16th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Wheat And The Weeds

Last week we heard the Parable of the Sower, how some seed thrived, yet much of it was choked-out. Continuing on the theme of planting seeds, today Jesus speaks of a field that was well-planted, but in the dark of night it was infiltrated and poisoned by an enemy.

It’s later in the reading that Jesus more thoroughly explains the parable, including the heaviness and darkness of its meaning: Jesus sows the good seed, children of God’s kingdom; and the world is the field into which they are sown. Then he says the weeds are children of the evil one, the devil. He tells his disciples that at the end of days—the harvest—the weeds will be separated from the wheat—and then with words that drip sweetly, like a Hallmark card—they’ll be cast “into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth”! That’s heavy stuff.

We tend not to speak too much of evil, the devil or the fiery furnace. But let’s be clear: there is an objective reality that is evil. In a culture that tells us there is no universal right or wrong, that it’s just a matter of one’s opinion, we can lose sight of evil as a reality. Our catechism describes evil simply as the opposite or absence of good (CCC, Glossary). But we can also cast away any notions of the devil or hell—regarding these concepts as mere ancient scare-tactics, meant to manipulate and control people. But our Christian faith still holds that there is a being whose principle aim is to confuse and divide us, so that we will forget about God, hide from his love, and ultimately separate ourselves from Him forever—the very definition of hell.

Well aside from those heavy theological realities, this parable also presents us with something that all believers struggle with: that while God doesn’t will evil, He allows it to exist. Jesus alludes to this in the parable, speaking of how the Master told the workers to leave the weeds among the wheat until the end, the harvest, as not to disrupt the overall plan.

People in every age have wondered why God allows evil. And for many people, it has been cause to cease believing that there is a benevolent and powerful God at all. In his candid autobiography, St. Augustine described his struggle with belief in God, largely due to the problem of evil and its effects. He searched for an answer, until all his pursuits were exhausted. His only answer was that there is no satisfying answer (The Confessions). But this painful search eventually led to a different answer to the problem in his ultimate surrender, the laying down his heart at the feet of Jesus. Likewise, our questions about evil and its effects upon us are only resolved in fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is its solution.

If it’s true that we don’t speak so much about evil as an object reality, or about the devil and the fiery furnace—it’s not because they’ve either ceased to exist, or we no longer see them as true threats to our well-being.

So, for any worries we have that the enemy seeks to confuse and separate us from each other, and from God; for all the suffering you or your loved-ones experience; for all the disorder in the universe that seems so contrary to God’s plan; for all the nagging questions about evil and its origins—we don’t simply try and pretend these problems away, but neither do we forget that the only answer lies in Jesus: his sacraments and their graces; trying to emulate him, to conform ourselves to him, and to know him.

But on a more personal and interior level, for whatever way the weeds have been planted in your heart and are alive within you—doubts in goodness; harboring resentments; hurtful divisions we perpetuate; disordered desires; tendencies towards anger; tendencies toward pride; and being held captive by fears—it might well be that we’re not focusing on the right thing. It’s in seeking a deeper engagement of Jesus that we find our way above any fears associated with the devil and his workings. Jesus, the one who helps us move through the realities of human suffering. Jesus, our way out of the weeds within us.