Passages: Isaiah 2:5-11; Romans 9:30-10:4; Matthew 13:24-30
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!
This world would be a better place if…? What would we each fill that blank with? If everyone thought like me? If everyone dressed like me? If everyone worshiped like me? What about if everyone was a democrat or a republican? The world would be a better place if free will didn’t exist. Though philosophical in nature, we’ve all had some idea or vision of our homes, our lives, our communities, our Church, our countries being a certain way, as long as we could remove all other things and persons that are opposed to how we think, believe or act. This world would be a much better place if…
As children of God, as Christian’s we believe and know that God as love has created all good things and with a purpose. This material world and the invisible angelic realm was created with love and was deemed very good as we read in Genesis. In the Gospel today, Christ gives the example of what the Kingdom of Heaven and all creation should be likened to.
“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field” (v. 24) The man, who is in this case God, only has sowed good seeds. Seeds that bear good fruit such as love, hope, compassion, brotherhood and other virtues. However, at night the evil one came and weeds were planted among the good.
Only when the fruits of both the good and evil blossomed, the reality was revealed that someone had sabotaged those good seeds. The natural reaction of those who tended the garden of the master, much like our natural reaction, is to want to pull those weeds out. The world would be a better place if all those weeds didn’t exist. Yet, God, our master takes a different approach rather saying, “Let both grow together until the harvest…”
This parable today has two key teachings for us to take away. Firstly, God allows the seeds and weeds to grow together. In Matthew 5:45 we read, God our Heavenly Father “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Wouldn’t it just be better if the unjust shriveled away and died without the rain or sun? Yet, God our loving Father, the true master of the garden allows both seeds to grow together so that the true nature of the seed is revealed at the time of the harvest – when the fruits have fully blossomed.
The second teaching, which we tend to overlook, is our place in the parable. Where do we come in? Are we the seeds or the weeds? My dear brothers and sisters, through love this world and we have been created for a purpose. God has ordained us as stewards of creation. We, as stewards of this world are called to tend to and take care of all that God has given to us. As tools for us, our lives are blessed with seeds – good fruits such as love, hope, compassion, brotherhood and other virtues. Yet, because of our negligence and denial of God – at night the evil one was able to come and planted evil seeds among us. As we read in parable “But while the men [us, the helper] were sleeping, his enemy came… “ (v. 25) When the serpent spoke to Adam and Eve and sin entered the world, what was their first reaction? They didn’t accept responsibility but began passing the blame and hiding from the truth. Much like in this case, the servants, us, who were asleep, wanted to get rid of the evidence – “let’s pull the weeds out.” Yet, God allowed both to grow side by side still in our care. Which means our part in this parable doesn’t just end.
My dears, which of the seeds do we, as the servants, allow to grow and blossom? In our lives we all have choices. We have the ability to create or destroy. Depending on our decisions, actions, desires, etc. we feed either the seeds of God or the weeds of the evil one. Our master still has a purpose for us and so he allows us to tend to the garden until the harvest. When the time comes at the harvest, the weeds will be pulled out and burned but until then we as stewards have the ability to strengthen the good seeds over the weeds. If we have allowed the evils of this world, sin, to grow in us and strengthen, then the roots of the weeds will be so strong that they will pull the good fruits out with them. We already see this in our lives where blessings of God such as faith, hope, love, compassion and care have been perverted and twisted to serve certain ideas and thoughts. Yet, if we tend to the good and allow Gods blessings of hope, love, care, etc. to grow and strengthen, then the weeds will never be able to grow strong roots.
My dears, this world will only be better place when we continue to nourish and strengthen the seeds that God has given us. The world doesn’t get better by getting rid of people, ideas, or things we don’t like. This world doesn’t get better by replacing politicians or political ideologies with other ones. The world will not get better if we all lose our free will to choose. Rather, the world will only get better if we freely choose to love, to hope, to share, to care in the same way God our Heavenly Father cares for us. The world will only be better when we wake up and begin to take responsibility for our actions towards this world and each other. This world would be a better place if…we as the servants of God, the hands, feet and mouth of God love and care for all creation.
My prayer is that we begin to see our place and our responsibility, so that we can begin to strengthen and grow those seeds which bear good fruits and for their Divine purpose. My prayer is that when we ask that question, this world would be a better place if…
If I do what God has commanded me to do. And doing so, we begin to glorify our Heavenly Father, with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit Amen!