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Years ago, we lived in Sewickley, PA, in a condominium. Our condo had a private patio and area in which we were allowed to plant our own flowers. Each year with the help of our youngest daughter, Jessica, we would plant begonias, impatience, bleeding hearts and other flowers. One year, I decided it would be nice to have a change and to plant beautiful wildflowers. So, instead of going to the store to buy the standard garden variety of flora, I bought packets of wildflower seeds.
My daughter and I had fun planting the seeds and waiting for them to come up. Soon our garden was filled with a variety of hues and shapes of some of nature’s best wildflowers. My daughter and I were delighted with our lovely garden. Then one day as I was looking out the window, I noticed one of the maintenance men in our garden. To my great dismay, he was pulling up the beautiful wildflowers and piling them up in a heap to be tossed away.
Quickly I ran outside and told him to stop pulling up the flowers. The man looked at me in surprise and said, “Flowers? I’m just pulling up the weeds.” I told him he was wrong and to leave our garden alone. He picked up his bundle of broken plants and left. Our lovely garden of wildflowers was now in ruins. It was a sad day at the Marcrum house.
In today’s gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about a field that was planted with good seed, but “an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well.” The owner’s workers wanted to pull the weeds up, but the owner told them, “No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 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.”
The master chose to be cautious in order to protect the good plants for the harvest. This meant that the wheat and the weeds were allowed to live together in the same field. They both received the same care until the time of harvest when the weeds were separated from the wheat plants. By that time the weeds were quite distinguishable from the wheat and so there was no question as to which plants were to remain standing for the gathering of the harvest.
In explaining the meaning of the parable of the weeds, Jesus tells the disciples that He is the sower of the good seeds. The good seed or the wheat is the children of the kingdom or in other words the followers of Christ. While the weeds are the children of the evil one or rather those who choose to not follow Jesus. At the end of the age, when Jesus returns to earth, He will send his angels out to separate the believers from the non-believers.
Those who have chosen to not follow Jesus, but to follow their own evil ways, will be collected by the angels and thrown into everlasting fire and torment. As for the ones who have remained faithful to Christ until the end, they will be rewarded with eternal life. Jesus says of these faithful followers, “the righteous will shine in the kingdom of their Father.”
In our wildflower garden, we were growing some of nature’s loveliest flowers. True they were not the standard flowers cultivated by humans, instead they were flowers designed by the Creator. When the maintenance man saw them, he mistook them for weeds and began to pull them up. Only one of the gardeners, who had tenderly planted and cared for them, knew and appreciated their value.
Too often in our daily lives we misjudge others, especially those of us who are regular church goers. We mistakenly think that we are better than those who do not attend church. After all, we are following the rules and doing what is right.
Yet, even in churches there are weeds and good plants growing side by side.
Only the true Gardener, the one who knows the secret hearts of we humans, knows the good plants from the weeds. This is why the owner of the field told his workers to not pull up the weeds until it was time for the harvest. For only then would the weeds be clearly seen as weeds and the good plants could be saved. So too, are we taught by Christ to be good to all people and treat everyone the same. It is only the angels in heaven who are given the authority to separate the good from the evil.
In Matthew chapter five, beginning with verse forty-three, Jesus teaches us the importance of loving all people, even our enemies. Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” 44But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax-collectors do the same? 47And if you greet only your brothers and sisters,* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
While some of us may prefer to live in a world that is absent of those who want to harm us, the scriptures are clear that is not God’s plan. The wheat must grow alongside the weeds in order to not only protect the wheat but to also help it to become strong. Everyone knows that weeds hurt the good plants; which is why they are usually pulled out as soon as they are discovered. Yet, in God’s plan, the good and the evil are to live side by side.
The evil ones are left to help make the good ones stronger in their faith through testing and temptations. Only then can the believer produce much fruit for the kingdom. It is through the trials and tribulations in this world that the believer learns to depend completely on the Lord for all sustenance. Only in Christ can the believer become the righteousness of God. May we put our trust in Him who makes us righteous, loving all persons, especially our enemies, who through their presence in our lives keep us strong in the Lord.
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