Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

This week I am thinking about weeds and a fancy theological term known as eschatology. In academic theology, eschatology is word that describes a category of theological inquiry and conversation that deals with how all things will come to an end.

When Jesus comes will graves burst open with divine zombies? Will there be one thousand years of time where the cosmos will rejoice under the direct sovereignty of Jesus AFTER he comes or before? Is there such a thing as purgatory?

All of these questions are eschatological questions. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a parable about how someone sowed "good seed" in his field only to have, while sleeping, an interloper come and sow weeds among the good seed and disappear. The parable continues with how, once the harvest comes, the weeds are harvested first and burned before the wheat is gathered and placed in the barn.

And there are a few unique things about this parable worth noticing. For one thing, normally these parables of Jesus are recorded in and of themselves, but this one is followed by the disciples directly asking Jesus to "explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." And this parable is also exclusive to Matthew; it doesn't show up in Mark, Luke, or John.

This is a challenging parable. It can be simple to look at this and read a simple eschatology into Jesus' answer to the disciple's request for explanation: good people are the wheat that are safely placed in the barn and bad people are the weeds who are burned into "the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This parable is challenging because I think we know now that having a convenient box for good people and bad people is a recipe for disaster.

We have seen throughout human history what happens when we categorize people as good or bad. We have seen the genocides and the trauma. And so many of us know how it feels when churches operate in this way on the basis of human sexuality or marital status or gender.

When I read this parable I struggled to find a deeper meaning than this surface level meaning. And then I got to thinking about what one of our community partners and resident artists, Jim Rabiolo, is doing for us in a plot of land out in front of our main entrance. Where there was once green grass there is now hay and the look of verdant possibility. And there are also some plants that seem almost accidentally placed on one corner of this plot.

Asclepias syriaca L.

This plant is a vital habitat for a precious species of insect that is both beloved and close to endagerment: the Monarch Butterfly. Monarch caterpillars exclusively feed and pupate on this plant. This plant is also edible when prepared properly and many ethnobotanists agree that it was likely widely harvested by indigenous communities. The flowers, immature seed pods, leaves and shoots of this plant are all edible.

The name of this plant? Milkweed.

Is it a weed? Would it have been burnt and not saved in Jesus' parable? Because of how it can very rapidly spread through rhizomes underground as well as spreading seeds, it has been perceived that way in the past. Some folks might look at it determine that it looks like a weed.

It seems to me that the value of the plants in Jesus’ parable in Matthew 13 had to do with whether or not they were wheat rather than if they were weeds. Now, don't get me wrong, some weeds are pestilent and can interfere with plant life we might want to thrive. Some weeds are noxious and even poisonous. Some weeds are irritating and invasive (I grew up in Southwestern Virginia and Kudzu comes to mind).

But it seems to me that what we consider weeds are also a human created category. And like anything created by us throughout history, it is and should be subject to change.

So I wonder if the things that might have been weeds, metaphorical or otherwise, to the people Jesus spoke to in the gospel of Matthew might not be so good to consider weeds anymore? Jewish people under roman occupation would have had a very clear idea of who enemy and friend were. But today? We are not under occupation. And we have done so much harm doubling down on the making of enemies rather than expanding our notion of who our neighbor is.

I want to invite you to reconsider what you might consider weeds in your relationships, spirituality, or other parts of your life. You might find that your categories need some updating!