Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (Wheat & Tares)

Jesus put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" 

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

I have had to do a lot of photography and video recording these days, and it’s amazing the details you see through the eye of a camera. The other day I wanted to take a photograph of a lovely field full of purple flax. It was only when I looked through the lens of the camera that I noticed a lot of little yellow flowers spoiling the view. Weeds. My immediate thoughts were that the farmer had bought inferior seed or maybe the field hadn’t been prepared properly. Of course I wouldn’t apply such logic to explain the weeds in my own garden! Unless we use a lot of unpleasant chemicals, weeds are inevitable. This is exactly the point Jesus was making in the Parable of the Weeds. 

Jesus’ cotemporaries had a keen interest in weeding. They wanted to weed the Romans out of Judea, the corrupt religious leaders out of the Temple, the dishonest merchants out of the market, the anti-social troublemaker out of the neighbourhood, the sick out from amongst the healthy, the sinner out from amongst the righteous. The result would be a thoroughly weeded world that would resemble the Kingdom of God. But Jesus had some shocking news for them. He said that the Kingdom of heaven included both the good and the bad. Learn to live with it. The only consolation was that evildoers will get their comeuppance but only by the hand of God. In other words, the Kingdom of heaven is a place of perfection, not because its residents are perfect but because there is a perfect king who will dispense perfect justice in his own perfect way and perfect time. 

I have often joked that for many their vision of heaven is very much like the here and now, but without certain individuals being present. Well, apparently that is not how it will be. Heaven is a kingdom in which all the residents have learnt how to accommodate the irritating. Heaven is where I will have learnt to love my enemy and to pray for those who persecute me, to do good to those who hate me, and to not call anyone a fool however much they may have provoked me. I told God that this was a very difficult ask. God replied, ‘Tell me about it!’