Reflection on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

I have been fooled before. 

I will freely admit that I sometimes I have been very wrong about people.  I had a friend in college who seemed to be a kind, go-lucky, church camp-y sort of fellow.  In fact, he was a church camp counselor, and a beloved one at that.  But, years later we were all shocked to learn that he had molested children. 

And, in the opposite sense, I had a professor who seemed to walk around stuck up and self-absorbed, who turned out to be one of the most generous people, giving extra time after teaching and significant amounts of money toward the disadvantaged. 

And, I will have to admit that my own thoughts about people’s character have at times been influenced by the color of that person’s skin rather than the content of their character.  So, I do admit that I have been very wrong about people before.

But, even so, I will say that for the most part…maybe 80 percent of the time…I am able to pick out the good from the bad.  I can usually tell the difference between people who are completely self-absorbed and self-serving, and those who love their neighbors as much as they love themselves.  Around 80 percent of the time I can absolutely distinguish between the wheat and the weeds.  Some people, quite frankly, are just easy to pick out of the crowd.

And, these days it seems even easier to pick them out as the bad seem to seek out full attention and recognition.  They actually try to get right in our faces and right on our screens. 

So, it is easy to cast our metaphorical stones.  It is easy to point out their hurtful actions or words, try them in a jury of our friends, and declare a verdict of guilty.  It is easy to point out the enemy; the children of the evil one.  It is easy to yank out the weeds.  You have no idea how many people I have marked for weed pulling in my head each day while scrolling through social media.

But, before I wrap my hands around the stalks of the enemy, and before I put my back into it and pull, there are some words from someone who is pretty influential in my life that give me pause.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-44 to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  And, further in 5:45 he says that God, the one who judges all of us, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good.”  That alone gives me pause before I consider yanking out the weeds to be a worthwhile goal.  Certainly, loving your enemy looks nothing like destroying them. 

And then, there is Matthew 10:36, where Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending them out as sheep among wolves, where “one’s enemies will be members of one’s own household.”  Is that not where most of the angst in our current cultural disagreements lies?  Weeds waving in our faces from afar do not pose too much of a threat, but when those weeds are those closest to you, the thought of pulling them up and leaving them to die is something different altogether.

But, Jesus does not expect us to attempt to get rid of these weeds in the first place.  He has a very good reason for this: “for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.” 

I have some beautiful irises that my wife and I planted years ago.  Unfortunately, they are planted in a very weed healthy area of our yard.  Quite often, we let the weeds share their space because their roots are just so shallow.  It is so easy to pull up the irises with the weeds.  In pulling the weeds, you can also destroy what is beautiful.

A couple of years ago, I heard about a brand new pastor who saw the evil that a young woman in his congregation was inflicting upon her family.  What she was doing was truly evil. 

So, the pastor decided that he was going to get up into the pulpit and point a finger at the evil, and pull that weed.  His new church was not going to be infested.  The day after he preached his finger-pointing sermon, he received a letter from a couple of the congregation’s most devoted and loving members.

You have to understand, this husband and wife were those quiet sort of servants who were at every event, setting up the tables, making the food, and hugging the depressed.  They were the ones who ran the hunger walk every year which raised thousands of dollars for the most destitute in the world.  They were the ones who probably understood Jesus’ self-giving love on the cross the best.  They were also the parents of the “evil” young woman in the congregation. 

Do not misunderstand, these parents were not hoodwinked.  They knew the trouble that their daughter had gotten into more than anybody.  But, they were also working on a task that Jesus had explicitly set out for his disciples: forgiveness.

As the pastor read the letter, he discovered that these two disciples of the congregation were not coming back.  Nor, did they think they would go to another church for the time being.  The hurt that was caused by his callous attempt at plucking weeds was too fresh and too great.  Some fine wheat suffered from his weed pulling.

Lord, “do you want us to go and gather up” the weeds?   

"No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.”

It is not our job to point out and gather up the weeds.  Jesus says that is clearly the job of the reaping angels.  “They will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers.”  It is not our job to condemn the weeds that are so clearly coming to a head in the field.  “Vengeance is mine” says the Lord as quoted in Romans 12:19.  Condemnation is not our job.

After-all, did I not just admit at the top of the sermon that I am only correct 80 percent of the time on who is evil and who is good?  That means that 20 percent of the time I am completely wrong and condemning someone who does not deserve it. 

We have only one job given to us by Jesus.  And, that is to love our neighbor, sharing Jesus’ good news.  That means forgiving many, many times over.  That means leading others toward Jesus’ love and forgiveness. 

Just to be clear, making someone aware of their sin is not the same as condemning.  Making people aware of their sin is done out of love.  We truly want others to experience the freeing power of forgiveness.  Our task as followers of the one who gave his life on the cross to save the world is not to condemn, but to love. 

The gospel of John remind us that “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

So, how about we let the field grow with wheat and weed together?  It is OK.  We do not have to remove the weeds.  We just use our opportunities in life to raise and grow that field the best we can, and love it until the great harvest of the Lord.  That is more than enough.