Word to the Wise
Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - Tuesday in the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jer 14:17-22 and Matt 13:36-43]"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." [Matthew]
JULY 26 ST. JOACHIM AND ST. ANNE (parents of Mary)
Chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew is a unit of agricultural parables. There is seed and field and mustard seed and weeds and harvest. (Yes, there's also the domestic one of yeast and flour which I like because I bake, and a bunch of short ones at the end of the chapter) What is a bit different is that Jesus is shown to explain two of the parables to the disciples. The first explanation is about the mixed results from the sowing of the seed. The second explanation - the one in today's gospel scripture - concerns the parable of wheat and weeds (in older translations, "tares"). Even in the best of fields and crops there are going to be weeds. Jesus' wisdom here is important. In the early stages of a crop, the difference between desirable plant and undesirable plant is not always clear, and when it is clear, the process of "weeding out" the undesirable can cause damage to the desirable plants.
Some folks like to emphasize what happens later to the weeds. I prefer to focus on the misguided zeal that yearns to be in on the weeding process. There is always that "Is he/she 'one of us or one of them?'" stuff going on. Jesus tells us to leave that to "the Son of Man" who will send angels to take care of it. Until then, the two crops grow together.
It has been said that a "weed" is often an honest plant that happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This should make us cautious about assuming vigilante status too quickly. The tendency to scapegoat is also something to be guarded against. All of this is reason to understand and appreciate the wisdom of the "New Moses" that the Gospel of Matthew presents to us in the person of Jesus Christ. AMEN
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