In our Old Testament lesson, Jacob has a dream while sleeping in the wilderness of a ladder reaching to heaven with angels ascending and descending upon it; waking, he calls the place Bethel, exclaiming that surely God is in this place. The world in which we live today is filled with the corona virus, with political turmoil, with racial disparity and injustice, with greed, hatred, and incivility. It is certainly tempting, perhaps with some justification, to believe that God is sure NOT in this place, but, how do we know?
When I go out to weed my flower beds and my vegetable garden I can readily identify the weeds I need to remove so that what I planted can grow and thrive. Jesus tells his audience a parable of a man who sows good seed, in this case wheat, while his enemy comes at night to sow weeds, in this case called tares. The word used here is zizania, a weed which can easily be mistaken for wheat until they are ready for harvesting. In other words we can look out at our world/field and not know for certain what is weed and what is wheat. But maybe that’s not our job, for it is God who in the end will do the final sorting out. Maybe, just to further confuse things, each of us has some wheat and some weed in us. More about that in a moment.
Have you ever stopped to consider how you actually got to be you? I am told that of all the millions of sperm racing toward that one ovum, the odds of you turning out to be you with all your unique features are significantly greater than the odds of you consistently winning the Power Ball Jackpot every day. In terms of the vast cosmos we are truly infinitesimally small. And yet, this small seed that is us grows to maturity capable of doing much good or harm. It is astounding (read Psalm 8) that the God who created the cosmos cares for us; if truth be told he takes better care of us than we do of ourselves. Perhaps more astounding, he takes care of the weeds in us as lovingly as he cares for the wheat in us.
Again, Jesus’ parable is a cautionary tale on two levels. First, we are reminded not to judge others because of their weeds, nor should we pride ourselves on our wheat. That is God’s prerogative. Second, we are invited to move beyond despair to hope. What difference do I make in this world of ours? Do my actions amount to anything? Here’s the good news. Any word of love, any act of kindness, any criticism or judgement withheld, no matter how small or insignificant it may appear to us is never overlooked by the Master of the field. When we open our faith-informed eyes and look over our field we will be able calm assurance, “Surely, God is in this place.”
