We linger a second week in Matthew 13. Last Sunday we watched an extravagant sower scatter seed; this week we stand with workers eager to pull weeds. In Jesus’ parable, an understanding landowner stops his workers, revealing God's patience.
Wheat and darnel, the weed in the text, look nearly identical until harvest, when the brown kernels of wheat can finally be distinguished from the black kernels of darnel, which are poisonous to people and livestock.
The parable is very interesting because it reminds us that our calling, the vocation of the church, is to plant and tend, not to sort or uproot. In other words, God is patient with the tangled fields of our lives and our world. Our role, according to Jesus, is to focus on planting and tending to our gardens, trusting that God’s patience will bring about growth and harvest in God’s perfect time.
Thanks be to God who keeps sowing, tending, and working in us, quietly, patiently, and fruitfully
Father Karl