It’s getting closer…. The end of my real estate career and the beginning of a new adventure with the church is looming very close on the horizon. My co-workers threw me a surprise party this week – and let’s just say i was sufficiently surprised, a little deceived, but surprised none the less. It was a good party though and i have amazing friends that would think highly enough of me to do something like that. While i will miss each and everyone of them in dealing with them on a daily basis i still have this overwhelming feeling that what I am about to do is something that I can’t put off any longer. I got a little caught up during the Eucharist today with the thought that in just a few short years that could be me presiding over the sacraments and how awesome and humbling that call really is – I am about to go out and work in the field.
Today’s gospel is a parable from Matthew that Jesus tells the disciples about the world as it is now and how God in his perfect time will bring about righteousness. The parable starts with Jesus describing a field of wheat and how during the night a thief comes and plants weeds to grow up in the field as well. When the servants realize what has happened they ask the farmer if they should go and pull out the weeds from the field. The farmer replies that they should not disrupt the weeds because it will kill the wheat with the weeds. Instead let the weeds grow up with the wheat when it comes harvest time you will realize what is wheat and what is weed and be able to separate the weeds from the wheat.
While on the surface it seems pretty straight forward as to what this parable is saying about the kingdom of God, but i think there are some interesting points that beg some further clarification. So what is this saying about us? While i think it is easy to just say that we are either wheat or weeds growing in the field i don’t think it is really great to stop there. I know in my own life sometimes i am a weed (well sometimes more often then not) and sometimes I am wheat bearing good yield. I think that we can sometimes flop back and forth between being wheat and weeds. Instead i would rather look at the wheat and weeds in the totality of creation. God makes everything to grow in the field and he puts things in the field for a reason. Dad had a great point this morning that said, “besides who is it that identifies things as a weed? I don’t remember going to the feed store and buying a bag of weed seed…” and i think that is great, we out of our own election identify things that aren’t supposed to be in certain places as weeds. Weeds are still living breathing plants, still created perfectly by God, and still part of the great creation – they just sometimes get in our way of making things perfect.
Weeds are also interesting because although they grow up and are alive they also don’t produce the fruit that a crop of wheat would produce. Wheat that has been nurtured and cultivated grows up healthy and strong and produces good yield. At harvest time it becomes so laden with it’s bounty that the plant bends over – almost in a reverent action of humbling it’s self before the farmer.
So i guess my question for you is how do you see yourself? Where in the crop cycle are you? Are you a seedling trying to make it growing up in a bunch of weeds? Are you wheat ready to be harvest bent over in reverent adoration? Are you preparing yourself for the harvest? God is among us everyday planting the seeds through the work of the Holy Spirit, growing the crop for the eventual harvest. So it isn’t our job to look for the weeds that are growing up around us, pulling them out would only hurt our own wheat growing, instead we should be about preparing ourselves for the harvest and providing for God a good and bountiful harvest.
