. In that fall we manifest sin in our personal lives and in our societies. The final consequence of separation is death.

Jesus tells us this morning that in the beginning the co-eternal Son sowed good seed in this world. The good seed is the rich potential in each of us for life and love and holiness.

A tiny seed barely visible to the human eye contains all of the information needed to use sunlight, water, earth and air to build the most complex and beautiful plant, or flower or tree.

The seed contains the full potential of the mature plant. It is a blueprint that holds the pattern, plan and purpose for the plant. It is not just a passive set of data. It contains a motive potential that will respond to environmental conditions and activate the birth, direct the growth and complete the maturity of the organism it is designed to produce.

Pine seeds always produce pine trees. Sunflower seeds always produce sunflower plants. Pine seeds never produce sunflowers. The genetic data within the seed and the design within the data are specific.

So it is with the spiritual seed of grace. The Bible very clearly teaches that God the Father created the world and our species by the power of God the Holy Spirit according to the pattern, plan and purpose of God the Son. Unlike plants and animals, part of our design is real choice.

Humans can chose to alter the way the design manifests in the world, and in our own lives. We can choose how we will be human.

It is clear that many people do not have faith in God. It is evident that for many who proclaim to have faith in God that faith is not a priority. Jesus uses the parable of the good seed and the weeds to offer an explanation for the world as it is and as we experience it.

The world as we now experience it is the world of duality. Some have faith some do not. Some center their lives on their faith and some do not. The world of duality is the world of choice. It is the world of the “either or”.

The Son of Man, Jesus, scatters the seed of grace universally. Satan scatters the seeds of self indulgence and self righteousness universally as well. The children of the Kingdom are those who choose to become who God created the human race to be.
God created all people to be the loving companions of the co-eternal Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Despite our original choice to reject this wonderful purpose and even more wonderful person, Jesus continues to send the Holy Spirit to sow the seed of grace in the souls of all people.

The seed of grace contains within it the plan, the pattern and the purpose of the Person, Jesus Christ. We can choose to receive the seed of grace and then grow and develop according to the pattern of grace. Or, we can make another choice.

Satan has also sown spiritual seed in the world. He scatters his seed as well. This is the seed of self will, fear and pride. It is the seed that holds the pattern of self indulgence and self righteousness. Those who choose to develop according to the pattern of this seed enter into a state of spiritual dissolution. We become less of what God created us to be. We enter into a state of devolution and disintegration.
Jesus warns us very clearly that the seed of grace produces a pattern and person of faith. The person of faith sets priorities and makes choices in this world of duality from the principle of unconditional love and compassion.

The seed of Satan is the seed of the will to power. It produces a pattern of living that is self absorbed and self indulgent. It bears the fruit of pride, cynicism, and rebellion. For such a soul there can be no room in the Kingdom of Divine love and holiness.

It is not that God refuses to give that soul a reward or a right. The reality is that the soul which rejects the seed of grace has chosen to develop according to the pattern of Satan, the pattern of the will to dominate.

Such a soul refuses to accept the reality of Jesus Christ in this life and continues to reject and rebel against Jesus in the next life. Each of us chooses our eternal destiny here and now in the realm of choice, the world of duality.
We all choose from one of two patterns of personal development. The pattern is implanted in our souls by the seed of grace or the seed of Satan. We make the choice which seed to cultivate. The Law of Love confirms our choice in the world of cause and effect and produces a result. The result is eternal.

Which pattern have you chosen to follow in order to become the person God intended you to become? Whose plan for life are you following? Our Heavenly Father has given us Jesus Christ as the plan of salvation and the pattern for life. Satan’s Plan of Damnation is any path other than Jesus Christ.

Where do you seek meaning and purpose in your life? Is it in the things of this world of duality, the world of change and the world of temporary pleasure? Is it in the will to power that proudly rejects God? Is it in the indifference of cynicism that refuses to accept even the possibility that God is real, God is personal, God is love, God is Jesus Christ. Who do you think Jesus was and is? How do you choose to accept Jesus, reject Jesus or simply ignore Jesus?

How have you chosen to live and move and have you being in this world of choice, cause and effect, and consequence?

This world is the world of duality, the realm of choice. Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit into the world in love to sow the seed of grace to produce faith and yield a harvest of blessing. Satan has sent his slaves, the fallen angels, into the world in spite to sow the seed of self will, fear and pride that will produce a rush of pleasure through rebellion and yield a harvest of despair.

As we choose in the here and now, so it will be at the end of the age. Choose wisely. Choose love. Choose Jesus.