A lot of people like to cover their pasta with a liberal layer of parmesan cheese. It's possible, however, that this cheese has a lot of filler, like wood shavings — sawdust, basically. It’s fake cheese.
If you've ever shaken a bit of dry parmesan cheese from a can onto your spaghetti and meatballs and mused that it kind of looks like (and maybe even tastes like) sawdust, well, it turns out you might be more right about that than you think.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration fined a cheese manufacturer in Pennsylvania for marketing its product as "100% real parmesan" when it actually contained no parmesan at all. In reality, consumers were sprinkling a mixture of imitation cheese and trimmings of other cheaper cheeses like Swiss, white cheddar, Havarti, and mozzarella on their pasta.
As if that weren't sneaky enough, however, the FDA discovered that they were also adding filler material to the cheese, the bulk of which was cellulose -- better known as wood pulp.
To be fair, a lot of cheese manufacturers do use cellulose in their parmesan because it acts effectively to keep the cheese from clumping (and saves consumers from taking the time to grate their own cheese). I even checked the jar I had, and it did list “cellulose, but not anything that suggests how much. The problem for Castle Cheese and other corner-cutting manufacturers is the percentage of cellulose they actually use. The cheese industry considers 2 to 4 percent cellulose as an acceptable and safe level, but some of the parmesan you might be buying off the shelf at your local grocery store may contain as much as 8 percent. That's way too much filler.
Cheese making was a big deal in Jesus' day, so much so that the Jewish historian Josephus named the ravine between Mount Moriah and Mount Zion in Jerusalem the "Valley of the Cheese Makers." But Jesus didn't tell any parables about cheese, probably because none of those cheese makers ever thought about adding wood to their gouda.
However, he did say in the Sermon on the Mount, according to Matthew, "Blessed are the cheesemakers." Wait, that was Monty Python. Sorry, wrong quote.
The problem of contamination by alien ingredients could not be more serious than the threat it posed to a daily staple: their daily bread. And worse, wheat was one of the most susceptible of the staples of life, and to mess around with it was very serious business.
When Jesus wanted to illustrate the difficulty of separating those who would be part of the kingdom of heaven from those who would not, he turned to the wheat fields where the difference between the real and the fake (and harmful) ingredients was very subtle and took an expert to discern at the harvest.
Jesus sets the parable on a large commercial farm of the period, where wheat was the cash crop. It was common during that time for rival landowners to mess with each other's crops in hopes of increasing their own profits at the market -- a problem common enough that Roman law specifically forbade the sowing of poisonous plants in another's field. The poisonous plant in question here is "darnel," a kind of ryegrass that looked like wheat in its early stages and could only be distinguished from it when the heads appeared on the stalk.
The landowner's staff volunteered to head out into the fields and pull up the counterfeit wheat by the root, thinking of themselves as kind of a primitive version of the FDA. But the farmer understood that this had the potential to do more harm than good. The real wheat could be damaged, given the intertwined nature of the roots. It would be better to wait until the harvest when the real experts, the reapers, could separate the real wheat from the fake.
We might ask, why does Jesus tell this story?
This parable, of course, comes in the midst of a rapid-fire series of stories that Jesus uses to illustrate the nature of the kingdom of heaven. It's interesting, however, that Jesus only gives an explanation to two of the parables: the parable of the sower and this parable of the wheat and the weeds. In both cases, the explanation is given only to the disciples and only after they ask.
In the case of the wheat and the weeds, they ask for a specific explanation and Jesus gives them one in private . We might imagine their confusion. Why wait to uproot evil from among us when we have the chance? Why would we not get rid of the harmful ingredients so that our daily ration of the real bread of life might be pure?
It was tempting for many in Jesus' day to take one of two approaches to the problem of evil in their midst. On the one hand, there were those like the Essenes, who went out into the desert to separate themselves from the culture and set up a "pure" community of faithful people. In their case, the idea was that "the cheese stands alone." On the other hand, there were those like the Pharisees, who saw it as their job to pluck evil by the root by pointing out those individuals who were obviously violating God's law and assigning them to the fire of judgment.
These approaches are still tempting to disciples of Jesus today. In a post-Christendom age, many want to separate themselves from a culture that is increasingly secular and even hostile to people of faith. They'd rather maintain a pure crop, so they'll wall off the field and watch for interlopers who might sow bad seeds among the faithful wheat. It would be better to create their own culture rather than be corrupted by the evil around them.
On the other hand, some Christians have taken the role of judge and jury, pointing out the evil in others and rooting it out publicly.
Both approaches are destructive, however. Communities that try to wall themselves off from the world eventually atrophy in their mission and are not sustainable. The weeds still infiltrate and the sinful nature of humanity is hard to hold at bay. The Essenes eventually died out, as have many other sects that have tried the isolationist approach.
The Pharisaic approach is equally destructive because it can damage the good seed while rooting out the bad. Many are the people who have been harmed by well-meaning Christians on a moral crusade who have led with judgment rather than grace. What we might see as a deplorable orientation toward evil in another person might actually be an opportunity for God's grace to grow within them and change them. If we consign them to the fire before the harvest, we do more harm than good.
The point of the parable seems to be that it takes an expert to know the difference between real and fake ingredients, and that difference is only revealed at the time of the harvest. The harvest is often used as an eschatological metaphor in the Scriptures, the time of final reaping of both good and bad. Jesus warns the disciples that it is only at the harvest that the truth will be revealed about each one of us. Until then, the weeds grow with the wheat and some could go either way. It's not up to us to start acting as a spiritual FDA, but rather to be faithful in our own growth, share grace with our neighbors with whom, for good or ill, our roots are intertwined, and trust in the expertise of the master and his reapers to sort it all out in the end.
Jesus will actually demonstrate how this works. Notice that he spends much of his time with people whom the righteous might consider to be "weeds" while offering his critique of those who would go charging off into the fields on a moral crusade to uproot evil. Jesus understood that the harvest was "plentiful" but that the workers who would do the right thing and follow his example were "few" (9:37). The wheat and the weeds grow together until the harvest, but in the meantime it is up to the workers to maintain the field, nurture the wheat, and offer transforming grace to even the worst of the weeds.
Castle Cheese filed for bankruptcy after it was found to be a manufacturer of fake cheese. Its factory stands empty and shuttered because what they claimed to be selling on the outside wasn't actually happening on the inside.
It's a cautionary tale that Jesus would have certainly embraced. Do our lives reflect the authenticity of a relationship with Christ, or are we harboring our own weed-like tendencies? Are we full of Christ or do we harbor a lot of religious filler that looks and tastes good to the rest of the faithful, but is ultimately not nutritious or satisfying to a world hungry for the gospel?
Let us pray.
In today’s gospel Jesus reminds us that, just as there is good and bad seed, there is good and evil at work in our world. We pray that in our lives we are as good seed, bringing only good into this world so that we reap our reward when God, our Father, calls us to his harvest. We pray to the Lord.
We pray that we ourselves be protected from all evil in our daily lives and that we be ever aware that we can have recourse to the Holy Spirit for inspiration and strength in our moments of need. We pray to the Lord.
As many countries experience excesses of hot weather, we pray for the leaders of governments throughout the world that they recognize the damage caused by global warming and that they commit to taking more positive action to protect our environment. We pray to the Lord.
On this special day for grandparents and the elderly, we pray that those who are blessed to have grandparents value their presence, help them to live serenely and bestow on them the love and gratitude they have earned through their lives of sacrifice and dedication. We pray to the Lord.
That the Holy Spirit will help us to make every attempt to be pure of heart, mind, body and soul. We pray to the Lord.
For James and Eva as they prepare and plan for their wedding, that the Holy Spirit guide and protect them on their journey together. We pray to the Lord.
We pray for benefactors who can help our tiny parish during its need. The leaking sewage and our ever-increasing balances of various everyday expenses. We pray to the Lord.
For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing presence. We pray to the Lord.
We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We pray to the Lord.
God of love, plant us in the soil of your grace. Use the implements of your grace and mercy
to churn up and cast out what is foreign and hurtful. Leave nothing undone to help us be fruitful. Nurture us with the strength of Christ, the vine of everlasting life. Enlighten us with the wisdom of your Spirit, which flows through us today and all days. Abide in us, that we may abide in you and live in your love, so that you may find us to be just the kind of vineyard you envisioned us to be.
O God, we trust in your power, even as it is often found in weakness; in your wisdom, even as it is expressed in seeming foolishness; in your wholeness, even as it comes to us amid brokenness. We do not ask this day for dazzling displays of strength, electric exercises of intellectual prowess, or marvelous manifestations of miracles. We come simply to worship you. Touch us this day, O Lord, sinners that we are, that we might become your saints, your body, your children, your church. For this temple of your Spirit is built not upon our own abilities, knowledge or restorative skill, but upon you, in Jesus Christ. Amen.
God Love You +++
The Most Rev. Robert Winzens
Pastor – St. Francis Chapel
San Diego, CA.
As a small parish, we come to you all as beggars! All non-profits compete for your support, and many serve the community’s great needs, and we do not ask you to stop giving to them. But maybe one week or month, we ask that you consider a small donation to our humble parish. Your generous support also allows us to continue these important projects that fuel the movement of progressive Christianity. God will look on your donation grant you his grace in abundance! Thank you and God bless you! +++
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