Our Scripture reading for this Sunday is the Parable of the Weeds found in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.

Theodore Wardlaw writes, “This parable shines a bright light on our inevitable human preoccupation with drawing lines between who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’”

After all, the servants seem to have a pretty practical approach to the presence of these weeds. Why not run through the field with a large group of workers, pull out the weeds, and cleanse the field? It’s obvious, isn’t it, in this parable that the wheat is ‘in’ and the weeds are ‘out’?

Yes and no. There definitely are weeds among the wheat … but it isn’t always so easy to tell which is which, at least from our perspective. The weed that Jesus is talking about here is the bearded darnel. As it grows the bearded darnel looks just like wheat above ground. Only when the plant bears seed can it be distinguished from wheat. However, underground, the roots of the bearded darnel surround the roots of good plants, like wheat, and pull nutrients and water away. As one author writes: “It’s a devil of a weed.”

It’s interesting then, in Jesus’ parable, that the great threat isn’t the weeds themselves. The farmer in the parable assures his servants that both can coexist together and the wheat will still grow. The threat in the parable comes from the reaction to the weeds by the servants. Jesus says to the over zealous servants who want to pull the weeds out at any cost: “Let them be. Wait. Be patient. While you are pulling out the weeds you may uproot the wheat with them.”

Thus, this parable is a call to be patient. Yes, there is evil around us, but there is a danger in trying to eradicate it at all costs. By naming all that is evil, by casting people aside for standing behind certain causes or voting for certain political parties, by saying that we are the definitive judge on what is right or wrong, who’s in or who’s out, grace and compassion get eclipsed by judgment, a desire for vindication, and accusations that we may not be in a position to make. … Now, this is not a call to do nothing and to have no convictions and to not confront our brother or sister when necessary, but we must approach things with patience.

You just never know … some people that we are so sure are darnel may be wheat after all. Some people may even be making the same kind of judgments about us. Unless you really know what you are looking for it can be so hard to tell with wheat and darnel. But, thankfully those decisions ultimately are not ours to make. Jesus teaches us in the parable that those matters rest in the hands of our patient God.

And if God so willingly has that gracious patience toward us and His entire creation – especially demonstrated through His Son – as His children we are equipped by His Holy Spirit to have that same gracious patience with others and the world around us.