Have you ever found yourself being a little ‘over-zealous’ about a wrong done or a bad attitude portrayed or a great injustice being afflicted on a person or a group?

Do you get a bit riled up about stuff people say about Christianity or the church or you because you are a Christian?

Do you ever wish that somehow all the ‘bad eggs’ in the church could be sorted out and gotten rid of so we could really grow and thrive and be a lighthouse of hope for those Jesus is calling?

I think this little parable Jesus speaks to our struggle.

We are in parable territory in Matthew’s gospel. The parables come thick and fast. There are seven of them. Jesus’ presence in the world is like all of these:

1. A farmer sowing the crop with mixed results.
2. A crop containing weeds and wheat
3. A tiny seed growing a large enough bush to be of use to other creatures
4. The determining factor in growing things – Yeast making Bread expand;
5. Money or a possession hidden in a field you just excitedly buy;
6. A perfect pearl that you are delighted to find and pay to own.
7. A net full of good and bad fish that have to be sorted.

When I hear them all together, I think Jesus is saying that his presence among people has a life of its own. Anything attached to him is immediately affected by him. Being transformed, growing, changing can start with small things or hidden things we are surprised to find or things we have been searching for, for ages.

Whether we stumble across the goodness of Jesus’ promises or finally find them after a long search, his presence and promised life becomes joy and motivation to keep him at all costs.

Sounds rosy. Life in Jesus is a perfect pearl, a healthy garden bush, a place of birds and bees chirping and buzzing.

But, life is not like that. I am glad we hear this reality check from Jesus.

There are enemies among friends. There are weeds among the wheat. There is the Sower of good and the Sower of evil and human response to both – righteous or unrighteous.

We know this. People are a mixed bag. I am a mixed bag! The world is a very mixed bag of good and evil, love and hate, justice and injustice. Just like any garden, any paddock of whatever crop, the weeds are always growing right along with the good crop, taking the limited resources from the good crop hindering growth and yield.

The puzzling thing is that Jesus says that we have to let the weeds grow too.

Why?

Doesn’t that go against every fibre of our being? This is not good land or cropping management! There is a whole multi-billion dollar industry giving us the research and product to not let those weeds grow!

Evil and injustice, pride and ego, corruption and greed wherever they exist should be called out and expelled! Everyone has their rights.

But, this is not how it is in the household of faith in Jesus. It is very clear.

Apparently, we don’t spray or say poison or rip up ‘people of the evil one’ even though we would love to at times. Jesus keeps sowing. We keep growing, evil keeps appearing and we don’t rip it out.

Why not? Because we are not up for ripping out weeds anyway.

We are unable to clearly see ourselves let alone make a judgement call on another. We tend to easily see weaknesses and wrongs in other people quite quickly! But we struggle to see those things in ourselves. For example, if someone else tells a lie, we say they are a liar. If I tell a lie, it is complicated.

When someone else is running around pleasing everyone and trying to save everyone, we say they have a Saviour complex. When we run around trying to please and save everyone, we are ‘serving the Lord’.

This promise that Jesus will eventually sort out the weeds from the wheat turns me around.

Because I know that he sees everything and will know all about me and make a full accounting for my behaviour and words, I want to see more of myself so that when those angels come, I will be counted in the wheat and not be turned into chaff. I have motivation to be more self – aware, to learn how the Lord sees me.

And because those angels will come and make a final call on us all, I don’t need to see so much of other people’s weaknesses, mistakes and badness because these are not for me to condemn. That is Jesus’ promised role. Maybe I can then let things go a little more, maybe be a little fairer or at least slow to judge for the sake of love.

So, I can take my own sin and silliness seriously and ask the Lord to help me to mature and grow some more. Now I can let people’s weaknesses and even their wrongs go through the Lord of the harvest who has all the wisdom and authority to deal with everything and anything.

In the battles we face, I hear three things:

1. We are the people he has planted by water and the Spirit and growth is still ongoing. We carry that yeast, that small seed, that goodness of God in Jesus’ word. It keeps growing.
2. Evil deeds and attitudes are ever-present in others, in the world and even in ourselves, but all is fully known and will come to Jesus’ authorities end. He will get it right and make it right.
3. I don’t have to carry any weight of saving the world, saving another person or even attempting to control their behaviour or attitude (rip out weeds).

I find this so helpful. When I am upset about unkind words said about me or my church family or my brothers and sisters in Christ whenever they are, I can leave the judgement to Jesus.

When it seems like the church is so weak in the face of the empire and the politics and the injustice of the world, I can let the weight of trying to save it go and rest in Jesus’ promise to keep growing me and you and all of us despite evil and ego and greed.

When I do come across ‘weedy’ behaviour or attitude I can speak the truth of it, but without that extra layer of condemnation or shame. I simply see and call it with a certain realism that knows this is not shocking or unusual. The weeds are always everywhere. But I can leave the judgment to Jesus’ wisdom and authority.

And there is one more thing hidden in this paddock. We learn as we grow even with weeds all around

Here’s how Luther put it:

The presence of evil among the good growing seeds of God show just how beautiful those growing seeds are. Evil highlights the beauty and life and joy of being baptised into Jesus’ life and love. We are encouraged!

And on more thing: the weeds’ presence affirms and confirms God’s approval of us. Here’s how St Paul put it to the troublesome Corinthians:

Even with evil and suffering all about us, with Jesus’ presence and promises we learn and are affirmed in our belonging to and living in Jesus peace and hope.

Friend, you don’t have to throw the remote at the news on telly, raise your voice to make your point the dominant one, fix the church or the world or a friend. We don’t need to pull out that sword and chop off that ear out in the garden.

When we see evil, the goodness of God’s grace is highlighted. We live in the weeds knowing that we are growing in the weeds and Jesus knows the weeds more than we do.

We can stay in our own furrow and keep on being with Jesus and all his people. We can see ourselves more clearly and let the mistakes and wrongs of others go more often.

One day, we shall be in full sun for all time, weed free. John says we will fruit every month not every year and the sun won’t be the light, Jesus the Son will be brilliant life-sustaining light.

Trust that you are growing tall and true as you feed on his Word of the Spirit. Sway in the breeze as the Son fires your learning and growing and changing into his life day by day, despite the presence of the weeds.

In the difference we experience, the conflict, the trouble, the sorrowing over such evil in the world or even in ourselves, we will eventually shine.

MORE REFLECTION

Opening prayer

Lord Jesus, open our ears to hear your Word and our hearts to receive your wisdom. Help us to trust your patience, grow in your grace, and leave judgment in your hands. Amen.

Read

Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43. Notice the contrast between the servants’ urgency and the master’s patience, and listen for how Jesus explains the parable to his disciples.

Background notes

• This parable sits among several kingdom parables in Matthew 13, where Jesus describes the hidden, surprising and growing work of God’s reign.
• The field is the world, the good seed are the people of the kingdom, and the weeds represent what belongs to evil.
• The servants want to act immediately, but the master warns that pulling up the weeds may damage the wheat.
• Jesus points his hearers toward patience, discernment, humility and trust in God’s final judgment.

Discussion questions

1. What stands out to you in the parable of the weeds and the wheat?
2. Why do you think the servants are so eager to pull up the weeds?
3. Where do you see the temptation to judge or “sort out” others too quickly?
4. How does Jesus’ explanation help us understand evil, patience and judgment?
5. What comfort is there in knowing that Jesus sees clearly and will make all things right?
6. How might this parable shape the way we respond to conflict, weakness or wrongdoing in the church?

Application

• Name one area where you need to leave judgment with Jesus rather than carry it yourself.
• Consider one relationship or situation where patience, truth and mercy may need to be held together.
• Pray for the Spirit to help you grow as good seed in Jesus’ field, even while weeds remain around you.

Closing prayer

Lord of the harvest, thank you that you sow good seed and keep your people growing. Give us humble hearts, patient spirits, and courage to speak truth with mercy. Teach us to trust your wisdom, your timing, and your final promise that the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Amen.

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