Wheat And Tares

Jer 7:1-11
Matt. 13:24-30

In today’s gospel concerning the parable of the wheat and weeds, Christ identifies a farming problem although in this case, it is the spiritual life. An enemy of a landowner has sowed weeds among the wheat of his field. When the owner’s servants ask him if they should pull up the weeds, he answers no, because they might pull up some of the wheat as well. For me, this shows the patience and mercy of God. We do not have to be stuck where we are but become the “wheat” God made us to be. The challenge sometimes is to be honest with ourselves and to remain wheat and not weeds. To bear fruit in the life of the Spirit through our daily struggle and in the end be harvested into God’s eternal barn.

We are confronted with the same message again in today’s first reading, Thus says the Lord, Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place. Put not your trust in the deceitful words: This is the temple of the Lord. Jeremiah 7:3-4. God confronted the people with the fact that they were taking Him for granted. They figured they were exempt, so to speak, from any moral considerations because they worshipped in the Temple. We cannot presume we are “wheat,” simply because we belong to a certain group of people or a certain faith. Equally, we cannot presume others are “weeds” simply because they do not belong based on our views or judgments.

So let us consider yourself as the temple of God. if we are truly humble, knowing that we need God’s grace, and grateful that God loves us beyond anything we can deserve or imagine, then we will be open to God removing what leads us to be more like “weeds,” and letting God transform us into “wheat.” And even more, as in the parable the wheat grew up with the weeds, we can help others be healed and transformed by God’s love in Jesus Christ. We become the temple of God and the Spirit dwells in us.

Also, let us observe the complete safety of the Lord’s wheat; even the least grain has a promise of preservation. God himself sifts, and therefore it is stern work; he sifts them in all places, “among all nations”; he sifts them in the most effectual manner, “like as corn is sifted in a sieve”; and yet for all this, not the smallest, lightest, or most shrivelled grain, is permitted to fall to the ground. Every individual believer is precious in the sight of the Lord. May we not be thrown away at the end of our lives I Lord but come to dwell in your presence forever Amen.

God bless

Osho
Credit:
This article is written by Rev Fr. Joseph Osho OSJ. Please visit his personal blog @ https://www.blogger.com/profile/10377666931103644634
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