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Connections&
July 21, 2002--16th Sunday of the Year
"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good and bad seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat: '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."
"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
Matthew 13:24-43
One part wheat, one part week
You're walking down the street and are accosted by a homeless woman looking for "spare change." You have a five-dollar bill in your pocket. You could give her the five dollars--or you could hold on to your hard-earned money, reassured by the fact that there are shelters and soup kitchens that can help her as well as you can, (and, besides, she'll probably just spend it on booze and cigarettes, anyway).
There is a rumor going around about a colleague at work. The story is not true and you know, for a fact, that it is not true. This scandal could cost your coworker his job--but his departure could accelerate your own career at the company. You could write a memo to your boss defending your colleague--or you could keep quiet because, frankly, it's not really your problem (is it?).
The big math test is Friday. Somehow, a student has gotten a hold of the test and offers you a copy. You could refuse the offer and go back to studying--or you could take the answers, rationalizing that since you didn't steal it you haven't actually done anything wrong (have you?).
CONNECTION: When we hear Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds, we first think of good people (the wheat) and bad people (the weeds) coexisting in an imperfect world until the coming of God's kingdom. But the reality is that there is something of the "good" wheat and "evil" weed within each one of us. We all possess the ability to do compassionate and just things out of love--but there exists the same ability to do cold and destructive things out of selfishness. We all can respond to any situation taking the moral and ethical high ground--but we can usually find some justification for acting out of our own self-interest or devise some rationalization for taking a less demanding and more profitable approach. Discipleship realizes that struggle existing within each one of us but also embraces the hope that, in seeking to imitate Christ's spirit of loving servanthood, we may be "wheat" for a world that is often choking in "weeds." u
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