Weeds and the Wheat

One

The Parable

In Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the weeds and the wheat. He says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field but when nighttime came, an enemy went into the field and sowed weeds as well. When the plants began to grow, the man’s servants noticed the weeds along with the wheat and asked him about it. The man knew that the weeds were the work of an enemy but when his servants showed their eagerness to get rid of the weeds, he stopped them.

“No!” he said. Because the farmer knew that the roots of the weeds and the roots of the wheat were now intertwined. “If you pull the weeds out,” he said, “You might pull the wheat out with it. We have to let them grow together.”

But he also makes it clear to his servants that this state of affairs isn’t going to last forever. The good and the bad plants are going to stay together for now. But, says the master of the field, when the harvest comes, then there will be a separation.

The wheat will be gathered into the master’s barn and the weeds will be bundled together and burned.

Two

The Problem of Freedom

At the most foundational level, this parable is a perfect answer to the problem of evil.

God created the human race good, He planted in our souls the seeds of truth, goodness, beauty, love. But then the Devil came, in the guise of a serpent, and sowed distrust, vain ambition, selfishness. And ever since, human freedom, which is the field God has planted, is sometimes used for love, and sometimes for hate. Sometimes for virtue, and sometimes for addiction.

God can’t prevent us from freely doing what is wrong, because it would mean taking away our freedom, and that would prevent us from freely doing what is right. If He ripped out the weeds, it would mean ripping out the wheat.

So He waits and allows us to develop our freedom, either as weeds or as wheat. It’s up to us what our patch of the field, our patch of our freedom, will yield. 

And whatever it yields, whatever we cultivate, will determine our destiny.

Three

The Church

This parable is also about the Kingdom of God – that is, the Church.

You might have noticed that the Church isn’t just full of saints or faithful people. We have some pretty bad sinners, some pretty unconverted, faithless people who consider themselves members too.

God allows the weeds and the wheat to grow together not just in His world, but in His Church.

Of course he does! Can you imagine what would happen if God kicked all the sinners out of his Church? If he left in nobody but the perfect saints? It would be a pretty empty field, that’s for sure. 

And think of all the people, all the little plots in the Church, that have started out full of weeds, and then, miraculously, have had great virtues grow like giant stalks of wheat until the weeds die out all around them. In other words, think of the worldly people who have converted and become great saints!

Think of Francis of Assisi, for instance. Think of the newly canonized Charles de Foucauld. Think of the many priests and evangelists today who had such sinful pasts. If we’d just torn them out of the Church and cast them aside, they’d have never contributed their amazing harvest to God.

So don’t be surprised that God is so patient with the unconverted who still remain in the Church in the laity and in the hierarchy. Don’t be in a hurry to excommunicate people. God certainly isn’t. God wants to give people, and His Church as a whole, more time before the harvest.

Four

Our Souls

It’s not just in the world and the Church that we see the weeds and the wheat growing, side-by-side. It’s in our own souls.

Have you ever knelt before God, and begged Him to rip the sin out of you? Have you begged, maybe with tears in your eyes, “Dear God, please take away my lust! Take away my vain ambition! Take away my resentment! Take away my addiction to food! Take away my compulsion to say every stupid thing that comes into my head!”

And have you noticed? He almost never does it. Because if He did, He’d rip out the wheat with the weeds.

If He took away your lust, it might also rip out your energy to love and make a family and serve your wife and kids, whether on the natural or supernatural level. If He took away your vain ambition, it might also rip out your impulse to work, to do something worthwhile, to make the world a better place. If He took away your resentment, it might also rip out the opportunity to truly and completely forgive, which is the most beautiful and heroic love there is. If He took away your addiction to eat too much, it might also rip out your humility, your realization that you are weak and you have to rely on God’s unconditional love. If He took away your intemperance of the tongue, it might also rip out your openness, your honesty, your ability to be hospitable and supportive of people who need someone to talk to.

No, the farmer isn’t just going to start ripping indiscriminately. There is too much good intertwined with our vices. It’s our job to very carefully, very persistently, and very patiently, over the course of our lifetime, untangle the weeds from the wheat, so that the wheat can grow uninhibited. And if God is willing to wait while our soul is gradually purified, then we have to be as well.

Five

The Harvest is Coming

But this parable isn’t meant to make us complacent. God is giving us time but the harvest is coming.

In the field of our souls, our families, and even that part of the Church where we have influence, it’s up to us to make sure the wheat gets the upper hand over the weeds.

So keep at it. Don’t be surprised that there’s still a lot of weeding to be done, still a lot of sins to root out. 

Praise God, He’s given us more time in the field. But it’s not unlimited time, and we need to do everything we can before the harvest is here, and the angels come to collect our soul, and see whether it goes to the barn, or to the fire.