This week we continue to hear Jesus speak in parables. More seeds! In the reading for this upcoming Sunday, it really makes me think of how close evil and sinfulness is. All around us we are intertwined with sin, so much so that it is difficult to distinguish between that which is good and that which is bad. A good way to bring this into reality for us is “reality TV” – have you found yourself watching the Cassie Anthony trial, at first you watch because you are curious, and then you begin to find yourself a part of something that just doesn’t seem right. Should these people, those on trial or in reality shows, ever get the recognition for the actions that they engage in? And yet we so easily can become part of the problem.
When you begin to the think of the Devil, or Satan or Evil, whatever you want to refer to him by, life becomes a Dodge Ball game, and you can’t really, as in a dodge ball game, take your eyes off of the person who is trying to wack you with the ball. I remember this game in grade school, and when you had the ball, the first thing you did was look for the person who really wasn’t paying too much attention to the game. And then you thought, ahhh easy out.
I think that Jesus really puts the question to us in this parable, of how are you going to live your life despite all the obstacles. Notice in the reading that the master doesn’t tell them to take the weeds out right away, but tells them to separate them at the time of the harvest. I don’t know much about growing wheat, but doesn’t it seem that it would be easier to separate them before they grow and wouldn’t it be better for the wheat, so that the good soil wouldn’t be used up by the weeds too. Couldn’t the master just make it easier on the wheat?! Do you ever find yourself asking this about life; couldn’t God make it a bit easier for us Christians? We want to do the right thing, live in the right way, take care of God’s creation, and then we have decisions to make . . . like Wal-Mart! Wal-Mart makes it so easy, don’t they, offering everything from lettuce to engine oil all in one convenient location at the cheapest prices and yet we have all read how Wal-Mart can offer items at these prices. And for some, Wal-Mart is now the only game in town because smaller local stores could not compete.
Everywhere we look we are intertwined with sin. One almost wants to give up and go their own way, to a comfortable life. We sometimes don’t want to hear of all the bad stuff we are intertwined with, when really we are trying to do the best we can. But then we have to ask ourselves, are we doing the best we can? I think that the most important thing to realize is that it is totally impossible to do this alone. We so need a community to remind us and to help us and to encourage us to do the right thing.
Jesus goes on to say that the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, the smallest seed there is! But on this one small seed, a strong large tree grows and there birds find rest and safety. Are not our parishes like that here in the North Country. Havens for us to find rest and support, and it all starts with those who have faith like a mustard seed, just knowing that God will change us, and maybe it is not even about “changing” us. The seeds that were wheat, were wheat seeds, and they really never could be anything else, of course they could be choked by the weeds, but they wouldn’t become weeds, they would just become dead wheat. We have to remember, that when we were born we were exactly what God wanted us to be, and perhaps this parable reminds us of that, that we were born a child of God and to our death we must remain that . . . until we see our Father once again.
No comments:
Post a Comment