It is
sometimes amazing to listen to the political debate in this country. I am thinking about the healthcare
legislation proposed by both parties in our congress. After the Affordable Care Act was passed, the
congress tried unsuccessfully over fifty times to repeal it. Finally, they have proposed a different kind
of healthcare act that will curtail many of the provisions of the original act
and provide better tax conditions for the wealthy.
I
am thinking about all of this in light of Matthew’s Gospel and the story of the
farmer who sows good seed, but the devil comes right behind him and sows
weeds. His workers come to him and want
to know if he wants them to clean out the weeds. The farmer says, “No, let them alone. When we reap these fields, we will separate
the weeds from the grain and destroy it and keep the grain.”
Jesus’
disciples ask him to explain the parable and he tells them that the sower of
the good seed is the Son of Man and the devil is the one who sows the
weeds. It will all grow up together and
at the end of the age, the grain will be separated from the weeds and the weeds
will be destroyed. He also says that at
this end time, the righteous will shine like the sun. Jesus ends his explanation with the
words: Let anyone with ears listen! What this story suggests to me is to relax
to all of the turmoil around us and to understand that it is God who is charge
of this world. We need to do the best
that we can to take care of the people who are hurting whom we have around us;
but that we also need to expect opposition to what we are trying to do. This is a world full of greed, egotism and a
tremendous amount of selfishness. All of
this comes into play when we try to make our society a better place for people
to live.
When
we try to do good things, we usually mix in other things that aren’t really
helpful. We offer aid to people living
in poverty, but then require them to meet criteria that is sometimes impossible
for them. The issue is usually the same,
we want to control those to whom we give help.
Jesus always gave his help without condition. I remember the woman at the well in Samaria,
who had five husbands and the man that she was living with wasn’t her
husband. Jesus gave her living water to
drink anyway and sent her back into her Samaritan community to tell people what
had happened to her. This resulted in an
outpouring of people to come to hear what Jesus was preaching and a giant
inclusion of people who had heard the Gospel.
Reaping
the wheat and the weeds together is an excellent idea. When the harvest is completed, it is much
easier to separate the weeds from the wheat.
The problem with a lot of the rules that we make for other people is
that it isn’t always easy to separate the two.
Jesus is asking us to be faithful to what God has created in this world;
to not restrict the goodness that God provides with weeds of our own
making. We need to understand that it is
our selfishness that undermines goodness in this world. When we give freely, without conditions, that
which we give can help those who are in critical need. When we try to make sure that what we give is
used properly, we sometimes make it impossible for those who are in need to
solve their problems.
Yes,
there are those who misuse the good things that they are given. When we create rules to stop that from
happening, we are simply sowing weeds among the grain. But sometimes it isn’t easy to see the
weeds. What Jesus is trying to get us to
understand is that even when we think we are doing good things, some of the
turn out not to be so good. Instead of
plucking up what we think are the weeds, maybe we need to leave it all alone
and let God help us to know what is weeds and what is grain. The most helpful part of this parable is the
promise by our Lord that all will be made right at the last judgement. The weeds will vanish and the grain will all
survive. What we need to do is to
continue in our work on behalf of the Gospel; to do good for those who need it
and to let God be in charge of where it all winds up.
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