XVI-O.T. Wis. 12:13, 16-19; Rom 8:26-27; Mt 13:24-43 

Last week we talked about planting seeds. This week we’re talking about pulling weeds. The two go together. Every gardener knows that planting seeds is the easy part of having a successful garden; and it is much more time consuming to weed that same garden. As someone has said: “When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.”

In the parable, Jesus assures us that there is a real difference between the weeds or darnel and the wheat. Darnel is a poisonous weed that, in its early stages of growth, looks almost exactly like wheat. It is only when they have grown taller that the difference becomes apparent. By that time, however, the roots are so intertwined that one cannot pull out the weeds without severely damaging the wheat. Only at the harvest can the separation be made safely.

In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus presents a wise and patient God who allows the good and the evil to coexist in the world. God awaits repentant sinners, giving them the strength to acknowledge their weakness. Here Jesus calls us to be patient with those who fail to meet the high ethical standard expected of a Christian.

It is often impossible to know who may be for sure the true and faithful followers of Jesus since we can usually judge only by appearances. In Jesus' day, the Scribes and Pharisees seemed to be the most religious of all, yet he rejected them for lack of interior conversion. In particular, they thought they knew for sure who were the "weeds" and who were the "wheat." And they were sure that those whom they rejected were rejected by God also. The gospels tell us that Jesus thought otherwise. 

Some Christians today are like over-zealous servants who could not tolerate the evil weeds. In their zeal to serve God they go on a crusade against those they perceive as evil with the intention of cleaning up the church, the nation, or the world. In the end they discover they have made a big mistake.

A devout Christian said: I don't always know whether I am weed or wheat. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being." Which, I suppose, includes my heart. For all I know, I may even be the weed in somebody else's garden. Perhaps in your garden. And all of us struggling to keep the weed under control and help the wheat growing.

“An old Cherokee once told his grandson about a fight that was going on inside of him. He said it was between two wolves. One was evil: Anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, gossip, resentment, and false pride. The other was good: Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The grandson thought about it for a moment and then asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf do you think will win?’ The old Cherokee replied, ‘The one I feed.’”

We live in a fallen world, and it is hard for us to resist the tugs of selfishness and sin. We prefer to give in to them, at least a little bit - it's easier!

As the First Reading puts it, God governs us with lenience. He will use even the evil actions of his enemies to build up his Kingdom - omnipotence is like that. An omnipotent God can afford to be merciful, because in the end, he will be able to put all things right. In this context we can understand why there is evil in the world.

We say Jesus defeated Satan and his kingdom; then why do we still see Satanic forces working everywhere in the Church and the world? Did he not really defeat the Satan then? Is it just a mental concept? St.Peter says: Satan is roaring like a lion looking for someone to devour.  As the book of Revelation says, God will confine or chain the Satan only at the end of times and then he will have no freedom. Now Satan has to be allowed to roam free to let those who love God love him with freedom and true love. (Read the beginning of the book of Job. Satan comes into God’s court and asks about God’s servant Job and says Job loves God because he gets every good from you, take some of the good things away from him and he will not love you). Imagine there was no evil or Satan existing in the world, and everyone had to love God and do good by default, because there is no temptation to do evil, we would have no choice to make any mistake or sin. Our love for God would be a kind of automated love, not creative or passionate love. Imagine we get every day of our life the best food we like and no choice of any other food? We would get fed up with that same food. So is with God’s love too. So, God lets Satan allow his work so that we could choose to love him or keep him out of our life. But those who believe in Jesus’ name is a winner already; he is in Jesus. Because Jesus defeated the Satan, those who stand with Jesus the Captain of the winning army, also have won victory over Satan. That is why we need to enhance our faith by prayer and frequenting the sacraments.

Let’s ask God for the grace to practice patience and show mercy.  Let us patiently and lovingly treat the “weeds” in our society as our brothers and sisters and do all in our power to put them back on the right road to heaven, especially by our good example and our fervent prayer for their conversion.

Our exemplary Christian lives will be a compelling challenge and a forceful invitation to evildoers to repent of their sinful lives and turn to God.