Revd Andrew Woodward於二〇二六年七月十九日在聖馬田堂之講道
經課：創世記 28.10–19上，羅馬書 8.12–25，馬太福音 13.24–30, 36–43
A Sermon preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 21 June 2026 by Revd Andrew Woodward
Reading for address: Genesis 28.10–19a, Romans 8.12–25, Matthew 13.24–30, 36–43
今天耶穌告訴我們：天國就好比一塊田地。
一塊田地。一個麥子生長的地方——然而，奇妙的是，稗子也同時生長其中。正如今天福音所提醒我們的，天國並不像一座經過精心修整、毫無瑕疵的花園；它更像是一片田地，在神所定的收割日來到以前，恩典與破碎、一直並存生長。
這並不是我們想聽到的故事。
我們總喜歡善惡分明、界綫清晰。我們也希望聖潔意味着盡快把所有稗子拔除。就像比喻中的僕人一樣，我們問：「你要我們去薅出來嗎？」
然而，主人的回答卻出人意料。
「不必。」
並不是因為邪惡並不重要，而是因為神的智慧遠超過我們的判斷。我們若急於拔除稗子，很可能連麥子也一同傷害了。神的國並不是靠人焦急地分辨、篩選而成長，而是在忠心忍耐中慢慢生長。
而這份忍耐，在耶穌身上表現得最為清楚。
他進入一個善惡並存的世界，並沒有因世界的複雜而退縮。他仍然住在人羣中；他宣講真理、建立羣體、醫治受傷的人、赦免罪人，並且忠心地一步一步走向十字架。面對邪惡，神的回應不是驚慌失措，而是親自臨在。
這也正好把我們帶到今天《創世記》的經文。
雅各並不是一位完美的信徒。他正逃避自己欺騙所帶來的後果。他奪取了哥哥的祝福，前路茫茫，充滿未知。他睡在曠野裏，枕着一塊石頭。
就在那裏——不是在聖殿裏，不是在敬拜中，也不是在他悔改之後——天卻向他敞開了。
雅各夢見一個梯子立在地上，梯子的頭頂着天，神的使者在梯子上上去下來。耶和華站在梯子以上，重新堅立他從前向亞伯拉罕所立的約。
雅各醒來後，説出了那句令人難忘的話：
「上主真在這裏，我竟不知道！」
雅各所發現的，不單是一個神聖的地方。
他所遇見的，是一位決不離棄不完全之人的神。
正如田裏同時有麥子和稗子，雅各的一生也同時充滿信心與失敗、應許與詭詐。然而，神臨到他，不是因為他配得，而是因為神始終信守自己的應許。
雅各原以為只是荒涼的曠野，卻成了伯特利：神的殿。
也許，這正是我們今天最需要聽見的真理之一。
我們生命中那些平凡的地方：我們的家、醫院、工作場所、學校，甚至那些充滿失望的地方，都可能成為伯特利，只要我們認出神早已在那裏。
神的國，不單在敎會裏成長，也在我們每天生活的平凡田地裏悄然生長。
保羅在《羅馬書》中，正是進一步闡述這樣的盼望。
他提醒我們，我們所領受的，不是奴僕的心，仍舊害怕；乃是兒子的靈，使我們可以呼叫：「阿爸！父！」
我們是神的兒女。
這個身分改變了一切。
然而，保羅同時也非常真實。
他並沒有説基督徒可以免去苦難。
相反，他説，一切受造之物都一同歎息。
大地因暴力和環境破壞而歎息。
羣體因不公義和分裂而歎息。
我們自己的心，也因悲傷、疾病、失望，以及那些始終沒有答案的禱告而歎息。
因此，基督徒的人生，不是沒有掙扎，而是在掙扎中仍然擁有盼望。
盼望，不是一種一廂情願的樂觀。
盼望，是相信神已經開始了一件工作，雖然如今我們仍未看見它完全成就。
這正是今天福音中那位主人所明白的。
當別人還看不見收成時，他已經相信收成必定來到。
僕人只看見污染。
主人卻看見豐收。
僕人要求立刻採取行動。
主人卻信靠恩典在慢慢的作工。
我們所身處的文化，很不擅長等待。
我們期待立刻解決問題、立刻伸張公義、立刻得到答案。
然而，在整本聖經裏，神最偉大的工作，幾乎都是慢慢展開的。
種子需要時間生長。
品格需要時間塑造。
饒恕需要時間學習。
羣體需要時間建立。
而成聖，也許需要一生之久。
耶穌所描述的那塊田地，不單是我們身處的世界。
它也是我們自己的心田。
在我們每一個人的心裏，仍然同時存在着慷慨與自私，
信心與懼怕，
盼望與苦毒。
恩典並不否認稗子的存在。
恩典乃是不放棄麥子的成長。
這應當使我們存着謙卑的心。
也提醒我們，為甚麽耶穌告訴僕人，不要把自己當作天使。
審判屬於神。
而我們的召命卻不同。
我們蒙召，是要忠心地留在這片田地裏，
培育生命，
結出果子，
鼓勵人，而不是定人的罪；
信靠神，而不是凡事都想掌控；
與耶穌同行，讓他在我們生命裏默默地改變我們。
而這份改變，最終將引向一個榮耀的終點。
雅各所見的天梯，把天與地連結起來。
保羅應許，整個受造之物都要得享神兒女自由的榮耀。
耶穌則在比喻的結尾説：「那時，義人在他們父的國裏，要發出光來，像太陽一樣。」
讓我們留意一下，今天的三段經文是如何結束的。
《創世記》以神的殿作結；
《羅馬書》以神將來的榮耀作結；
《馬太福音》則以神的收割作結。
這三段經文，共同宣告一個偉大的應許：
神並沒有離棄他所創造的世界。
他臨在於曠野之中。
他臨在於等待之中。
他也臨在於這片田地之中。
正因為他與我們同在，故事的結局不是絕望，而是榮耀。
因此，今天經文的邀請其實非常簡單，卻也十分美好。
像雅各一樣，覺悟的神臨在。
像保羅一樣，活像盼望的兒女。
像那些僕人一樣，拒絕去作只有神才能作的審判。
相反，要留在田地裏。
在基督栽種你的地方成長。
信靠恩典在慢慢作工。
因神的國已在擴張——但通常都看不見。
然而，收割的日子必定來到。
到了那一天，因着神的憐憫，我們將會發現，我們終於成為神起初所栽種、所要我們成為的人：他的兒女，被聚集進入他的國度，在基督的榮耀中發光。因為我們一生都住在那位既是收割的主、也是神真正居所的主面前。
奉聖父、聖子、聖靈的名。阿們。
Jesus tells us today that the kingdom of heaven is like a field.
A field.
A place where wheat grows – and, mysteriously, so do weeds. As the Gospel reminds us, the kingdom does not appear as a perfectly cultivated garden but as a place where grace and brokenness grow alongside one another until God’s appointed harvest.
This is not always the story we want to hear.
We prefer clear boundaries between good and evil. We would like holiness to mean removing every weed as quickly as possible. Like the servants in the parable, we ask, ‘Shall we go and pull them up?’
The Master’s answer surprises us.
‘No.’
Not because evil is unimportant, but because God’s wisdom is greater than our certainty. The danger is that, in trying to uproot the weeds, we also damage the wheat. God’s kingdom grows not through anxious sorting but through patient faithfulness.
That patience is nowhere seen more clearly than in Jesus himself.
He enters a world where good and evil live side by side. He does not withdraw from its complexity. He remains present. He speaks truth, forms community, heals the wounded, forgives sinners, and walks faithfully towards the cross. God’s answer to evil is not panic but presence.
And that theme of God’s presence connects beautifully with our reading from Genesis.
Jacob is hardly a model disciple. He is running away from the consequences of his own deception. He has stolen his brother’s blessing. His future is uncertain. He sleeps in the wilderness with nothing but a stone for a pillow.
It is there – not in the Temple, not during worship, not after repentance – that heaven opens.
Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching between earth and heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it. Above it stands the Lord who renews the covenant first made with Abraham.
When Jacob awakens, he says those unforgettable words:
‘Surely the Lord is in this place – and I did not know it.’
What Jacob discovers is not merely a holy place.
He discovers a God who refuses to abandon imperfect people.
Just as the field contains wheat and weeds, Jacob’s own life contains faith and failure, promise, and deception. Yet God comes to him not because he deserves it, but because God is faithful to his promises.
The place Jacob thought was empty wilderness becomes Bethel – the House of God.
Perhaps that is one of the deepest truths we need to hear.
The ordinary places of our lives – our homes, hospitals, workplaces, schools, even the places of disappointment – may become Bethel when we recognise that God is already present there.
The kingdom grows not only in churches but in ordinary fields of daily life.
Paul develops exactly this hope in Romans.
He reminds us that we have received not a spirit of slavery but the Spirit of adoption.
We are God’s children.
That identity changes everything.
Yet Paul is profoundly realistic.
He does not pretend that Christians escape suffering.
Indeed, he says that the whole creation is groaning.
The earth groans under violence and environmental damage.
Communities groan under injustice and division.
Our own hearts groan with grief, illness, disappointment, and unanswered prayer.
The Christian life is therefore not the absence of struggle but the presence of hope.
Hope is not wishful thinking.
Hope is trusting that God has begun something whose completion we cannot yet see.
That is exactly what the farmer in today’s Gospel understands.
He trusts the harvest before anyone else can see it.
The servants see contamination.
The Master sees abundance.
The servants want immediate action.
The Master trusts the slow work of grace.
Our culture finds waiting difficult.
We expect instant solutions, immediate justice, and quick answers.
But throughout Scripture God’s greatest works unfold slowly.
Seeds take time.
Character takes time.
Forgiveness takes time.
Communities take time.
Perhaps sanctification takes a lifetime.
The field Jesus describes is not only the world around us.
It is also our own hearts.
Within each of us there remains generosity and selfishness.
Faith and fear.
Hope and resentment.
Grace does not deny the weeds.
Grace refuses to give up on the wheat.
That should make us humble.
It reminds us why Jesus tells the servants not to assume the role of the angels.
Judgement belongs to God.
Our vocation is different.
We are called to remain faithful in the field.
To nourish life.
To bear fruit.
To encourage rather than condemn.
To trust rather than control.
To stay with Jesus while he quietly transforms us.
And that transformation has an extraordinary destination.
Jacob’s ladder joins heaven and earth.
Paul promises that creation itself will be set free into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Jesus ends his parable by saying that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Notice how all three readings end.
Genesis ends with God’s house.
Romans ends with God’s future.
Matthew ends with God’s harvest.
Together they proclaim one great promise.
God has not abandoned his world.
He is present in the wilderness.
He is present in the waiting.
He is present in the field.
And because he is present, the end of the story is not despair but glory.
So, the invitation today is wonderfully simple.
Like Jacob, wake up to God’s presence.
Like Paul, live as children of hope.
Like the servants, resist the temptation to judge what belongs to God alone.
Instead, remain in the field.
Grow where Christ has planted you.
Trust the slow work of grace.
For the kingdom is already growing – often invisibly.
The harvest will come.
And on that day, by God’s mercy, we shall discover that we have become what God planted us to be: his children, gathered into his kingdom, shining with the glory of Christ, because we have spent our lives in the presence of the one who is both the Lord of the harvest and the true House of God.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.