Postkiwi Duncan Macleod

Weeds among the Wheat

Jesus then told them this story: The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left. When the plants came up and began to ripen, the farmer’s servants could see the weeds. The servants came and asked, “Sir, didn’t you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?” “An enemy did this,” he replied. His servants then asked, “Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?” “No!” he answered. “You might also pull up the wheat. Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I’ll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I’ll have them store the wheat in my barn.”

Matthew 13:24-30 (Contemporary English Version)

I’ve just finished reading J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. One thing that amazes me is the capacity for Professor Dumbledore to work with staff and students who have the capacity to work for good or bad. Hogwarts as an institution has boundaries. People are expelled for destructive behaviour. But there is a willingness to allow each person to prove themselves in the long term.

As I look at the church around the world, over time, I see the same dynamic at work. Jesus has a huge number of people gathered around him who have proved in the long term to be perpetrators of evil. At the same time there are repentant rascals who have become the most loving proponents of the gospel.

We constantly face the temptation to jump the gun, to anticipate how people will turn out. We have our own criteria by which we decide who’s in and who’s out. And yet Jesus takes the risk with all of us. He knows we have the capacity to blow everything. And he knows we have the capacity to follow through with our redemption. Even when people have blown it Jesus has the capacity to redeem a flawed follower.

At some point each of us will be accountable for the way we’ve lived our lives. But it’s our lives, not the lives of others, that we speak for.