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Sunday July 17, 2005 - Proper 11, Year A

"It was nearing midnight and the Prime Minister was sitting alone in his
office, reading a long memo that was slipping through his brain without
leaving even a trace of meaning behind. He was waiting for a call from the
President of a far distant country, and between wondering when that wretched man would telephone, and trying to suppress unpleasant memories of what had been a long, tiring, and difficult week, there was not much space in his head for anything else. The more he attempted to focus on the print on the page in front of him, the more clearly the Prime Minister could see the gloating face of one of his political opponents. This particular opponent
had appeared on the news that very day, not only to enumerate all the
terrible things that hade happened in the last week (as though anyone needed reminded) but also to explain why each and every one of them was the government's fault."

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Those words
have been read by thousands, maybe even millions
of people
since midnight Friday night. They are, of course, the opening paragraph of J. K. Rowling's latest book, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." It's number 6 in the series, chronicling the life and adventures of the young wizard Harry Potter
and his friends Ron and Hermione
as they battle the evil Dark Lord
Voldemort.
Countless children and adults as well
have predictably rushed to bookstores
to get the latest installment of the magical world of Hogwarts School and Diagon Alley, of wizards, owls and Muggles —
and equally predictably
there have been calls from all sorts of Christian leaders
for the books to be banned,
in case they lead children astray
into the less than magical world of witchcraft and the occult.

You may have heard this week that two years ago Pope Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote a letter claiming that the Harry Potter books are "subtle seductions, which act unnoticed and by this deeply distort Christianity in the soul, before it can grow properly." And he is not alone. In 2001, a pastor in New Mexico said that Harry Potter was the devil. The Harry Potter books even topped the American Library Association's list of ten most protested books for a while.

But other Christians
think exactly the opposite. They find traces of the Christian message all over the books. One Roman Catholic writer reports her son telling her that when the phoenix's tears heal Harry, that made him think of Christ's tears at the crucifixion. Another writer argues that every book ends with Harry's figurative death and his resurrection in the presence of a traditional symbol of Christ.

I personally think both are stretching things a little far. Yes, hypothetically reading the Harry Potter books might get kids interested in witchcraft. But it's far more likely to get them interested in reading.
And yes, if you hunt for Christian symbolism in the Harry Potter books you might find it, but it seems more likely to be a reflection of the Judeo-Christian culture that we live in
than a deliberate attempt by AK Rowling
to convert her readers to Christianity.

But they are great books to read, and a major part of their attraction
is that even though it is clothed with the magical world of wizards and muggles,
we recognize it as our world,
with the same big themes, the same big struggle.
And of course the struggle that's at the heart of the books, and the heart of much of our own experience
is the struggle
between good
and evil.

From the very beginning of the Harry Potter books, it is clear that some characters
are good,
and some are bad.
In the first book, the lines are drawn clearly.
Harry is good, the Dursleys are bad.
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are good, Draco Malfoy is bad.
Hagrid is good, Snape is bad.
And Dumbledore is good, Lord Voldemort
is evil.

And that's the way it is with most traditional fiction, whether it's Harry Potter
or the Three Little pigs,
Oliver Twist
or Cinderella.

And that's often how it looks
in the real world as well. We like to categorize people as either good
or bad. People like Mother Theresa
fall into the category of good.
The terrorists who carried out the 9/11 attacks
were bad,
and so were the four men
who set off those bombs in London.

Sometimes
the distinctions are not quite so clear, but we still like to categorize people. So when someone disappoints us or fails us
we classify them as bad. It doesn't matter what else they do, nothing will redeem their failure.
And when someone delights us
we classify them as good. It doesn't matter what else they do, nothing will mar their reputation with us.

But the problem is
it's not as simple as all that.
People are complex.
And sometimes
you just can't tell
which side they fall on.

That's one of the things we discover
as the Harry Potter series goes on. Harry's father, who was definitely on the good side of things at the beginning
emerges as quite nasty
when he humilates Severus Snape
when they are both students at Hogwarts;
Severus Snape, in turn,
who Harry is convinced is trying to kill him in book 1,
emerges as a supporter of Dumbledore
and a member
of the Order of the Phoenix.
And so by the end of book 5,
we're not entirely sure
who is on which side,
who is good
and who is bad,
where is goodness to be found
and where is evil.

Harry Potter's world
has suddenly become
much more
like our own.
Because for all we'd like things to be straightforward and clear,
good on one side
evil on the other,
life is simply not like that.
People are a mixed bag;
we can't always tell
which side they are on.

And that's why
Jesus tells his disciples this parable: the parable
of the seeds and weeds.
"It's like a landowner who went out, and sowed good seed in his field, the sort that should result in a great crop of wheat. But while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weed seeds among the wheat, and then sneaked away. So when the plants came up, there wasn't just wheat, but weeds as well.

And the field hands went out to work and saw the weeds, and o they went back to the land owner and said,
You know, there are weeds out there in the wheat. Should we go pull them out? You know the saying, root out evil while it's still small.

But the landowner said, no, let's wait. If you try to pull them up now, you're sure to pull up some of the wheat by accident. They're just too hard
to tell apart.

But when it comes time to harvest, I'll remind the workers about the weeds. But that time they'll be full grown, and it will be easy to tell them apart. We can pull up the weeds first and destroy them, and that way
save the whole crop of wheat."

And then Jesus tells his disciples
what the parable
is all about.

Everything in the story
has a parallel.
The land owner, the one who sows the good wheat seeds is Jesus.
The field is the world, and the good seeds are the children of the kingdom — that's us;
the weeds are the children of the evil one,
and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil.
The harvest is the end of the world,
and the people who bring in the harvest
are angels.
Got all that?

So what Jesus is saying
is that the angels shouldn't rush in too soon to judge. They should leave that
till the end of time,
when it will be really clear
who is good
and who is not.
Then
and only then
will it be time for judgement. And there will be judgement, and those on Jesus's side
will get rewarded,
and those one the side of evil
will get punished — for all eternity.

That's Jesus's parable. And most people
don't like it a whole lot.
We want people
to get their just desserts, here and now,
but most of us
are not so sure
about eternal punishment.

But the point of the parable is
that no-one can tell, no one can tell right now
who are the wheat and who are the weeds.
That's all in the future. Jesus's point is, that that's something
that will only be clear
at the end of time.
There's no indication
how many will be in that category. It's even possible
that at the end of time, when all the plants have grown up,
that no matter how much the angels search
they won't find any weeds. But we just don't know.

And probably even more importantly, it's not us
that will be doing the judging. Now,
or then.
It's the angels.

So why does he tell the parable?
After all, it's people, disciples, believers
who are listening,
not angels.

My guess is, and it's only a guess, because the bible doesn't tell us,
my guess is
that Jesus is warning his followers
not to rush in to judge.
It might seem like some people are for him
and some are against him, but you can't always tell.
You can't always tell
the good from the bad.
It's just not always obvious. And if we rush to judge
we're as likely as not
to confuse some of the good
with the bad.

And so what our job is, is to get busy with our own growing,
to get busy with our own growing.
Even when we see people around us
who seem to be evil.

And, if we follow the advice Jesus gave
another time when he talked about people who seem to be evil,
a well as getting on with our own growing,
we are to love our enemies.
To love the people
who seem to be evil,
to reach out to them
with all the love of God.

It seems crazy, the last thing
we want to do. When other people hurt us
to love them. When other people hate us
to love them.
But that's what Jesus asks of us. Not to judge
but to love.

And this part doesn't belong to plant biology, but it belongs to the gospel,
maybe if we do our job well enough
of loving our enemies,
maybe if we do our job well enough,
then eventually they will be transformed
and turn from weeds
into wheat.

I haven't read the sixth Harry Potter book yet — mine will hopefully arrive in the mail on Monday — let alone the seventh and last one
which still, as far as I know, exists only in the mind of J. K. Rowling.
But I suspect
that this is where Harry
and the gospel
part company.
I doubt the tension between good and evil will be resolved
by love.
It will most likely
be a humongous battle, with casualties
on both sides,
and only after horrendous losses
will good emerge victorious.

But Jesus calls us to a different way. To suspend our judgement.
To welcome our brothers and sisters, even when they hurt and hate us.
To fight evil
with all the love
that God
has shared
with us.
Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Sermon ©Raewynne J. Whiteley 2005