Parable of the Wheat and Weeds

MATTHEW 13

24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”

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As I read from Matthew this morning, I was struck by this parable of Jesus. Here is the question I am chewing on (yes, kind of like a cow chews her cud): How much time and energy do we waste trying to pull weeds out of the fields in which we are growing as Kingdom wheat?

Motivated externally by the desire to produce a perfect harvest for Christ -- and internally by the desire to not be associated with the weed by those looking on from the outside -- we yank and tug and tear. Doesn't this passage tell us to not waste our time and that God will do the sorting later?

We should just grow and quit trying to kill off the weeds around us.