Weeds Among the Wheat
To All,
In our Gospel reading for Sunday (Matthew 13:24-43), Jesus tells three parables about the “kingdom of heaven” – a parable about weeds sowed among the wheat, a parable about the growth of a mustard seed, and a parable about yeast leavening a whole batch of wheat flour.
The first parable is about a man who sowed good seed in his field. But during the night an enemy sows weeds among the wheat. When the servants discover the weeds, they ask their master if they should pull up the weeds. But the master doesn’t want to take the chance that the wheat might be pulled as well, so he tells the servants to wait until harvest time to separate the wheat from the weeds and then they can burn the weeds while storing the wheat.
Later on, Jesus explains the parable, indicating that the seeds of wheat are the “children of the kingdom,” while the weeds are the “children of the evil one,” and the harvest is “the end of the age,” when the evildoers are condemned and the righteous are in the kingdom. There is a footnote in the New American Bible, which tells us that the “weeds” are something called darnel, which is “a poisonous weed that in its first stage of growth resembles wheat.” That got me to thinking about how tragically there has been too many times that faith has been used to justify hate and injustice and even violence. What has appeared as “wheat” has actually been a “poisonous weed.”
When we believe our faith leads us not only to condemn injustice or evil, but to condemn other human beings, who are beloved by God, even though their behavior is ungodly, we fall into the trap of being “weeds.”
Instead of being preoccupied with condemning others, we are called to be a church like the mustard seed described by Jesus, growing to the point of being a bush large enough to provide a home for the “birds of the sky.” We are called to be a welcoming church for people looking for a home, a place where they can find someone to believe in, a reason for hope and love and life.
Instead of the church being “leavened” by a worldly wisdom based on greed and domination, we need to be a leaven, just as yeast is a leaven for bread in the third parable that Jesus tells, in the world, sharing the love God has for us in Jesus Christ.
May we not fall for the tricks of the evil one, but for the overwhelming love of God, and bear good fruit for a hurting world.
I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks for your time.
In Christ,
Phil, CP
