WEEDS

16^th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Romans 8:26-27 and Matthew 13:24-43

 

Today’s gospel is so disturbing.

Jesus’ parables so often help us understand what he tries to teach – but, sometimes they can be confusing as well.

I like when Jesus talks about the lost sheep that the Good Shepherd goes to find.  I think, sometimes, that I am lost, and there is comfort in knowing that Jesus will never cease to look and find me.  But today, instead of a lost sheep, I worry that I may be a weed amidst the wheat.   Instead of being found, I will, on Judgment Day, be cast into the fiery furnace.

So where do I stand?

Well, I think we are all born basically good, because we are made in His image.  But we’re not all good. The wheat and the weeds grow inside each one of us.  Maybe it’s only the bad stuff inside me – the weeds – that someday will be cast into the fiery furnace.  Maybe these images of the lost sheep and the weeds and wheat are not contradictory.  Maybe Jesus knows I am lost and will always seek to find me.  ALL of me.  He’ll take me as I am.  The good and the bad.  And then, when my days are done, he’ll “burn off” what’s bad, so only the good in me will remain, and will remain IN HIM.

While I worry about these things I find comfort and peace in my heart when I hear Paul’s words in Romans.   “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness…”

Yes.  That’s it.  God’s Spirit knows.  So while I try, and often fail, to truly follow Jesus, the Spirit is there to support me in my weakness and intercedes for me.

No matter what my struggles or worries, if I place myself in God’s hands, then all be made right.

 

“Call Me Ishmael”