Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Psalm 85, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43

History is replete with the attempt to separate the bad guys from the good guys. And sometimes the distinction and the separation are based on ambiguous criteria. As well, there were people in Jesus’ time who wanted him to separate the bad guys from the good guys almost immediately. Among them were people who claimed the moral high ground, the Pharisees whose name means “the separated ones.” Also, John the Baptist expected Jesus to separate the cream from the skim, to have only holy people around him. The Baptist foretold that Jesus would separate the chaff from the wheat: “He will gather his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out.” (Matt 3:12). That’s precisely what Jesus didn’t do. He had all sorts of people around him, the learned, the ignorant, the good-living, the bad-living, tax-collectors, prostitutes, etc. What in God’s name is he doing, they said. Why doesn’t he get down to business? Why doesn’t he weed them out?

So, Jesus tells this parable to explain why. There are three parables. The first explains why God allows the good and evil to grow together; the other two explain that the small portion of good people just like the tiny mustard seed that grows into a big tree and the yeast that mixes with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch is leavened, have a duty to evangelize the bad people. We should not allow evil to overcome or overwhelm us, we should rather overcome evil with good.

Farmers and gardeners know that weeding can be a great threat to the life of the young seedling. This is because, first, the problem is one of identifying which is which. As such, the weeds must be left until the seedling can be clearly recognized. Even then, removing the weeds may pose an even greater threat. It might endanger the seedling’s root system. Because, often the weed brings the seedling away with it.

When applied to human beings, weeding out the bad guys for example, can become a risky business. Ethnicity, religion, color, gender, politics are still considered ready-reckoners for identifying society’s weeds. Sometimes, weeding out comes in the form of abortion or euthanasia. The undesired, the old, the maimed, the incurables and the burdensome are weeded out. In our society, weeding-out continues remorselessly in many forms. We are sharp at spotting out the undesirables, the troublemakers, the misfits. How you ever imagined the people who might have been weeded out if God had not chosen to intervene. Probably most of the saints in the calendar. Peter, after his triple denial should have been weeded out for failing the leadership test. Strange isn’t it, that Christ never weeded out Judas?

The parable of the weeds is starkly simple and yet widely ignored. To the question “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” the answer of Jesus is a categorical “No.” And the reason is self-evident. Only God has eyes sufficiently discerning and fingers sufficiently gentle for this job. Weeding out is God’s prerogative. The Psalmist today reminds us: “Lord, you are good and forgiving.” He never weeds us out, he gives us time to make mistakes and to also correct ourselves. Yes, God cares for all, as today’s first reading asserts and one of the ways He cares for us is being compassionate; allowing room for repentance.

Consider how he will find us on the day of the harvest. The field, which is the world, is the Church spread throughout the world. Let those who are wheat persevere until the harvest; let those who are weeds become wheat. Sometimes what was wheat becomes weeds, and what was weeds becomes wheat; and no one knows what will be in the future. But whoever finds themselves to be weeds, let them not fear change. The time of the harvest has not yet come. God has promised you forgiveness once you have changed. (St Augustine, Bishop, Sermon 73A)