He replied, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, ‘First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
In the parable from today’s Gospel reading, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field. His enemy sowed weeds throughout the wheat so that both the weeds and the wheat appeared from the soil and would not be separated until harvest. The first reading from Jeremiah tells the story of human wheat and weeds, how evil grows among the living temples of the Lord.
Help me understand, God, that there are people today who do exactly as people did in the first reading, people who “[are to] steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not.” There are people who reach not for Baal, but who worship what goes beyond the limits of freedom and distort it, thinking, “We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again.” God, help me remember to pray for peace and conversion of heart so that all will worship you alone. In my own life, guide me away from strange gods so that I do always what is pleasing to you.
Jesus, you know that this life is a spiritual battle, that the enemy comes while we are asleep and prospers among us during the day. Can I trust that in me you see a little child, whose fears and anxieties you can scatter with the touch of your hand and a whisper of reassurance that you are ever present?
It is summer, and the weeds have flowered and grown tall. Today, God, help me to acknowledge that they are here for now and will be until the end of time, and help me to work on uprooting the weeds that have grown in the very heart of my own garden. Let the weeds be the weeds and be bundled in time for burning, but let me then be gathered like wheat in your arms.