Weeds and Seeds

Since ancient times, people have observed how the world around us changes. And through observations, they have learned nature has within it a certain pattern, a logic. For example, the seasons change so that the physical world can blossom, flower, and then be renewed to begin the cycle over again. The human person is born, matures, and dies in order to make way for the next generation. Such are the rhythms of the natural world.

In the Gospel today, Jesus uses three analogies from the physical world to help us better understand the workings of the kingdom of God. Like the natural world, the spiritual world has a logic by which it operates. But often, it is quiet, even hidden from our view. The tiny mustard seed turns into the large plant; a bit of yeast leavens the whole dough. In the same way, the kingdom of God is a reality present among us – unseen at the moment perhaps, but powerful nonetheless, and one which will one day be visible to all.

As Christians, we are called to work for this changing of the world, especially by the promotion of charity and justice. We await in hope the moment when God will finally accomplish it, but we also work to make ever more visible the kingdom of God present among us. But the mystery of the kingdom of God is not just something that will happen for the world as a whole. It is something that *is happening* even now for us as individuals. Just as the natural world operates according to a pattern by which it blossoms and flowers, so too does the Holy Spirit seek to enliven us, that we may flourish according to the purpose he has designed for our life.

Today’s third parable offers us insight into this reality. We can draw various lessons from the parable of the wheat and the weeds: to have patience when we see injustice around us, because God will right all wrongs in the final account; to be aware of the activity of the devil, who seeks to disrupt the work of God and to impede souls from reaching the kingdom; to encourage us to be on guard against sinning and leading others into sin. While all of these are good and worthy lessons, they also are perhaps secondary to the basic point – that, until the final harvest, it is very hard, and perhaps impossible for us, to tell the wheat and the weeds apart.

The Parable of the Weeds Among the Wheat (c. 1600) by Isaac Claesz von Swanenburg (attributed) 

In the natural world, seeds of wheat and of weeds are quite distinct, although they can sometimes appear similar at first. In the spiritual realm, it is perhaps better to think of them as competing principles found within each of us. The seed of wheat is the working of the Holy Spirit within us: to find the Lord’s purpose for our lives at every moment; to be content to follow his will rather than our own; to flourish in the place and the time that he has laid out for us. The weed is the spirit that goes against that: that seeks out our own will and way of doing things and not God’s; that grasps for contentment in anything that satisfies for the moment; that in pride and self-centeredness strains against anything contrary to how we view the world and ourselves.

These two principles – the seed of service, and the weed of selfishness – are found within every heart. It is up to us to choose which we will follow. We do so each day, sometimes in each moment, and by each choice, we allow one principle to become stronger over the other. However, there is always the possibility of change, and this is both a source of hope and of caution. If we are living out of the principle of selfishness and self-centeredness, there is in this life the chance to repent, to be changed into the good wheat – to ask what is the Lord’s will and to do it. For that same reason, the one who lives in service to God and to neighbor must never become lax in doing God’s will, since there is always the danger of giving in in the end to selfishness and presumption. It might be that many whom we might think to be either weeds or wheat will – in the final accounting, in God’s time – show themselves in fact to be the other.

Friends, it is impossible for any of us on our own to become good wheat. But “the Lord is good and forgiving,” and in those areas that we need transformation, “the Spirit comes to aid our weakness.” By opening ourselves to what the Spirit wishes to do with us and within us, we too can play a role in the unfolding of the mystery of the kingdom of God. May the Good Wheat of this Holy Eucharist help us to patiently and perseveringly strive to be counted among the righteous in the final harvest of the Lord’s kingdom.