God's Garden - Pt. 12

He [Jesus] put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” (Matthew 13:24-30 ESV).

 

As we continue our series in “God’s Garden” I am returning to a principle we have visited once before. Our reading is a parable that Jesus told to help the disciples recognize their “pay grade.” I often use this phrase as a subtle way to remind me of an essential element on my life. When I begin to think that I should exercise judgment against someone’s behavior, especially when it grates against every fiber of my values, I must remember that attitude is not wisdom. In fact, it is unwise. I am not qualified, nor given the ability to make judgments about others. I may certainly disagree with their behavior; however, it is not my task to separate weeds from wheat, bad people from good people. That’s not within my purview. It’s way above my pay grade.

 

I know that weeds can overtake and ruin a garden, and I want to protect my garden and help it thrive. There are some critical differences, though, between weeds in my garden and the weeds in Jesus’ parable. Those weeds were deliberately and liberally sown by the farmer’s enemy. And those weeds would have looked much like young wheat plants at first. In addition, the roots of the wheat and weed plants were already intertwined before the act of sabotage was detected. So weeding would have destroyed the good with the bad. Not weeding made good sense in that scenario.

 

Most significantly, the parable reveals God’s wisdom and mercy for us today too. Our enemy, the devil, has been and is actively sowing weeds among the good seeds in God’s garden. We may wonder why God does not weed out wicked people and evil from his world, but we can be thankful that he is most intent on preserving his people until the harvest. So, the next time you think you need to do the weeding out, check your hands and feet. If you don’t see any nail prints, then you are not qualified to be judgmental!