The news never seems to make a joyful heart even in the most joyous times – whether news of wars – crime - political discord –scandal – corruption – legislative proposals against nature – breakdown of family and culture – drugs - poverty – hunger – homelessness – the list can go on – evil clear in the world. When Jesus talks of weeds in the world, it is not hard to find examples. – And it is also not hard to find examples of those trying to pull the weeds out.
And there are those with zeal who think they know the answer – ideologies seeking to purify and fix all that is wrong – trying to pull out those weeks– revolutions to overthrow all that is problematic in the world and make it a better place - yet how do these turn out?
The late 18th century – the French Revolution – presented itself as a turn to democracy and the equality of men – but instead led to the desecration of churches and the reign of terror - over 16 thousand were officially executed at the guillotine – including many priests and religious– not counting those killed without a trial – and even those who had a trial did not really – a jury was chosen for revolutionary purity, not impartial dedication to truth and justice.
There was the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War leading to the rise of communism and the brutality of the Bolsheviks – in the attempt to overcome evils from the Csar – they committed some of the worse atrocities the world had seen.
In China, the cultural revolution in the second half of the 20th century led to the killing of at least a few hundred thousand – often estimated as millions- in an attempt to purge society of perceived evils. Usually, these were those with any sort of business owner or academic credentials. – No one that anyone would consider genuinely evil – but a threat to the ideological project that was supposed to solve the problem.
How did these things, where the people doing them thought there were out to do good, do so much evil in the world? – In all three examples, the revolutionary group thought they could tell the wheat apart from the weeds – thinking they knew who was good and who was terrible and could rip up the – weeds – but time and time again, they were wrong. Pride said they could do something they could not.
Wheat and weeds – traditionally, weeds are translated as tares – a weed that looks remarkably like wheat. If one cannot tell the difference between the good crops and the weeds but tries to remove the weeds anyway - one will destroy everything, having no harvest left. Usually, it makes sense for a farmer to clear out the weeds to help the crop grow – however, one does not sacrifice the harvest to get rid of the weeds. The farmer does not seek to minimize weeds – he aims to maximize his yields – if one cannot tell the difference, one will wait till the harvest to ensure he does not destroy his crop.
So it is with the kingdom of God – for if we look at history, it is not so clear who is the wheat and the weeds – For the grace of God works in mysterious ways – There are some who do great works throughout their lives – but do so in pride, seeking attention. – with no charity in sight. It does them no profit as they are separated from Christ.
But there are also sinners who have done extreme evils – but repent by the grace of God – are united to Christ in baptism and are saved. Consider St Paul – if one only looks at his early life – he is a persecutor of Christians, seeking to wipe Christianity out – approving of the killing of St Stephen – he indeed looks like a weed doing evil - yet it is St Paul who goes on a series of missionary journeys to spread the gospel – defending and ultimately dying a martyr for the faith – the apostle to the gentiles – writing a series of letters including 13 books of the New Testament. If one only looked at his early life, one would think he is one doomed to hell – yet we know that is not the case – For in Christ, by his grace, conversion is possible – forgiveness of sins.
“ No, if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat along with them.” – We cannot tell the difference – we do not know the state of anyone’s soul – one who does evil now might well repent – and accept the grace of Christ – one who looks like he does good now, might be doing to evil motives – we cannot know. We must humbly accept that we cannot tell the difference – wheat and tares look incredibly similar.
It is when, in pride, one thinks they can surely tell the difference that we get the ideological revolutions that have caused such evil and destruction throughout history. Instead, we must humbly recognize what we do not know. Confident that there will come a time when all will be set right. The last judgment is scary to many, but Pope Benedict called it an object of hope, for all will be set right. Something we can hopefully and humbly approach, knowing what we do not know.
For now, the wheat and weeds grow together – the harvest will come – and “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” – In the end – all will be set right.