This past weekend proved to be an awesome time for harvesting. Who knew that so many treasures were hidden in the Cottage city Community Garden. In April, my sister worked with the Port Towns Youth Council and my neighbors to plant six watermelon transplants. By June, we started to see the fruits of our labor.
When we saw three baby melons sprout out of the ground, excitement grew that by the middle of the end of summer we would have a big juicy watermelon to share with one another. We tended to those watermelons, pulled the weeds around it, then BOOM! one day we came to the garden and the biggest one was GONE (someone took it) and the other two had been lost to elements and a greedy groundhog.
We were all so upset and knew that our summer of watermelon fun was over. But, the garden had something else in store for us! Today we were weeding the watermelon area, we discovered four new watermelons that were hidden by the weeds — the largest one was 30 pounds.<br><br>
As we looked around the garden, we realized that the weeds legit were hiding the fruit. The tall grass assisted with drainage so the melon didn’t get too wet from the rain. The weeds provided shade; so as to not get dried out from the sun. The weeds covered the watermelons keeping them out of view from me, other gardeners, our baby groundhogs, and other people who just so happened to use our space.
As I was sitting outside in awe of God, I gave a slight eyeroll and said “God you think you’re slick.” My mind went to the parable of the wheat, and how Jesus told the disciples not to pull up the weeds because their roots were intertwined and doing so would damage the wheat and the harvester would be left with nothing. This parable is analogous to God’s view on people, those who are doing God’s work and those who are presumed, by others, to not be doing God’s work.
The Parable of the Weeds24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them.30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:24-30 New International Version (NIV)
Our presumed diligence in “protecting” the watermelon also made it easier for others to take the watermelon before it was ready or for other predators to get it before we could make it to the harvest. But when we allowed the weeds to grow, the fruit flourished. At the end the weeds weren’t fully bad; they fulfilled a purpose that we thought wasn’t important but was critical for the harvest.
Fascinated by the revelation, I opened my Bible and read the parable again. There was a part of the story that I missed. Its when Jesus tells his disciples to burn the weeds, yet keep the wheat in the barn.
Now I’m completely stuck! I just witnessed how the weeds were good at this moment, why would we burn them!? Why would Jesus say to destroy people, if, in a roundabout sense, they protected others doing God’s Work?
When I think about the verses more, perhaps the scripture touches on not just burning the “weeds” in the fire rather it looks at taking away anything that conflicts with our purpose or identity in God. When life is all over, the people who today, our society has managed to cast aside or look over, or ignore, are being used to fulfill God’s purpose in a way that we could never understand and clearly not witness in this current realm. In Elizabeth Johnson’s commentary on the parable, she writes that “Jesus makes clear that we simply cannot be certain who is “in” or who is “out.” In fact, God’s judgment about these matters will take many by surprise (7:21-23; 8:11-12; 21:31-32; 25:31-46).” In that way that I guess the same is true for watermelon, wheat, weeds, and people.
Allow us to not judge the weeds around us too quickly. Despite who may have planted them or what nefarious purpose it may seem to be fulfilling, remember that in the end, all things will work to fulfill the purpose of God.