Cultivate a Desire for God

07-19-2020Weekly ReflectionFr. Arul Doss

Dear people of God,

In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us three parables; the parable of Weeds, the parable of Mustard seed and the parable of Yeast. All three parables are about the kingdom of God. Here I would like to write about the parable of Weeds alone.

There were people in Our Lord’s time who wanted him to separate the bad from the good as well. Among them were people who claimed the moral high ground, the Pharisees whose name means “the separated ones.” Our Lord didn’t do. He had all sorts of people around him, a rainbow coalition of people, the learned, the ignorant, the good-living, the bad living, tax-collectors, prostitutes, the lot. Why doesn’t he weed them out?

As any gardener knows, weeding can be the greatest threat of all to the life of the young seedling. At first, the problem is one of identifying which is which. The weeds must be left until the seedling can be clearly recognized. Even then, removing the weeds may pose an even greater threat. It might sever the seedling’s root system. Often the weed brings the seedling away with it.

The parable of the weeds is starkly simple and yet widely ignored. To the question “Do you want us to go and weed it out?” the answer of Jesus is a categorical “No.” And the reason is self-evident. Only God has eyes sufficiently discerning and fingers sufficiently gentle for this job. Weeding out is God’s prerogative. Life would be so much better for everybody, if only we would leave it to him.

Weeds cannot become naturally good seeds for us. In the case of human beings, a weed of life can become a good seed by the grace of God and human cooperation with God’s will. Every day is a God’s gift and an opportunity for the process of becoming good seed. This is a special privilege given by God through death of Jesus Christ on the Cross to all of us. So, let us try to appreciate and make use of this privilege in our life.

Peace be with you all!

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