(Jesus) put before (the crowds) another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field;but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!” ~ Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Images of weeping and gnashing of teeth aside, there is a powerful lesson for us in this parable.
Jesus speaks to the understanding that human have a tendency to call out others as evil and even tell them they'd better watch it or they'll go to the fiery place!
Most frequently these days I hear this from Christians who refer to LGBTQ+ individuals as sinners. I can't tell you how many social media posts I see about this and how many people I've known or heard of who have been rejected by family or friends.
People get ejected from communities who name them as evil.
But to that God says: You don't get to assign who is sinful and who isn't. That's up to me, because quite frankly, take a look in the mirror. What you see in it doesn't look all that different.
Now this doesn't mean that when someone harms us or another that we can't name it: that crimes don't get punished. Consequences in this life are real.
But what it does mean is that we don't get to determine who God loves. We don't get to tell someone that they are going to hell or that God rejects them. We aren't the arbiters of final judgment.
We are reminded that we live into the reality that evil will coexist with the good in this life. Sometimes the evil and the good look very much alike.
Even when we look in the mirror.
God remind me always that I am not the judge of who you love. Help me to never reject someone as your child. Amen