Post 5 – 8 May 2019
Wheat and Weeds in the World
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did these weeds come from?’ ‘An enemy has done this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'”
Marthew 13, 24-30
Have you ever wondered why the world seems so full of weedy ideas and people? In this parable, Jesus tells us that it wasn’t meant to be this way. The parable starts with “the kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed.” Note that the Teacher did not say “this world is like…” He said “the kingdom of Heaven is like.” So the battle of good against evil that goes on all around us is not limited to our earthly world. The enemy, Satan, works in both spirit and physical dimensions. His wicked seed, that contaminates both angels and humans, is the idea that we can replace God with our own knowledge and wills – we can become our own gods.
Christ sowed His good seed in our earthly world by his life, death, and resurrection. Because of Him, redemption is available to us all. But evil abounds, like weeds all around us, tempting and demanding rejection of His salvation. This is the worldwide Spirit War in which our lives take place.
How should each of us approach his or her individual spirit war? First of all, be glad that you’re alive to fight it. Here’s another quote, this time from The Spirit War, the closing words from Betrayal and Hope – Book 1.
The Archangel Michael, talking to his best friend the Archangel Gabriel, is feeling low. Michael is bummed that no angel could win Redemption, so that the Lord Creator had passed that job to a human Messiah.
“…what if I, or one of us, had kept from hating; had beaten Lucifer, but with his soul intact. Could that have been enough for redemption then and there? Now, because we all gave in to hate that day, the Lord has humbled our angel might, by putting redemption upon a human. As I look at the holiness of Mary and the goodness of Joseph, I know that Jesus will pass the test of worthiness that we all failed. But another part of the redemption puzzle arises, something I can’t figure out. How can a man defeat the Devil? Where will the power come from, for Jesus to do what he must do, against Satan and all his Kingdom of Evil?”
Gabriel thought long and hard before answering. “We’ll have to trust in the Lord, Michael. Remember, Jesus is from Him, as well as the Blessed Mother. That power has to break through, sooner or later. Take heart, my brave best friend. I have not lost hope that someday I will embrace Xavier again. Or that Life Company, our family, will be complete once more. The Lord has promised it. And we are lucky to have parts to play, in making it so.”
The Spirit War- Betrayal and Hope, Book 1 – page 155
Jesus has broken through, and won redemption. Don’t get down when the weeds of this world look ready to choke everything.
Don’t forget that Jesus Christ’s redemptive mission is not yet complete. Christian authors Thomas Horn and Cris Putnam have coined the pithy phrase that we are all in the “already, but not yet” time frame (Petrus Romanus, page 73). Christ has already defeated Satan and the Evil One’s masterpiece, Death, by dying and rising. But He has not yet returned to fully establish His kingdom on this earth, in which all His faithful will rise.
When Jesus’s kingdom comes fully, every adversity we will have suffered for His sake will be a badge of honor.
So in this life, be sure to act like His wheat, standing firmly against the weedy ideas and people in this world. And keep in mind that through His grace and our work, some of those human weeds just may be changed into golden wheat. As Gabriel says to Michael, when Jesus Christ’s kingdom comes into its prophesied fullness, we will all count ourselves as lucky, that we had parts to play in making it so.
