Matthew 14: 13-14 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

This Gospel reading from Matthew takes place right after Jesus finds out about the death of John the Baptist. His instinct, like any of ours might be, was to deal with his grief alone and in some "deserted place." He needed to get away, to be alone in his thoughts, so he went out on a boat. Instead of the crowds of people taking the hint and leaving him be, they waited at the shore for him. Yet he didn't respond to them with anger or hostility as might be expected in the situation. He responded instead with "compassion" and empathy.

By word and example Jesus has charged his church and his people to respond similarly to "interruptions." Interruptions are part of life: a death , an accident, a job loss, a family member in need. To all of these "interruptions" Jesus instructs us to respond with compassion. Even on a small scale -- a child asking for attention while you are working on the computer (that one just came to me off the top of my head), a spouse needing a hand with something, a customer demanding assistance when you are focused on another project, a parent requesting that you run a small errand -- to all of these Jesus instructs us to be present and responsive, to be the voice of hope and encouragement, to be the compassionate ones.

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Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul was convinced.  And Paul seems to know what he was talking about.  God loves us and will never separate Himself from us.

The 8th chapter of Romans contains help and mystery and comfort from the God who created us and loves us.  First, the help:  Though we don’t spend a lot of time talking about the Holy Spirit, it is quite clear that God knows our weaknesses and has provided the Spirit to help.  When we are unable to pray as we ought, the Spirit provides the words. 

The mystery:  All things work together for good.  When bad things happen to good people, when war destroys lives, when economic hardship hits or any of the tragedies humans endure, we wonder how that can be for good.  Sometimes we are lucky enough to see the blessing in our life time.  Sometimes not.  It is one of the hidden mysteries of the Kingdom that may only become clear when we finally arrive.

Finally, the comfort.  There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from God.  Creation is huge.  It is complex.  But God loves us so much that none of that matters.  Not even death, for He conquered death when He sent His only Son to die for us.

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Matthew 13:27-30
...“Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest;...

Read the whole Parable 

Life is messy.  Life is not always easy.  There are times when we would like God to take utter control, clean things up and make it easy.  Applying the elements of the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, this might instead be said: There are times when we would like God to take utter control, not allow the weeds to grow in the first place, rip out the ones already there and make it easy.  This should be so easy – wheat good – weeds evil, why won’t God just clean things up?

Considering the parable of the wheat and the weeds, we might be tempted to think of ourselves as the wheat (or hope we are the wheat) and think of others, the messy ones in our lives, as the weeds.  In Jesus’ explanation of the parable to the Disciples, much more than any human parallels of good and evil are revealed.  Good and bad grow up together side by side.  We are called to ‘grow’ up among the weeds, looking not at them in judgment but showing them Christian love.  One of the great lessons revealed in this parable is that the master of the field did not tear up the weeds.  Likewise, we can’t always tell evil from good for we are not the judge.  We are not to judge what is apparently good or apparently bad.  God will come in His own good time to judge the wheat and the weeds.  Until then, our job is to be the wheat.

Matthew 13:18-23   "Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the hear; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

In this week's gospel, Jesus is explaining to his disciples that even though things aren't going well for them right now and though many people doubt him, his followers should not despair. He explains in the Parable of the Sower that some seeds fall on trodden pathways or on rocky ground or among thorns and they will not thrive, but some seeds will fall upon good soil and they will flourish. In fact, they will exceed all expectations.

We often judge a church's vitality by the numbers -- weekly attendance, baptisms, new members -- and this may be one way to measure, but these numbers really don't reflect how and if lives have been changed.  A packed church can be bursting at the pews but empty of spirit. A struggling church may add only a couple of young new members but those members may grow up and be called to go out and live the work of Christ in the world. There is no way to know what great things are happening or how children and adults will be inspired to follow Jesus, because you can't always see it.

Sometimes we may ask ourselves if we are making a difference as servants of the Lord. Are these seeds -- our seeds, Jesus' seeds -- being wasted? The time we spend volunteering, the talents we share with the congregation, the treasure we donate to help others -- are they all in vain? Are the seeds we're sowing ever going to sprout? Are we really making a difference in people's lives? Jesus tells us emphatically that it does matter and that our work does mean something even if we can't see the fruits right now. He is offering us encouragement and urges us not to lose heart. Good things, God's things, are happening, so keep up the good work.

Romans 7:18-19  "I can will what is right, but cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do."

We are living in a time of struggle and conflict. Of course, there have been times like this throughout history and with the conflicts have come changes in our world and our church.  The world in which we live would be a very different place without the conflict of World War II, for example. Global struggles have always had, and continue to have, a profound affect upon our world.

In Romans, Paul talks about a different type of conflict: an internal one. He admits that the things he should do he doesn't do, and instead he does what he knows to not do. He is speaking of the inner struggle in all of humankind. How often do we regret saying something we shouldn't have or ruing a rash action. We all struggle, and often fail, to do the right thing. It is the eternal fight between good and evil, light and dark. Baptized people of faith are not immune to this battle. However, we are not left to suffer through inner conflicts alone. We have an ally in our struggles against our baser natures: Jesus. We will not be overcome by the conflict that rages around us or within us because Jesus gives light and life to the world.