Readings: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

A farmer had a field, with deep, rich soil. In the spring he sowed it with his finest seed. He sat back, confidently waiting for a good harvest. Each morning he went out to feast his eyes on the field. He saw the green shoots as they sprang up. What joy he felt watching them sway in the gently breezes!

One morning, however, he got a terrible shock. Growing among the young shoots of corn were weeds. Not just a few weeds here and there, but weeds everywhere he looked. Weeds in his best field where he had sowed his best seed! It was the last thing he had expected to see. And it was a terrible blow!

"What did I do wrong?" he kept asking himself. Yet he knew that he was not responsible for what had happened. He concluded that an enemy must have spread the weeds during the night. But what could he do about it? They were ruining his chances at a good crop. He would have to get rid of them. But how?

Get his field hands to pull them up? That seemed a good solution. But they looked so much like the wheat. And they were growing so close to the stalks that pulling them up would mean uprooting the wheat as well. Plough up the field and start again? Tempting, but it was too late in the season for that. "No!" he concluded. The only thing to do was to look after the wheat as best he could. To coax it, to encourage it to outgrow the weeds.

When the harvest came he was able at long last to separate the wheat from the weeds. What satisfaction it gave him! What was even more surprising was the fine harvest that resulted from all of his hard labour. It proved more than adequate to meet his needs and the needs of his family.

Like the farmer, there are times in our lives when everything seems to be going our way. Then one day we awaken to find weeds growing in our precious field. It happens to all of us. A friend on whom we are relying lets us down. A child for whom we have high hopes goes wrong. Our marriage partner proves unfaithful. The company to whom we have devoted the best years of our lives lets us go without notice.

It is not just the disappointment which we feel as we come to realize that our best laid plans are not going to work out as we have intended. It is the shock that comes with the realization that all is not well. That is what hurts. It hits you in the gut. You want to blame God. If you let it, it can shatter your faith.

Why, there are even weeds in the church! There are people who come to church on Sunday and profess to be Christians, but their lives simply do not live up to their faith.

What are we to do about the weeds in our life? Many people opt to pull them out. Get rid of them, especially when it comes to the church. They want a clean church. "Why do we have to put up with sinners?" So often we hear the argument that the church is hypocritical because there is so much evil in it. The truth is, we will never find the perfect church. And would we recognize it even if it did exist? The church is a mixed body where wheat and weeds must be allowed to grow side by side. Thank God, you and I are not the judge of who is wheat and who is weeds. When we make ourselves judge, we judge ourselves. A church which admits only saints makes about as much sense as a hospital that only admits healthy people.

In a book which I've been reading about church growth, the author says that he has come to the conclusion that in any parish sixteen percent of the members will never change. It disturbs him to see pastors feeling as if they have failed because of that sixteen percent. He suggests not worrying about that group. Concentrate instead on the other eighty-four percent where the real potential lies. "That," he says, "is where the real ministry of the local church takes place."

Many of us want a clean society. "Evil," we consider, "is done by evil people. If we get rid of them the world will be a better place." That is the ideology behind capital punishment. What we forget is that there is sin in all of us. And who is the judge of what is sinful?

So even if pulling out all the weeds seems to be the sensible thing to do, it cannot be done without a price. It cannot be accomplished without losing some of the wheat. We have to let the weeds be. Not that we have to condone evil. It is just that we must resist the evil with good. It is that we get to choose what is good over what is evil.

The weeds do make life much more difficult for us. But if you consider it, their presence in our lives is not really a bad thing. Have you noticed that it is not people who are surrounded by comforts and luxuries who grow best? Isn't it those who struggle – those who are challenged by life. Chicken Soup for the Soul would be hard pressed to publish a single book without the stories of people who, despite the difficulties of life, overcome all of the obstacles and triumph. We grow when we are challenged. Providing they do not overwhelm us, our problems can become assets. The things that happen to us in our lives can make us better people. We can become "wounded healers", able to show compassion, able to listen to the pain of others, able to reach out with the love of God.

It is my experience that often the best evangelism is accomplished by accepting those people we see as sinful. That means that we need to see them – not their sin as we perceive it, but by seeing them as they are in God's sight, by seeing the face of Christ in everyone we meet.

When I was a student I spent one summer as a chaplain in Toronto Hospital. My responsibility was Gynecology which included two wards devoted entirely to abortion. At first it was all I could do to even walk by those rooms. And yet of all the people on that floor, who needed most to hear that God loved them? I could not go into them in judgement. I would have been no earthly good to them. And believe me, they were people who were truly hurting. They were often very young, very alone, and very frightened. They all had an overwhelming sense of guilt, but very few options. I had to see each one as God sees them. I had to be with them in their pain. I had to see the person without judging their actions.

How often do we mistake the wheat for weeds? How often do we miss out on what people have to offer? The parable of the wheat and the tares is a very encouraging and hopeful story. When the weeds are getting us down, we hang on. We ask for God’s assurance that in the end, good will triumph over evil. The harvest will be fruitful.