The Trouble with Weeds

Last Sunday’s scripture passage was about good seed being scattered in all kinds of different environments. This week we’ll spend time with the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, an account where bad seed is intentionally sown alongside the good. The “weeds” look suspiciously like the “wheat” in their early days and the workers in the field are tempted to try to identify the weeds and pull them out.

Our passage invites us into a conversation about the issue of good and evil. In his book People of the Lie, M. Scott Peck defines evil as “that which kills, either in body or spirit.”  And while the topic may be unsettling, it’s one that people of faith wrestle with as we recognize forces within, between and around us that diminish life and well-being. As people who seek to align ourselves with love on individual, community and systemic levels, what do we do about the trouble with weeds?