There’s nothing more powerful than pulling a weed: standing over it…crouching down and groping for its center stem…establishing a tight grip at the base…and ripping up the entire root structure, shaking off the clods of mother earth…then holding it for a brief moment of victory, acknowledging the accomplishment that you have just cleansed – purged – and saved your garden from a terrible invader. I often times hold up especially tough weeds to the sky and exclaim my power over them, “Ahhh, I got ya!” There’s absolutely nothing like it. In fact, it is the closest I will ever come to God’s absolute power. In my garden, like a child plays house, I delight in role-playing the parable of the weeds (Mt. 13:24-30 and Mt. 37-43). It’s amazing.
I should clarify that in the parable there are separate roles, and the one who picks the weeds, well, has no power. The power is all in the one who plants the seeds—the sower. He’s God, actually. He is the one who calls the shots on when or if to pull the weeds. So I cheat a little because in my garden I get to play both roles of God and His angel, since I am the one who planted the garden and do the weeding. I just happen to proclaim my power over the weeds at the point of picking them…whereas in the parable, the angels who harvest the garden are simply carrying out God’s judgment, and they don’t seem hold any victory dance like me. But I digress…
The parable is so rich and applicable to life, it makes gardening a fun way to clear the clutter and confusion of our roles as children of the kingdom trying to navigate the real world. By dwelling on it, you can't help but to think about who you are in the garden of life: a weed or a good plant. For example, when I immerse myself in my real garden and think about the parable, I wonder, “which am I: the weed or the good plant?” And, “who exactly are the angels? Is the end of the age when I die, or is it another appointed time?” Or, “Will I get thrown in the fire or put into the barn? Will the angel pull me up and say, ‘Ahhh, I got ya!’?” I don’t know. But it keeps my perspective about what my role is in life to think about this parable while I am pulling weeds.
And what about those servants in the parable? Who are they? Jesus doesn’t say. But they seem to be the people on earth who are relied upon to cultivate the Word: like, for example…church leaders. I often think that our church leaders get themselves mixed up with the harvesters’ role, and like me playing in my garden, think they have the power to decide who is a weed, and who isn’t. The parable is so powerful in teaching the servants how not to take action on anything…but to watch the seeds grow while seeking guidance from the sower (God). The sower is the decision maker and the harvesters do the harvesting (not the servants). It seems like pastors understand this but that other church leaders - when they demonstrate judgementalism - do not.
I should clarify that in the parable there are separate roles, and the one who picks the weeds, well, has no power. The power is all in the one who plants the seeds—the sower. He’s God, actually. He is the one who calls the shots on when or if to pull the weeds. So I cheat a little because in my garden I get to play both roles of God and His angel, since I am the one who planted the garden and do the weeding. I just happen to proclaim my power over the weeds at the point of picking them…whereas in the parable, the angels who harvest the garden are simply carrying out God’s judgment, and they don’t seem hold any victory dance like me. But I digress…
The parable is so rich and applicable to life, it makes gardening a fun way to clear the clutter and confusion of our roles as children of the kingdom trying to navigate the real world. By dwelling on it, you can't help but to think about who you are in the garden of life: a weed or a good plant. For example, when I immerse myself in my real garden and think about the parable, I wonder, “which am I: the weed or the good plant?” And, “who exactly are the angels? Is the end of the age when I die, or is it another appointed time?” Or, “Will I get thrown in the fire or put into the barn? Will the angel pull me up and say, ‘Ahhh, I got ya!’?” I don’t know. But it keeps my perspective about what my role is in life to think about this parable while I am pulling weeds.
And what about those servants in the parable? Who are they? Jesus doesn’t say. But they seem to be the people on earth who are relied upon to cultivate the Word: like, for example…church leaders. I often think that our church leaders get themselves mixed up with the harvesters’ role, and like me playing in my garden, think they have the power to decide who is a weed, and who isn’t. The parable is so powerful in teaching the servants how not to take action on anything…but to watch the seeds grow while seeking guidance from the sower (God). The sower is the decision maker and the harvesters do the harvesting (not the servants). It seems like pastors understand this but that other church leaders - when they demonstrate judgementalism - do not.
I also can’t help but imagine that there's a parallel between a clean garden and a clean lifestyle. Sometimes when I have just pulled a ton of weeds from an area of my garden, I look back at the beautiful landscape and feel like my life, too, is clean as a result of my garden being clean. I get a false sense of being rid of sin because my garden has no more weeds…at least temporarily.
Of course, the amount of time where my garden is fully weeded is quite rare. I barely have time to get showered each day, let alone, get dressed, feed the kids, take care of my husband, house, laundry, pool, and cat. I have no time for the garden beds. Inevitably the garden surrounding my house and the vegetable garden out back are always riddled abundantly with all kinds of weeds. Is that a reflection of me and my life? Am I such a sinner that like my garden, my weeds are more visible than my good plants…that my sins are more visible than my good works? This makes me nervous. But I guess it’s true. I am a big sinner. But I don’t like facing it every day when I walk out the door. No one does. But there it is, in my garden.
Then there’s the weeds themselves. First of all, the parable is so true about needing to let them grow a little before you pull them. When my sons and I planted our vegetable garden, we waited so anxiously for anything to sprout through the soil. Then when the first little leaves began to break through the dirt, we held our breaths. We couldn’t tell if they were the plants we had planted, or if they were weeds. And just like the sower advises the servants in the parable, just like God advises his servants, we waited until all the plants grew and matured a little before pulling any weeds. We didn’t want to disturb the good plants until we knew for sure which were weeds and which were our plants.
But when we did pull the weeds, boy, was it another an eye opener to sin and the parallel Jesus makes between weeds and the ‘sons of the evil one’. Weeds are nasty little devils! Some of the weeds have their own defenses to prevent being uprooted. For example, there’s one type of weed in my garden that seems really tough, but when you pull it, it breaks off at the base leaving the roots to grow deeper and stronger. I just can’t get the root out for the life of me…shy of retrieving some sort of power tool. It’s like a headless nail, but worse. This weed grows back fast and bigger than ever.
Isn’t that just like some evil people in positions of power? They entrench themselves in the hegemony – maybe the son of a boss - and somehow survive all the lay-offs, struggles, and politics…even though they are the worst managers in the whole world.
There’s another weed that looks so soft and velvety. So without taking the time to go and fetch my gloves, I just reach down and pull it as I’m strolling off to the car or somewhere. As soon as I touch the creamy leaves, they cut me. I tell you, my hand comes up with all these microscopic slices that soon enflame into red welts and sting all day long. It’s the worst. It’s like the devil goes out kicking and screaming.
That’s why Jesus was so dead-on giving us the parable of the weeds. Anyone who touches plants knows the power of a Christian life…and the need to maintain a perspective on the roles God designed for growing His Kingdom.
Post Script: under my care every garden bed surrounding our house became so overtaken with weeds – despite my power trip – that we finally felt we had to hire a gardener to come help. So we did. A hard, leathered Spanish man with bushy, salt-n-pepper hair pushed into a big gardening hat came one day. On his face was a deep cracked-lip smile, and there was an intense soft gleam in his eye. I could immediately tell he was a man who had been through a lot of hardship in his life, but was now deeply content. He came up the walk. He immediately threw his arms around me and said, “Mrs. Terrresssa! Nice to see you! I am Angel!”
Of course, the amount of time where my garden is fully weeded is quite rare. I barely have time to get showered each day, let alone, get dressed, feed the kids, take care of my husband, house, laundry, pool, and cat. I have no time for the garden beds. Inevitably the garden surrounding my house and the vegetable garden out back are always riddled abundantly with all kinds of weeds. Is that a reflection of me and my life? Am I such a sinner that like my garden, my weeds are more visible than my good plants…that my sins are more visible than my good works? This makes me nervous. But I guess it’s true. I am a big sinner. But I don’t like facing it every day when I walk out the door. No one does. But there it is, in my garden.
Then there’s the weeds themselves. First of all, the parable is so true about needing to let them grow a little before you pull them. When my sons and I planted our vegetable garden, we waited so anxiously for anything to sprout through the soil. Then when the first little leaves began to break through the dirt, we held our breaths. We couldn’t tell if they were the plants we had planted, or if they were weeds. And just like the sower advises the servants in the parable, just like God advises his servants, we waited until all the plants grew and matured a little before pulling any weeds. We didn’t want to disturb the good plants until we knew for sure which were weeds and which were our plants.
But when we did pull the weeds, boy, was it another an eye opener to sin and the parallel Jesus makes between weeds and the ‘sons of the evil one’. Weeds are nasty little devils! Some of the weeds have their own defenses to prevent being uprooted. For example, there’s one type of weed in my garden that seems really tough, but when you pull it, it breaks off at the base leaving the roots to grow deeper and stronger. I just can’t get the root out for the life of me…shy of retrieving some sort of power tool. It’s like a headless nail, but worse. This weed grows back fast and bigger than ever.
Isn’t that just like some evil people in positions of power? They entrench themselves in the hegemony – maybe the son of a boss - and somehow survive all the lay-offs, struggles, and politics…even though they are the worst managers in the whole world.
There’s another weed that looks so soft and velvety. So without taking the time to go and fetch my gloves, I just reach down and pull it as I’m strolling off to the car or somewhere. As soon as I touch the creamy leaves, they cut me. I tell you, my hand comes up with all these microscopic slices that soon enflame into red welts and sting all day long. It’s the worst. It’s like the devil goes out kicking and screaming.
That’s why Jesus was so dead-on giving us the parable of the weeds. Anyone who touches plants knows the power of a Christian life…and the need to maintain a perspective on the roles God designed for growing His Kingdom.
Post Script: under my care every garden bed surrounding our house became so overtaken with weeds – despite my power trip – that we finally felt we had to hire a gardener to come help. So we did. A hard, leathered Spanish man with bushy, salt-n-pepper hair pushed into a big gardening hat came one day. On his face was a deep cracked-lip smile, and there was an intense soft gleam in his eye. I could immediately tell he was a man who had been through a lot of hardship in his life, but was now deeply content. He came up the walk. He immediately threw his arms around me and said, “Mrs. Terrresssa! Nice to see you! I am Angel!”
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