The Introduction
Just as power is used for good or harm, not all seeds are created equal. Jesus tells a story of good seed and bad, and how they grow together in the harvest of the world. We experience this reality in the contents of our own hearts. We have wonderful, generous impulses; and also cruel, petty thoughts. We may be heroic in our love one day, and selfish the next. We forgive and withhold forgiveness. Our fields are waist-high in grain and thistles.
No wonder that good and bad grow together in families; parishes and schools are a mixture of charity and snobbery; politics is full of high-minded ideals and crude scandal. If we’re surprised when nice people do things that are not nice, we have to look no further than this parable for the reason. Reasons are not excuses, of course. Jesus says even a tiny seed of good can create immense goodness. A bit of yeast makes the whole dough rise. The existence of evil is no reason to view it as inevitable. If I find within myself both good and evil, I have a responsibility to grow the grain and invite the Spirit to uproot the thistle in me.
Make a list of some ‘grain’ and ‘thistle’ growing in your heart.
How do you cultivate one and defeat the other?
Try ‘preventative’ and ‘punitive’ justice. Give people a break: forgive and show mercy before it’s deserved. Be kind when kindness it’s returned. Try patience instead of irritation. Plant a good seed in every encounter.
The Scripture – Matthew 13:23
Jesus continued, ‘The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond their wildest dreams’.
The Story – One Person’s Weeds is Another’s Garden
In one of the more affluent suburbs of Melbourne, in front of an expensive home, there is a front yard that looks uncared for and virtually abandoned. It has made the news because the new owner has taken out the green, unmowed lawn and let the yard revert back to its natural, grassland state. This was done much to the chagrin of the neighbours who consider it to be an eyesore and a blight to the entire community. Next to the trimmed bushes and landscaped lawns, it looks strikingly different and a little wild.
There are no lack of critics, not only of gardeners and yards, but also of human behaviour. They are quick to pass judgment about other people’s actions and preferences. They feel they are right no matter what anyone else says. And they want to set their way as the standard that all are expected to follow and aspire to live by. In doing so, they run the risk of throwing out what might be good with what might be considered weeds.
We are all of us human. We should let God be the judge of our actions. We have enough to do worrying about ourselves without trying to judge others at the same time.
The Commissioning
Take your responsibility as members of Christ’s Church to heart!
We will study God’s Word diligently and grow in faith steadily.
We will serve our fellow sisters and brothers justly and carefully.
We will participate in the faith community enthusiastically;
and we will rejoice in what we share, as those marked by the Cross of Jesus.
Amen.
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