What bothered me most about the “last day” or “the day of judgment” was the part about fire. I wondered if the judgement could be done without the furnace of fire. Could there be a harvest without fire?

Psalm 86:11-17
11 Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. 12 I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. 13 For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 14 O God, the insolent rise up against me; a band of ruffians seeks my life, and they do not set you before them. 15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant; save the child of your serving girl. 17 Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame, because you, LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Matt 13:24-30, 36-43
24 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

Spoken words for “A Harvest Without Fire” by Rev. KellyAnn Donahue
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and our redeemer. Here is a second parable about seeds. We heard the first one last week. Jesus tells his disciples and the crowds about good seed sown in a field. When the seed produces its crop, weeds have grown up too, with both kinds of roots tangled together. An enemy sowed the weeds. The master’s slaves ask if they can gather the weeds now. The master says “No, let them continue to grow together, and I will tell the reapers to separate them at harvest time. Your act of gathering the weeds now will result in some grain plants being pulled, too. The reapers will later work to gather the weeds to be burned and they will gather the grain crop into my barn.”
The second part of our Gospel text, which may be Matthew’s words and not the words of Jesus, labeled all the elements of the parable, except for the slaves of the Master. Verses 37 through 39 said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.” The bible commentaries suggest that the master’s slaves are believers or church people who want to remove evil or people judged to be evil. The parable leaves that work to someone other than the slaves, to the reapers, whom Matthew calls angels. In both the original and the interpreted parable, the Master seems in control of the separation of the good and the evil.
I can accept the idea that Jesus is the Master, and that he will do that difficult job of sorting the good from the evil. The interpreted parable said that the harvest is the end of the age, or that time when Jesus returns. So much has been written about when that will happen. There have been proposed dates over the years. There are new dates suggested even now. We had to think about what that day might look like, for a paper in one of my seminary classes. The subject is called eschatology. What bothered me most about the “last day” or “the day of judgment” or “the day of the Lord” was the part about fire. I wondered if the judgement could be done without the furnace of fire. Could there be a harvest without fire? The next part of my sermon is from that paper. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are having a conversation.
God says to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, “It is almost time, Dear Son and Beloved Spirit, are you ready?”
Christ replies, “What, you mean time for the big Eschatology event, my reign on Earth? I’m not ready, no. I was listening to some prayers, watching some vigils and worship services, and walking with some who were in pain.”
The Spirit replies, “Surely it can’t be time for that yet. I have many more of them to inspire and turn back to us.”
Christ says, “Yes, oh yes, Beloved Spirit, you are right. There is not as much belief as I had hoped for by now. May they please have more time, God?”
God says, “No, I am afraid not. They have used up much of the world we gave them. If we delay, there will not be enough matter to form the new earth, or enough power for their resurrection. There are so many to take care of.”
The Spirit says, “Ah, I see that you are right, God. My calculations confirm that it must be started.”
God says, “Are we all aware of the evacuation plan, and your roles in it? There is sufficient time for a review. It is most important that no humans are present when I implement the new creation process on earth.”
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit exchange glances, with pursed lips and furrowed brows. The Holy Spirit admits, “We do have copies of the plan. Our attention has been elsewhere. There is much anxiety among those on earth just now, which we have been tending to. A review of the plan would be most helpful, God, thank you.”
God then says, “The first step is mine, to resurrect all bodies of the Cloud of Witnesses and reunite each with their spirit, which has been with us in Heaven. Their bodies will be glorious, as healed and as whole as they wish to be. All movement will feel effortless to them. When you were raised Dear Son, you bore the signs of death on your body. The resurrection will be done so that none on earth is aware of it. I will bring the newly whole Witnesses to the heavenly staging area, on the lawn of our Great House in Heaven. Beloved Spirit, you will supervise that Cloud of Witnesses. They are going to help greet the new arrivals and check them into their rooms in the Great House. Next, you Dear Son, will greet and gather all the people now living on earth and bring them to the staging area entry hall of the Great House. These are the new arrivals. Their trip to the staging area is instantaneous. They will then be greeted by a Witness they know, who will assist each with check-in to their individual rooms. Those who did not anticipate an end with us, or any end other than death, will be reassured by a familiar Witness that they are in the right place, and will obtain the religious end they were seeking. Witnesses check into their own rooms after the new arrivals are all settled.”
God continues, “In each room is a place to wash up, with soap and water. It is one that suits each person’s culture, with a shower, bath, bidet etc, and whatever best clothes they want to put on after washing, clothes to celebrate in. You, Dear Son, will help them review what they wish to be cleansed of, sins they did and sins done to them. All sin gets washed off, so that each of them is free of whatever evil had weight for them. They may keep the memory or meaning of the evil if they so wish, otherwise all sadness for these sins and hurts is gone, not to return. They do need to see their sins, hurts and sadness one last time. I am letting all the bad they did be forgiven them; they can be renewed in my sight, in their own sight and in the sight of others. Now is the time for them to forgive each other, too. They will not be capable of any more evil. They cannot take revenge, hate, or bitterness out of their room. If they are not able to allow something to be cleansed, they do not leave the water until they are able to accept that they are in a ‘no place for hate’ zone.”
At this point during God’s review, both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit exclaim, “Amen!”
God pauses to smile at them. “Yes, I know how much you want the evil and hate to end. Long have we struggled against it. Those who won’t let go of it stay in their rooms. They will not infect others.”
“After the washing, you may both usher them into the banquet of our Great House. There is music and food they will recognize. They gather in our banquet room with those they wish to see, but only if others want to be seen by them. Person X may love person Y, and want to see person Y at the banquet, but person Y can decide not to see person X. Not all love is perceived as welcome by both persons. They cannot ambush people at the banquet. Respect and mutuality must be present in all interactions. The banquet will end with guests returning to their rooms for a nap.”
God continues, “While they are at the big banquet, I will be preparing the new earth for them. I will defeat Satan, his hoard of followers and death for all time. The rest of the universe will be renewed as well. When all is ready, bring the people back to earth. They will think they have gone “outside”, not a great distance. I will now show myself to them in a form they can perceive, and give them a tour of the completed Creation. Its lands are vast enough for all of the people of its history. Each person will be in a flourishing land they recognize, with shelter available in a duplicated Great House, which will never need repairs. There will be no illness or death. The land, plants and animals will be abundant in themselves and for all people. None will want or take more than they need. No action of plant, animal, bird, reptile or human will be able to destroy any life or pollute the planet. Those with cherished pets will be reunited with them. People who want to work, play, create or be active will find opportunities to do so. Those who mourn their great works of culture will find them in the House, with the chance to create more, and teach others. People who want to just ‘be’ will find it so. Climate will be adequate to sustain the flourishing without causing any damage or harm.”
Jesus Christ says, “Some may notice that there will be no more births, no new children.”
“Yes, that is correct,” God says. We can’t bring new humans to the new earth. I will explain that myself to those who require it. Are there any questions? Good. Then let us begin, and bring all things to a new blessedness which surpasses the good of our first creation.”
This is how I would like things to be. In my version, there is judgement of good and evil, but no fire. In my version, evildoers will not be thrown into the furnace of fire. In my version the weeping and gnashing of teeth will not be caused by fire. Sins are cleansed by soap and water in my version. Evil does not return to the renewed earth. Punishment is to be kept away from others, and from God. I am not saying that I do not believe the words of Jesus and of Matthew. When asked to think about it for a class paper, I imagined a different way to accomplish the separation of good and evil. What does seem true or real to me is that the roots of the good and bad seeds are intertwined, and perhaps not easily separated without damage to the good. My service here is surely to both. May we not be disheartened by the bad or evil things we encounter, and may we keep up our work of care, encouraged by God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

©Rev. KellyAnn Donahue