Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
In our Gospel reading this morning…Jesus is telling us that evil cannot be separated from good at this stage of creation’s growth…
- Because at this stage good and evil are so intertwined that the destruction of evil would also result in the destruction of much good.
- Good and evil are both still in a situation where they cannot be totally distinguished from each other.
Every gardener understands this problem.
- The first sprouts of various plants are almost identical.
- Then when the weeds can be identified by the eye…
- It is still no easy matter to root them out…
- Any kind of blanket treatment of the whole garden is liable to injure the good and desired plants.
- The serious gardener must do what God does with souls…with us.
- That is…treat each plant individually.
- The gardener gets down on hands and knees…
- And starts untangling the weeds from the desired plants and pulling them out one by one.
- The Lord be with you…
How can one be certain…for instance…
- Whether an unrestrained child is filled with a spirit of good and productive energy looking for a healthy outlet…
- Or is suffering from some sort of inner turmoil that will get worse rather than better over time?
- We do not really know for sure.
- We must watch with patience and love.
Or we see an adolescent…a teenager… who from all appearances…
- Is a menace to society…with no apparent conscience or sense of responsibility at all.
- But something happens…
- He grows up and out of adolescence…
- And his heart is touched.
- He begins to change.
- And after some time…he seems to be a new person altogether.
- Had he been judged and condemned too early…
- The good man never would have evolved out of what appeared to be a delinquent…a weed…a tare.
A case in point:
- The book entitled Wild is Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail…
- Beginning in the Mojave Desert and hiking through California and Oregon to the Bridge of the Gods…into the state of Washington.
- The book contains flashbacks to prior life occurrences that led her to begin her journey.
At age 22…Cheryl had been devastated by the lung cancer death of her mother at age 45.
- Her stepfather disengaged from her family…
- And her brother and sister remained distant.
- Cheryl and her husband divorced and she began using heroin.
Seeking self-discovery and resolution of her enduring grief and budding addiction
- At the age of 26…Cheryl set out on her journey…
- Alone and with no prior hiking experience.
- The book weaves the stories of Cheryl Strayed’s life before and during the journey…
- Describing her physical challenges and spiritual realizations while on the trail.
- Ultimately becoming a fruitful wife…mother and writer.
Another way in which it is difficult to tell good and evil from one another is that they are often deeply interrelated.
- Consider the case of a man with a good heart…
- But also…a fiery temper.
- Such people…because of both their impatience and their good-heartedness…
- Are often the instigators of great and positive activity.
- They get others moving.
- They get things done.
- In a less-than-ideal world…
- Sometimes an apparently negative quality serves as a catalyst for the doing of good.
Jesus’ parable reminds us of two things:
- First…the fragileness of dawning good.
- In its early stages the development of good is a vulnerable and delicate process…
- Second…again we must remember the principle of intertwining…
- That good and evil have mated themselves in certain ways…
- So that the two must be allowed to co-exist and grow together for a time.
- For this reason…we look back on the most devastating experiences and discover…
- Much to our surprise…
- That there was an inborn goodness working through us that we could not see at the time.
- And as the result of these experiences something positive has developed in our lives that we would not wish to be without.
So…at this stage of creation evil is interwoven with good…
- And so…enjoys a time where it must be allowed to coexist with the good.
- This is a temporary situation…
- A phase in creation’s overall development that will not last forever.
This in no way suggests that evil is out of God’s control.
- On the contrary…evil is so much under God’s control that…in the end…not only will evil have its day of reckoning…
- But also…in the meantime…it is constantly blocked by the fact that it must serve the good…
- It must serve God!
Wherever evil shows itself and grows…
- Good grows along with it and ultimately overshadows it.
- So…through evil’s very flourishing…
- It causes the good to flourish as well…
- Until evil always eats away at its own ultimate purpose.
Jesus said:
The hour is coming…indeed it has come…
- When you will be scattered…
- Each one to his home…
- And you will leave me alone.
- Yet…I am not alone…because the Father is with me.
- I have said this to you…
- So…that in me…you may have peace.
- In the world you face persecution.
- But take courage…
- I have conquered the world!