The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. When the wheat sprouted, the weeds also appeared. The servants came to him and said, “Sir, didn’t you sow good seeds in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?” “An enemy did this,” he replied. The servants asked, “Do you want us to go and pull them up?” ” No,” he answered, “let them grow together until the harvest. Then, I will tell the harvesters to gather the weeds first and tie them into bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into the barn.” Matthew 13:24-30 (selected verses)
Two weeks ago we had our yard aeriated and new grass seed planted. That weekend the winds, cold temperatures, and rains came. The next week, as it began to grow, all I could see were the weeds that seemed to be growing exponentially in comparison to the grass. My inclination was to grab the bottle of weed killer and take those weeds out, but if I did, the grass around them would be harmed as well.
Our Daddy was a farmer, and he always complained about the weeds that would grow among his crops. Any plant that was growing where it should not be growing was considered a weed. Most of these weeds in the acres of land had to be pulled by hand after the roots of the good plants had taken hold. It was back breaking work, and it made one wonder about God’s purpose for weeds in gardens. Even though sometimes all we can see are the weeds, the workers had to know the difference between the good plants and the weeds.
In life, as in this situation, sometimes the weeds are the only thing that we can see amidst all the other good that surrounds us. In this parable, Jesus is showing us that there are angels among us represented by the harvest workers. It also teaches that God does have a plan for this world, and He is working to accomplish it, but He’s working in His time.
We live in a world where tragedies, injustices, accidents, and violence occur every day and wreak havoc on people’s lives. The new atrocities happening around our world and even in our own country can cause us to ask, “Where is God? Why doesn’t He do something?” The parable teaches us that He is working His plan for His kingdom here on earth. The weeds represent evil all around us, but Jesus teaches that even though there is an enemy working, this plan is on God’s time not ours.
There are some lessons to be learned from this parable. First and foremost, we all need to know the Bible well enough that regardless of how convincingly someone slants the scriptures, their interpretation can not mislead us. We need to be ready and able to defend our faith.
We also need to be spiritually alert. The seeds of evil we are seeing now in our world, community, and our lives were sown years ago, and they’ve been growing. It’s only when the good seed begins to emerge that we see the damage that’s been done. We need to live our lives so that we aren’t surprised or naïve about the forces of evil. One degree off course may seem harmless enough, but if we stay on that trajectory long enough, we will end up far from where God wants and needs us to be and suddenly realize, “an enemy has done this!”
We need to remember that God has sown the good seeds. It isn’t Him who is responsible for the weeds. Jesus says leave the weeds alone and concentrate on being the best “wheat” you can be on this earth. The lives of people are intertwined on this earth, just like the wheat and weeds, and we are likely to do more harm than good by pulling the weeds and causing innocent people to be hurt. It’s best for us to concentrate on being the doers of good deeds in this world so that our light and our deeds outshine the deeds of evil and overcome its effects.
The Pharisees planted weeds during Jesus’ ministry. Seeds of accusation and lies that eventually led to His persecution, trial, and crucifixion. He chose to leave the judgment of those to God His Father and ended up victorious on the day of Resurrection.
The kingdom of God comes when His will is done. The kingdom is growing all around us, and we can take part in it or not. It’s not about weeds. It’s about continuing to grow and work even among the weeds.
Our role is to be the presence of a loving Christ in this world and leave the weeding to God in His time.