Tag: God

Wheat & Tares

[a sermon preached by the Revd Piers Northam]

19 July 2026 – Trinity 7
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

‘The wheat and the tares’

As the Lectionary takes us through Matthew’s Gospel, we come to the Parable of the Good and Bad Seed – or the Wheat and the Tares. The gardening or farming theme continues – I suspect Jesus could well be a fan of Gardener’s World or Farming Today – so last week we had the Parable of the Sower where the Sower sowed seed extravagantly, broadcasting widely, so that it fell on a variety of different types of ground. In today’s story however, Jesus focuses on the contrast between the good and bad seed; or between the wheat and the tares as some translations have it.

Historically and in biblical texts, a tare is a plant called Poison Darnel (or Lolium temulentum if you’re BBC TV Gardener, Monty Don). The thing about this particular plant is that it grows to look exactly like wheat in its early stages – it’s pretty much indistinguishable – and of course that’s why the Master doesn’t want his servants to pull up the weeds, for in doing so they might pull up the wheat too. And every grain, every seedling is precious to him.

Of course when the disciples later ask for the parable to be unpacked, Jesus explains that the field is the world, the sower is the Son of Man and he refers to the wheat as the children of the kingdom and the tares as the children of the evil one. I have to admit, there’s a part of me that struggles with this, for I think there’s a temptation from this to assume that the world is simply divided into good people and wicked people, with the good ones destined for heaven and the baddies destined for hell. Almost as if there’s no choice or agency in the matter.

But I think it’s a wee bit more complicated than that… For a start the good and the bad are indistinguishable – the tares look just like the wheat: so much so that the workmen in the field would have a hard time telling them apart and might finish by uprooting the wrong ones. What Jesus says is that the moment of sorting and judgement will come later. And anyway, it’s not for us to judge, for there is only One who can judge and who can truly discern what lies in people’s hearts.
There’s a warning here – not to think that we can take a glance at someone and simply write them off as being what we might consider to be a bad seed. I think anyone who’s experienced being marginalised at some point in their lives will have a sense of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of that. Yet of course, in these polarised times, that’s what we’re constantly being encouraged to do, isn’t it? To make judgements about others; to decide whether they’re in or out. And if we don’t like the cut of their jib or the way they think or live their lives, then we’re encouraged to consign them to the fire, pronto. But that’s not what the Lord of the Harvest would have us do. No, he says, let them grow together…

And by the same token, it can be all too seductive to simply assume that we’re the good seed – that somehow, we’ve got it right and that we’re just fine and dandy as we are. But again, I think we’re being invited to look deeper than that.

Because as I pondered further on this story, it seemed to me that both the good and the bad seed can sit within each of us. There are times when the fields of our hearts are full of ripening corn; when they are yielding good fruit for the kingdom. But there are other times when the tares grow up and diminish the potential harvest. When the Evil One gets to us and sullies the crop. When we get seduced or distracted, or pulled away from God.

St Augustine, in a sermon on this parable, puts it rather beautifully:

“Listen, dearest grains of Christ; listen, Christ’s precious ears of wheat; listen, Christ’s dearest corn. Take a look at yourselves, go back to your consciences, interrogate your faith, interrogate your love, stir up your consciences. And if you discover that you are good grain, let the thought occur to you, ‘Whoever perseveres to the end will be saved.’

Any of you who, on shaking up their consciences, finds themselves among the weeds must not be afraid to change. The command hasn’t yet been given to cut, it isn’t the harvest yet; don’t be today what you were yesterday, or at least don’t be tomorrow what you are today.” [1]

‘You must not be afraid to change.’ Augustine is encouraging us to take a good look at ourselves and our motivations; to see where our hearts lie, But he also sees in each of us the possibility to change. For tomorrow comes with a new dawn.

There may be times when we realise that the tares are taking over, but the Good News is that nothing is irredeemable with and through Jesus, for our God is the God of new beginnings and new life; of forgiveness and fresh starts; always ready to plant seed afresh in the fields of our hearts. Perhaps that’s also why letting the two grow together is important – because in God’s economy, tares – through the power of Jesus – can become wheat. There is the potential in all of us; none of us is a lost cause to our Father in heaven.

And finally, (because the more you ponder one of Jesus’ stories, the more viewpoints you discover…) we’ve thought about being the seed, but it’s also worth thinking about what sort of sowing we are doing. How – and what – are we planting into other people’s lives? Are we working for the Son of Man and planting seed that will yield a harvest; wheat with the potential to become the bread of life? Or are we coming by night and sowing bitter tares in others’ fields? When we pass judgement about people and spread negativity we’re sowing those tares; when we close our hearts and our minds to people, we’re sowing those tares. We have to be vigilant to ensure that we’re always planting the good seed.

The raising and nurturing of plants is a long game. Last week our preacher talked about how ‘much of God’s work happens beneath the surface. Seeds spend a long time underground before anyone sees signs of life.’ And she went on to say that

‘God is often working beneath the surface long before we can see the results. […] Our role is to cooperate. […] Every act of kindness is tending the seed. Every prayer is watering the seed. Every act of hospitality is nourishing the seed. […] we are cultivating the ground where God is already at work.’ [2]

Jesus calls us to sow good seed in our own lives and the lives of those around us; to beware being seduced by the Evil One into planting bitter tares; and to leave the final judgement to Him.

Amen.

[1] St Augustine – Sermon 73A on the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

[2] Rachel Griffiths – sermon preached on the Parable of the Sower – St Mary-at-Latton 12 July 2026

Piers Northam teaches Interior Design at the Inchbald School of Design, London.
He is priest in The Church Of England and particularly serves at St Mary-at Latton- Harlow.

‘BELTIES’ at rest

My friend, Gill Henwood, has sent me this photograph of cattle resting from the heat near Coniston in the Lake District.
Here’s her short refection.

The Belties (Belted Galloway cows) and their recent calves have chosen deep shade on the felltop, where a cool breeze is lifting from Coniston Water up the hill towards them.

An essay on how to keep cool. A couple of mornings ago, they were down at the water edge of Tarn Hows. They are free range around the National Trust fells, choosing the best resting places for the young calves. As parents do.

As our heavenly Father does when we listen in Creation to the wind and shade and the weather warnings…

Every blessing,
Gill Henwood

… for the people of Venezuela

We bring before you the people of Venezuela and the horrific earthquake
that has hit that country around the capital and beyond.
We pray, almighty God, that their resilience will be strengthened
by your sheltering them under your wings.
We pray for those who are still trapped, yet alive;
we pray for the souls of the dead and all who mourn the loss of loved ones.
Bless the search teams;
we pray for the sniffer dogs which can detect human life;
for the rescuers
as they prepare for finding any bodies, alive or dead;
we pray for the miracles whenever a person is found;
we thank you for the life of the baby that was found alive, and the child today.

Lord help us to hold all in our prayers and so touch them with our concern
and our love.
Into your gracious keeping we commend all in need, despair and without hope
at this time.
Amen.

{Ruth Howes}

Full of God

Raymond Raynes, a former Father Superior of the Community of the Resurrection
Mirfield, once asked a group of young people he was teaching:
“Can anyone tell me what a saint is?”
A young lady on the back row shot up her hand and said, “Yes, Father, a saint is a dead Christian.”
Fr. Raynes thought that to have to be dead in order to become a saint was rather depressing.

A more positive answer is that of Archbishop Alban Goodier who wrote:Let us remember that to become saints we have only to be what God wants us to be;
To do what God wants us to do;
To forget ourselves and never forget God.
In order to achieve this we need:
Perfect simplicity with regard to ourselves,
Perfect contentment with all that comes our way,
Perfect peace of mind in utter self-forgetfulness.
And all this becomes easier the more we realize the absolute goodness and greatness of God.

Today is the feast of St. John the Baptist and any examination of his life shows us that in every sense of Archbishop Goodier’s description of a Saint, John the Baptist ticks all the boxes.

God wanted John to be a person of prayer, of zeal, of conviction and of action and he was all these things.God wanted him to be a voice crying in the wilderness of a self-centred and self-preoccupied world that people were to prepare themselves for the coming of God amongst them as the Saviour. He would deliver people from all that prevented the love of God growing in their hearts and who would return them to a rightful relationship with Him through repentance – a turning of their lives back to God.
John fulfilled all of God’s hopes.

He never sought anything for himself except to serve God. So he could say to his disciples about Jesus . ‘Look, there is the Lamb of God’ and, later, when his disciples told him that Jesus was also baptizing and everyone was now going to him rather than to John, he replied simply that Jesus must increase whilst he, John, decreased. He showed forgetfulness of self whilst never forgetting who was God.
When John came briefly onto the centre stage of the sacred drama which would bring Jesus to lead and love His Father’s people into the Kingdom, John was happy with His work as Fore-runner or as the other John put it more beautifully, The friend of the bridegroom.
He attracted the crowds and had close disciples but when the time came he faded quietly into the background. Eventually he was arrested and thrown into prison because of his outspokenness towards the sin of the King, Herod.

Then he was beheaded.

And throughout all that happened to him, he was at peace because he was full of God.
He recognized the greatness and goodness of God.
It was God that John Proclaimed. It is what made him a saint.
One of the special Eucharistic prayers for Saints days tells us what a saint is called to be and once again, John the Baptist fulfils this role perfectly.

In the darkness of this passing age
They [The Saints] proclaim the glory of your
kingdom.
Chosen as lights in the world,they surround our steps as we journey on
towards the city of eternal light
where they sing the everlasting song of triumph.
In communion with angels and archangels
and all who have served you on earth
and worship you now in heaven,
we raise our voices to proclaim your glory,

The connection between the saints in heaven and us on earth who are also called to sainthood is that in God’s scheme of things, we are all one, at least in destiny if not yet in substance.
St Paul often referred to God’s people as God’s holy ones or saints and thus reminds us that sainthood is about holiness.
Holiness is not something we can buy off the shelf or award ourselves, or even earn through trying to gain pious brownie points. It is a gift of God which is His alone to give. It comes to us through the grace he pours into us. We can call that filling us with God. We can call it becoming saintly.

Archbishop Goodier, said that Christ came not to call saints but to MAKE saints and often he does this out of weak, sinful and unpromising people.
Saints are not only models of holiness for us to imitate, they are reminders that God’s grace can outshine every human flaw.
Despite all our worst efforts God simply loves us into holiness and that is both comforting and encouraging.
And, just as the example of good people around us help to encourage us in our life of faith, so the saints who have travelled this often rough and rocky road can be a great help.

St. John the Baptist brings us in touch with the unique examples of holiness which he shows us in his own life.
He turns our vision towards God because that is what his life was all about. To to be inspired by him, to share his vision is surely an excellent reason to go along with him as a special heavenly friend. Our friend and as John said, the friend of the bridegroom (John 3: 29) The one who has an intimate closeness to Jesus himself.
And that closeness is brought home to us in a particularly spectacular way in the event which precedes John’s birth, which we know of as the Visitation.

After The Blessed Virgin Mary accepts God’s will that she is to be the mother of Jesus, she goes off to spend time with her cousin Elizabeth, who also is involved in a miracle of her own. Her barren womb is now fertile, by God’s decree, and in her womb is being formed the future John the Baptist.
St. Luke tells us that as Mary greeted Elizabeth the child in her womb leapt for joy. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She proclaimed, Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
This moment led St. Anselm to begin his prayer about St. John the Baptist, with these words:

St John, You are that John who baptized God;
You were praised by an archangel
before you were begotten of your father;
you were full of God before you were born of your mother;
you knew God before you knew the world.

Anselm’s words are tremendous and absolutely vital if we are to understand something really fundamental about saints and about holiness and about ourselves.
I have already drawn attention to the fact that Christ makes us saints and that holiness is a gift from God.
Now – St. Anselm tells us precisely what that means.
John the Baptist he says, was, full of God and that he knew God before he knew the world.
St. Anselm says something very profound.
Saintliness is all about God and God’s action in our lives.
It’s about recognizing God at work within us, filling us with Himself. It’s as if God is filling the womb of our soul and we are carrying him as he leaps for joy within us.

And if we are full of God we shall indeed know him and this knowledge is far greater than anything we shall acquire in the world. Being full of God is something we should long to be.

[Mr.G. Nativity of St John the Baptist. 2026]