"Weeds and Wheat"
"Weeds and Wheat"
“The servants came to the owner of the field, and said, “There did the weeds come from?” “An enemy has done this to us,” he answered. And the servant said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because if you pull out the weeds, you will pull out the wheat with it. Let them both grow until the harvest, and at harvest time I will separate the two.” (Matthew 13:28-30)
This passage has to be one of the most overlooked, least influential, yet most needed of Jesus’ direct teachings. It presents the ambiguous character of reality in a way that we were not ready for, it seems. The image of the weeds and the wheat has had almost no effect on the development of our moral theology, our self-understanding, or our patience with all institutions and with one another. Folks now chase after the yin and yang of Eastern religions as if they are a new, honest teaching. As usual, Jesus already said it: We just didn’t hear.
We did, at least, speak of the “Paschal Mystery” as the mystery of faith, and the new liturgy proclaims, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” But even there, we don’t often translate mythic language into the human patterns that myths point to. Maybe it never computed into “Half will be dark, half will be light, again and again.” Or, “No matter where, when or what, life will be both agony and ecstasy.”
The field contains both weeds and wheat, and we must let them grow together. How much time I have wasted in trying to pull out my weeds! You cannot really pull them out, but don’t ever doubt that they are there! Thus, the Sacrament of Penance is not the sacrament of the annihilation of sin, or even getting rid of sin. It is more reconciliation with and forgiveness of those dang weeds in the field.
(from unpublished sermon notes)
“The servants came to the owner of the field, and said, “There did the weeds come from?” “An enemy has done this to us,” he answered. And the servant said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because if you pull out the weeds, you will pull out the wheat with it. Let them both grow until the harvest, and at harvest time I will separate the two.” (Matthew 13:28-30)
This passage has to be one of the most overlooked, least influential, yet most needed of Jesus’ direct teachings. It presents the ambiguous character of reality in a way that we were not ready for, it seems. The image of the weeds and the wheat has had almost no effect on the development of our moral theology, our self-understanding, or our patience with all institutions and with one another. Folks now chase after the yin and yang of Eastern religions as if they are a new, honest teaching. As usual, Jesus already said it: We just didn’t hear.
We did, at least, speak of the “Paschal Mystery” as the mystery of faith, and the new liturgy proclaims, “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.” But even there, we don’t often translate mythic language into the human patterns that myths point to. Maybe it never computed into “Half will be dark, half will be light, again and again.” Or, “No matter where, when or what, life will be both agony and ecstasy.”
The field contains both weeds and wheat, and we must let them grow together. How much time I have wasted in trying to pull out my weeds! You cannot really pull them out, but don’t ever doubt that they are there! Thus, the Sacrament of Penance is not the sacrament of the annihilation of sin, or even getting rid of sin. It is more reconciliation with and forgiveness of those dang weeds in the field.
(from unpublished sermon notes)
posted by LuisVelasco @ 9:20 PM
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