July 19, 2020

The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds and Jesus’ explanation makes up our Gospel Lesson for the seventh Sunday of Pentecost. The parable paints a picture of perpetual conflict. The world is a battleground where the forces of good and evil are in constant warfare. There are moments when evil appears to have the upper hand. The atrocities that take place about us cause fright and insecurity. The agony of our own inner beings as we do battle with the rebellious, selfish taints and tendencies of our humanity, leaves us confused and frustrated. We are involved in struggle – fierce, vicious, unabated. The outcome, according to our Lord’sanalogy, is not in question. When the day of harvest arrives, God will intervene and the forces of evil will be defeated.

We long desperately for the day of harvest when evil shall be no more, and we shall know and experience the meaning of ultimate and eternal victory. Jesus does not tell us the “why” of struggle. It may be a necessary part of our redemption. Perhaps this crucible experience, with all of its anguish and agony, is essential to our Christian maturity and development, and there is no other way of learning total surrender to and dependence upon God.

The law of nature, that life is given and enriched through struggle and travail, is no less true in our spiritual lives. It is our task to learn how to exist within this struggle, how to turn failures into successes, how to develop and mature within the throes of conflict and find therein a measure of joy and effectiveness. And it is here, in the midst of daily conflict and struggle, that we are called and equipped to advance the kingdom of God and to contribute to the great harvest God has promised. Our great God will teach us as God taught Paul how to “rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, character, and hope” (Romans 5:3- 4).