Reflection for the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The Master said, ‘Let them grow together until harvest.'” (see Mt 13:24-29)
There are a couple of books I’ve read describing heaven. One is the best-selling book written by Don Piper, “90 Minutes in Heaven.” He was seriously injured in an automobile accident and says that for 90 minutes he had died and went to heaven. Upon arriving, he was surrounded by people he knew, family members, and friends who had made a positive impact on his life. They accompanied him as he gently moved toward the light.
It struck me as odd that the only people he met were those who shared his faith or were related to him. In other words, there were no surprises. I have a feeling that instead, upon arriving in heaven, the most frequently asked question might be, “What are you doing here?”
There is another book on heaven, a work of fiction by Mitch Albom, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”. In that work, upon arriving in the afterlife, the man was escorted by an odd collection of five people, who during their earthly encounter, were insignificant. But each had a message for him, one that he didn’t quite get in life. The “Five People” showed him how his life was interconnected with all of the lives around him.
In a parable (Mt 13:24-29), Jesus himself gives his own description of heaven. In short, he says the kingdom of heaven is like a field of wheat and weeds. Most of the time, I would like the kingdom of heaven to be like Don Piper’s vision of heaven, pure wheat, a group of like-minded people traveling in the same direction in a great spirit of love and fellowship through this life and into the next.
The kingdom of heaven that Jesus describes, at least on this side of the divide, is more like Albom’s work. There are going to be a whole bunch of odd, threatening, or seemingly insignificant people with whom I will come in contact. I might call them the weeds. Yet in unseen ways, these same people’s presence will shape how I grow and develop.
My initial desire will be to pluck them out of my midst, but the message of the parable is that the fabric of our society is a tightly woven mix of wheat and weeds, growing in harmony together until the harvest. We cannot remove the weeds without damaging the entire field.
Like it or not, this parable means I am going to be surrounded by weeds. The weeds could not only be a diversity of people but also a collection of unpleasant circumstances that just “happen”. I would like God to pluck away these ‘weeds’, but the Master says, “Not until all of the plants have a chance to bear fruit.” If I try to uproot and destroy the ‘weeds’ prematurely, I will not only deny them the time they need to produce fruit, I will also damage the fabric of the community.
This field where I live, work and play is always going to be a mix of weeds and wheat. The lesson of the parable is to coexist with the weeds, maybe even let them shape my growth and guide me in unpredictable ways toward bearing fruit. And maybe through my patient acceptance of their presence, the weeds will be given an opportunity to do the same.