Harvest of Separation

THE HARVEST OF SEPARATION

Matthew 13.24-30, 36-43

"Let both grow together until harvest". Matt.13.29.

It was the Revd R S Hawker who, in 1843 in his parish of Morweston, on the windswept coast of North Cornwall, first introduced the observance of Harvest Thanksgiving which has become such a permanent feature of church life.

However, the custom of marking the harvesting of the crops of the land with some form of religious observance goes way back to the Old Testament.

The Jewish Feast of Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, sometimes also called the Feast of Harvest or Day of First Fruit, marked the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest. It was a midsummer festival, taken over from the Canaanites, and lasted for seven days after the scythe was first put to the standing grain.

Another Jewish festival associated with harvest was the Feast of Tabernacle or Booths. It is sometimes called the Feast of the Ingathering and is held usually in September, at the time of the full moon, or harvest moon. This was the Jewish Harvest Home. All the produce had been gathered in and finally the vintage was harvested. The name "booths" probably comes from the intertwining of the branches used in vineyards during the vintage.

The earliest evidence of the Christian Church observing the harvest is probably the keeping of Lammas Day, on August 1st. This goes back at least to the medieval times. Lammas comes from two words meaning loaf and mass. At this service, which recognised with thanksgiving the harvest of the first fruits, bread made from the new wheat was offered and used at the Mass, in much the same way as we shall use our Harvest loaf for bread at the Eucharist next

Sunday.

However, it was not until the publication of the American Prayer Book in 1789 that we find a special service of thanksgiving for the fruits of the earth. This was prescribed for use on "Thanksgiving Day". A similar form of service was issued to be used in England by "Her Majesty's special command" in 1847, three years after the Revd R S Hawker's introduction of Harvest Thanksgiving in his parish.

Both the 1928 Prayer Book and the 1980 Alternative Service Book provide for a special Collect and Readings to be used for Harvest Thanksgiving.

So much for the religious observance of harvest over the years, but what is the theological significance of harvest?

The word "harvest" is used some 13 times in the New Testament in the sense of reaping. Jesus himself uses the image in one of two ways.

Firstly, he uses it to express the potential of the kingdom that awaits to be evangelised. So he says, "The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest" (Mt.9.37).

Secondly, he uses the image of harvest to express the final judgement of God at the end of the age. So he says, "Let them both grow together until harvest: and at harvest time I will tell the reapers: 'Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned but gather the wheat into my barn" (Mt.13.30). Both express the idea of "homecoming" or what we might call the "harvest home", which for the Christian is to be with God in his Kingdom.

Today, I want to pursue the second image of harvest, namely that of the judgement of God at the end of time. You may recall that this is expressed in the parable of the Wheat and Tares. The parable, which is an earthly story with

a heavenly meaning, tells us about a farmer who sowed good seed into his ground. Unfortunately, whilst he was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds amongst the wheat. The wheat and the weeds remained the secret of the earth in which they had been sown until they began to grow. When the farm labourers saw what was happening, they immediately wanted to uproot the weeds. However, the farmer says "Let both grow together until harvest".

The message of the teaching of Jesus is quite simple, we must "let both grow together until the harvest".

Unfortunately this message has become slightly hidden by the allegorical interpretation of the early church which has become added to the original story which Jesus told. This interpretation seeks to focus our attention upon the separation which occurs at harvest time.

So we read:

'His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field". He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the Kingdom: the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and evil doers and throw them into the furnace of the fire;there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine in the kingdom of their Father.' (Mt.13.36)

As I said earlier, this is an addition by the early church to the original story told by Jesus. The focus of our attention should be on those words "Let both grow together until harvest".

And that is precisely what we are reluctant to do, and as a consequence we often destroy the potential harvest that

awaits.

Listen to any group of Christians talking and sooner or later this theme of separation begins to rear its ugly head.

"We are committed, they are not.

We are saved, they are not.

We give generously, they do not.

We attend church regularly, they do not.

We keep the Ten Commandments, they do not"

Whilst such idle gossip may well service our own personal needs for security, it makes us no better than the crowds, the Scribes and the Pharisees, to whom the parable was originally addressed. Incidentally, it is interesting to note in passing that the very word "Pharisee" actually means "separate one" and that is what we often try to be, separated ones!

Jesus condemns any attempt on the part of Christians to separate themselves. He does this for two reasons.

Firstly, the act of separation belongs to God alone - the Lord of the harvest. As St Paul reminds the Christians at Corinth: "Do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart".(1 Cor.4.1).

You see, the danger is that we judge from only outward appearances whereas God judges from also the inward motivation.

The second reason why we must "Let both grow together until harvest" and not attempt to anticipate the harvest, by seeking to separate the wheat from the weeds, is because in seeking to see the speck in someone else's eye, we may fail to see that dirty great plank in our own eye! In other words, our concern about the apparent unfaithfulness of others can blind us to our own unfaithfulness to God. It is all too easy to assume that we are the wheat and they

are the weeds. It could well be that we will eventually be dried up and burned as weeds and they will be stored in the heavenly barn.

In short, don't play God and mind your own business. "Let both grow together until harvest".

May this celebration of the harvest, remind us of the great harvest that awaits all of us at the end of time and let us pray that we may be found worthy to be included in the barn of the kingdom of God, our true Harvest Home.