weeds or wheat, who can tell?: 16th week saturday 2012 II

The parable of the wheat and the weeds reveal to us the patience of God.  At the same time it also reveals to us our reality - the reality of our community, that we are wheat and weeds, the reality of our church and its history, that we were and are wheat and weeds, but above all it reveals to us our own reality, the reality about ourselves, that we are wheat and weeds.

The master however was adamant to pull out the weeds because he said that in pulling out the weeds they also might pull out the wheat.  The master would not permit them to pull out the weeds because they might pull out not the weeds but the wheat.

Why can’t they distinguish the wheat from the weeds?    Are they hard to distinguish?  Is it possible that what we thought are weeds are in reality wheat?  Can the master not trust the eyes of his slaves and their judgment?

It seems to be so.  Think about it - what you think as weeds are actually wheat.  What you see and thought as evil, what we thought as unworthy of our company, what we judge as despicable and unfit are actually wheat.  Obviously Jesus is not talking about wheat and weeds.  He is talking about persons.  He might even be talking about our experiences in our community and in our lives. 

Today let us bow our heads low to the judgment of God, to how he sees.  Let us in effect be careful too about how we see things, how we judge events, how we perceive our experiences.  There are weeds and there are wheat.  Who can really say that these are wheat and these are weeds?