Wheat or Weed

Today’s Gospel Text: Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' 28 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" Matt 13:24-30

Reflection:  If I mention to you the Malus Domestica tree and describe some of its salient features minus any reference to its fruit, then who will understand it easily?

But mention a apple tree and then talk about Malus Domestica then many will understand.

Who will call an Apple tree by its botanical name in daily reference? Who will understand what Malus domestica means and what it signifies, except may be a student of botany.

In all popular usage the tree that gives us apples will be referred to as an apple tree and not a mango tree or orange tree or a coconut tree.

Likewise any other tree we refer to in daily life is generally referred to by the fruit it gives and how easy it is to understand.

Even in life we often refer to the parents by their children’s name and thus you have John’s father or John’s mother.

It is the fruit that makes the difference and enables us to make a choice in planting a tree. If we want apple we will plant an apple tree or if we want a Mango we will plant a Mango tree.

In the gospel too we have wheat and weed as reference points but what exists before these are the plants.

Hence Christian people may be referred to as the plant, the weed plant or the wheat plant and they in themselves are beautiful, each having its own beauty.

But what makes us disdain one from the other is the fruit that they will be giving, one a useless seed and hence a burden on the soil and the other wheat, whose action of absorbing the soils nourishment will never be considered a burden on the soil.

Those who produce fruit that does not sustain life or promote life are like the weed.

They apparently may even appear as sustaining the wheat plant, because if removed they may harm the wheat plant but ultimately they are useless meant to be burnt.

    

“Thus you will know them by their fruits” says Jesus Matt 7:20; 16

Prayer: Lord, teach me to cooperate with your grace so as to bear fruits that are acceptable to you.

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