Matthew 13: 24-30, 26-43
24 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 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?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 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.’ ”
36 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.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
This parable reminds us of how important patience can be. It can often feel like the world is against you. You fix one thing in your house only to have another thing break. You successfully merge into the right lane only to then see a sign that the lane ends at the next intersection. Sometimes life can feel like one thing after another and make it daunting to keep trying to do the right things.
Jesus teaches us in this parable the importance of patience and waiting through the weeds. While it might seem like the best solution to pull up the weeds right away and try to turn the page on the mess, the crop of wheat would be destroyed in the process. Jesus reminds us to be patient and wait through the mess. It is easy to want to quit or to choose the easy path. It would be easy to cut ahead in line ahead of that person. It would be tempting to just hang up on the customer service agent who gave us the answer we didn’t want to hear. And, yet, we are called to live in love and patience with one another. We are called love as God loves us.
Prayer
God of Love, we are grateful for your patience with us. Even through our mistakes and shortcomings, you love us always. Please help us to meet our brothers and sisters with the same patience that you show to each of us. Amen.
~ Callie Weber