"The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed a good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared...
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
'No,' he answered 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' "
Matthew 13.24-30
How often do we uproot the weeds with the wheat? How often do we take judgement into our own hands and, in so doing, harm the good seed that was planted in the lives of those around us?
I certainly do not understand the manifold meanings of this text, but I'd like to take a stab. I think Jesus is telling us that it is God who harvests. It is God who cuts away the weeds from amongst the wheat. Not only is God the one who decides our fate, but it is God who continually calls us to uproot the weeds in our hearts. Both in the world as a whole and in the individual.
I do not mean to disregard rebuke and accountability all together, but to raise awareness to our role as the "servants" in this parable. Our role is to go into the garden daily and cultivate the soil. To make sure the wheat grows, to nurture it and refresh it with water and fertilizer.
On a world-level, it is our job to proclaim the good, to encourage and enrich the good that exists. To ground and grow the wheat in culture and society. Human rights. Environmental justice. Restoration.
On an individual level, it is our job to draw attention to the truth and the good in peoples lives around us. Not only to enrich their lives by giving all we have, by fighting for their justice. But also, to choose love and support over disgust and admonition. That we would encourage more than we condemn. That we would be advocate and not judges.
This means that, on the flipside we have to trust God to continue his work of restoration as well. To continue calling humanity to himself. To continue to convict and destroy evil. To uproot greed and hatred. We have to trust that he is as jealous for the removal of evil as we are. To trust that he will judge justly as he promises to do.
Oh, that we would not be judges. That we would not confuse holiness with pride. That we would take care not to uproot the wheat that God has planted in the hearts of those around us. How beautiful it would be for the church, for the world to make compassion and encouragement the first response. To place our trust in God. To release the burden of condemnation that is not ours to carry. To instead gird ourselves in peace, hope and love.
