‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. [Matthew 13:28-29 GNT]
Jesus again speaks a farming parable comparing physical and spiritual plantings.
He teaches us about the mixture of wheat and weeds, real and phony believers, in the world.
Consider these definitions of a weed:
- a valueless plant growing wild, especially one that grows on cultivated ground to the exclusion or injury of the desired crop.
- any undesirable or troublesome plant, especially one that grows profusely where it is not wanted.
When we see one our first inclination is to pull it out.
We can do this because we can recognize it.
Not necessarily so with the weeds that Jesus speaks of.
By inference He tells us that it is not always so easy to identify the human kind of weed.
And he says that we should leave the sorting of believers and unbelievers to God.
This seems all well and good until we consider the ways that we sort out humans these days.
Many times we judge people to be weeds that are not and do not see the ones that are really weeds.
It is why Jesus says to leave such things to the God who knows the heart.
Help me Lord not to judge another person's heart.
... this devotion is part of the Red Letters series. Click here to read more.
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