Judgement!! (July 17, 2005)

"The virtuous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of the Father"
Matthew 13:43

The parable in today's Gospel is about a farmer who sowed good seed into his field. Under cover of the night, an enemy sowed "darnel (weeds) all among the wheat." And when the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well.

We find it hard to imagine that someone would go to the trouble of purposely sowing bad seed in another person's fields, but among the ancients this was a favorite method of revenge or punishment. According to most translations, the bad seed is what is nowadays called "bearded darnelle." Darnel and wheat is a particularly insidious combination, because the sprouts of both seeds are indistinguishable, even to a trained eye. Consequently, the darnel cannot be weeded out as soon as it emerges, lest the wheat be pulled up by mistake. By the time the plants can be distinguished, it's too late to weed out the darnel because the roots of the darnel and the roots of the wheat become intertwined. Plucking the mature weed will also uproot the good wheat.

The farmer in the parable could burn off the whole field and sow again, but instead he pursues the only course which will allow him to salvage his original crop. He allows the wheat and the weeds to grow side-by-side until the harvest. Then every plant will be cut, the wheat will be stored in the barn, and the weeds will be gathered for burning. In explaining the parable Jesus says, "The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all things that provoke offenses and all who do evil, and throw them into blazing furnaces" (Mt. 13:43).

It is probably safe to say that in our mental images of Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds, we depict ourselves as the wheat. We see ourselves on the side of the angels. We see them collecting all those evildoers (the weeds) and throwing them into the fire while we (the good wheat) patiently wait for those nice angels to escort us into heaven. There, in Jesus' words, we will join "the virtuous who will shine like the sun in the Father's Kingdom" (Mt. 13:43). In other words, the parable is a proper warning for the evildoers (some of whom we would have little trouble identifying) but, as for us, we're the "good guys," we're on the side of the angels, we're on God's side ... Aren't we?

Merely asking that question should remind us that judgment of all persons is God's prerogative, not ours. If God is willing to let the wheat and weeds grow side-by-side for now, why should we presume upon God's decision? Judgment is God's prerogative. It's not our job to sort out those who belong to the Kingdom or to weed out those who do not. That is God's job, and God will handle it just perfectly, thank you, in His own time.

The story is told of a woman who decided to take a break after a long afternoon in a big shopping mall. She sat down on a bench, opened her newspaper, and reached down to take a bite of the candy bar she had just purchased. A well-attired man was sitting next to her and, much to her chagrin he suddenly reached down, took a piece of the candy bar and popped it into his mouth!

The woman was a bit shocked, but she figured, "I'll ignore it." Then she took another piece of the candy -- and he took another piece and popped it into his mouth. Then he beat her to the punch and took yet another piece of the candy bar. By this time she was incensed. She grabbed the remaining candy, threw it in a trash basket, and stormed off through the mall, muttering to herself, "That awful person. I should have slapped his face!"

Minutes later she spotted the man standing in front of a bakery with a donut in his hand. Later, she said, "I couldn't resist the temptation. I grabbed that awful man's wrist, took a big bite out of the donut, and walked away." Then she confessed, "When I got home, I put my things down, opened my purse -- and there was my unwrapped candy bar!" All that time she had been eating his candy!

The constant willingness to pass judgment on others can bruise feelings, stifle relationships, and box people into stereotypes. Instead of being constantly judgmental, we should be constantly striving to bring out the best in one another.

In 1968, a psychological study was carried out in a lower middle-class elementary school. Two researchers convinced the faculty that they had developed a test which allowed them to predict which students were on the verge of surging forward in their learning. To all the teachers they gave a confidential list of the students who were supposedly primed to "blossom" in the coming year. Unknown to the teachers, the researchers had conducted no such predictive test, and the pupils on the list had been selected at random.

At the end of the school year, the listed students had indeed made better grades, performed better on exams, and even improved their scores on intelligence tests. Their teachers expected the best from them, and the students responded by giving their best!

A fable tells of an ancient King who wanted to discourage his four sons from making rash judgments...

At his command, the eldest made a winter journey to see a mango tree. When spring came, the next oldest was sent on the same journey. Summer followed and the third son went. Finally, after the youngest had made his visit in the autumn. the King called them together and asked them to describe the tree.

The first son said it looked like a burnt stump. The second disagreed, describing it as lovely -- large and green. The third son declared its blossoms were as beautiful as roses. The fourth said that they were all wrong. To him it was fruit -- like a pear.

"Well," the old King said, "each of you is right." Seeing the puzzled look in the sons' eyes, the King went on to explain. "You see, each of you saw it in a different season, thus all of you are correctly describing what you saw. The lesson for you, said the King, is to withhold your judgment until you have seen the tree in all its seasons."

There are those who have embraced judging others as a way of life. There are those who seem to take demonic delight in it. A woman was talking about a member of her bridge club. She said, "I wouldn't say anything about her unless it was good. And boy, is it good!" She then went on to gossip about the woman in a very judgmental way.

There was a priest who found a great deal of judgment going on among the people in his Church and he found a wonderful way of dealing with it. Everytime someone in the congregation started to make a judgmental statement about someone else he took out a notebook and a pen and he said, "Now will you please repeat this? I want to be sure I get it down exactly as you said it." It's simply amazing how the people would disappear into the night. I think it would be wonderful if we all kept a notebook on ourselves. When we get our judgmental statements down in writing they may shock us enough to realize how terribly self-righteous we have become.

Through His whole life and ministry and teaching, Jesus has assured us that our relationship with God is the single most important thing in our lives. He also has shown us how our relationships with other persons affect our relationship with God. When our relationships with others are enriching and loving, the power and love of God can move in us and through us. But when our relationships with other persons are destructive, the power of God is literally blocked and we become estranged from Him, cut off from His power. Jesus is very clear, very direct and very specific about this: Do not judge and you will not be judged," He says. "because the judgments you give are the judgments you will get, and the amount you will measure out is the amount you will be given. Why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own?" (Mt. 7:1-3).

The parable of the wheat and the weeds is a story about judgment -- about good seed and bad, saints and sinners living side by side in the world. In the end God will sort everything out, and God's judgments will be just. Meanwhile, our lot is to strive for the best from ourselves, look for the best in others, and leave the harvesting to God! For it is God alone who sees each and every one of us in all our seasons.