Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
The big controversy earlier this year was over the release of Rob Bell's book, Love Wins. I haven't read the book yet, but I did read many blog post about the concept of hell. Did it exist? Does it matter?
The arguments were fast and furious. No matter the side people took, they all reminded me of a nasty habit I have of taking a book I'm reading and peeking at the end of the novel to see how things end.
I think Christians want to look at the end of the Story and see how it ends. We want to write the ending and decide who gets a happy ending and who doesn't.
Which is why the parables of the wheat and tares is so fascinating. The workers in the field are upset that an enemy has planted weeds among the wheat. They want nothing more than to remove the weeds. As someone that tries to garden, I can understand the desire to remove weeds from a garden. But the owner of the land decides to let the weeds and wheat grow together until harvest time when the weeds will be burned. He is concerned that the desire to remove the weeds will hurt the wheat, so better to wait until harvest time.
It's natural to think that this story is about good and bad people and that the bad people will go to hell. It very well might be what Jesus is getting at. But notice that now is not the time to pull out weeds. Now is the time to let them grow together.
The parable is a reminder that we don't know the end of the story. We don't know who is wheat an who is a weed. We also are unaware of the parts of us that are "weed" the part that turns away from God and the part that is "wheat" that seeks to follow and be Jesus to those we encounter.
The Church is filled with stories of people trying to root out weeds. The problem is that we end up pulling up the wheat as well and end up messing up God's garden.
As we head to church this weekend, let us remember that we don't know the end of the story. We aren't called to determine the fate of our sisters and brothers. We are called to tend to the field, care for both wheat and tare and leave the end result to God.
Go and be church.
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