Monday 10 October 2022

Psalm 72

Background

I once heard a Roman Catholic nun say that a good day in a convent is one when no one is murdered! Yesterday, we were thinking about the ten lepers who were living together in community, and I am sure there were times when they wanted to kill one another too. You may also have experienced tensions in your household; perhaps especially during the lockdowns of the pandemic. Living together in a confined space with little opportunity for a change of scene or company is not easy. This week is 'Prisons Week' when we remember those who are constantly living in lockdown.

I find Jesus’ instruction to "let them [the wheat and the weeds] both grow together until the harvest" (verse 30) deeply challenging. Jesus was talking about the weeds which had sprung up among the wheat. I interpret the weeds as the people in my life whom I found difficult to live or work with! Jesus is saying that we are not to try to get rid of them. We are to grow together with them. Trying to pull up the weeds runs the risk of damaging the wheat as well.

People sometimes ask why God planted within the Garden of Eden the tree that would lead Adam and Eve into temptation. Today’s parable helps to answer that question because it describes the kingdom of heaven as a place where there are both weeds and wheat. God wants us to live and grow together with those elements which we would rather were not there.

I think the same is true of those aspects of our own personality we dislike or see as weak. Rather than trying to ignore or uproot them, we can grow together with them. Our awareness of their presence helps us to see how we need to change.

Notice that the weeds in the parable were sown while everyone was asleep (v. 25). Closing our eyes can be dangerous. We need to be able to see the weeds (ie our own faults and failings and the conflicts that are taking root in our community) not just when they are fully grown but before that when their seeds are being sown.

To Ponder:

• What or who do you sometimes wish you could get rid of?
• How have you grown as a result of conflict or failure?

Prayer
Life-giving God, open my eyes to see both the weeds and the wheat which are growing in the field of my life, and to let them grow together until the harvest. Amen.