Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

PULL THEM OUT!

            Jesus takes us once again into a farming setting to bring home to us his catechesis. The imagery he picks for our instruction is heartwarming and hopeful. He gives three parables in today’s Gospel but I will draw your attention mainly to the first parable on the wheat and darnel/weeds. Most of us are familiar with backyard gardens or large-scale farming. It is the general practice for farmers that, when the chosen seed is sown, from that moment till harvest time, there has to be a continuous weeding of weeds in order to help the good plant to grow well. It was therefore not out of place for the workers of the field to suggest to their master to allow them to go and weed out the weeds that “an enemy” of the master planted in their land while they slept. They would have acted in the right because the weeds that naturally come to the farm are normally weeded out, let alone those ones an enemy has planted. But the Master of the farm simply said: ‘don’t pull them out!’

            By the orders of the farm owner; one can therefore analyze his instructions via three (3) perspectives; and they are: agricultural, political, and spiritual perspectives.

            From the agricultural perspective, the master of the farm demonstrates that he holds mastery and right technique in the Palestinian way of farming; and his servants were novices. I make this assertion because in Palestine, tares (the weeds) were one of the curses against which a farmer had to labour. They were a weed called bearded darnel. In their early stages, the tares so closely resembled the wheat that it was impossible to distinguish the one from the other. When both had produced seed heads it was easy to distinguish them; but by that time their roots were so intertwined that the tares could not be weeded out without tearing the wheat out with them. Even the farmers in Palestine who generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other. Both, therefore, must be left to grow together until the time of harvest. The tares and wheat are so like each other that the Jews called the tares “bastard wheat.” With this background, one can conclude that in Palestine, “the pull them out” method is not recommended especially when it comes to wheat and darnel.

            Apart from the agricultural perspective, the parables can bring home political ramifications. As it is known in the world, the territory of Palestine is a unique location for it is inhabited by diverse ethnic and religious groups. Over the years the attempt by one group to pull another group out of Palestine has created a lot of tensions. At one point in history, Palestine was arguably the most unsafe place to live. Was Jesus making a prophetic statement with this parable? I would like to believe so, because with the tensions in Palestine, it is not wise to pull any group out but they should learn to co-exist peacefully. It may be easy for one to conclude that the land was promised and given to the Jews (the good children of God) and the presence of the other tribes should be seen as “darnel/weeds” and so they ought to be pulled out but if that agenda is pursued, it would be one of the unwise political decisions ever made and may lead to “the third world war”.

            One of the main setbacks of man’s religious advancement has been the persecution of minorities in countries that a particular religion is dominant. Almost all the major religious groups have found ways to persecute some people, either by tagging them as heretics or pagans. Religious groups ought to learn how to accommodate others who do not share their faith and beliefs. We may have come a long way but in this 21^st century some religious fanatics seem to find it extremely difficult to accommodate “outsiders.” Today’s parable has a lesson to teach all of us.

            The “pull them out” phrase is at times used frequently within the spiritual context, whereby some people think that others are so sinful that they should not be allow to live in this world with them. Go to some churches and hear the type of prayer requests some people put before God. I have heard some Christians pray that God should strike their enemies with thunder, while others have petitioned God that pepper be injected into the eyes of their enemies so that they go blind. One of the lessons in today’s Gospel is that we should avoid passing premature judgement on the “sinner” or the “evil man” in society. Remember God still makes saints out of the worst of sinners – St. Paul is a good example. Spiritually, if one ought to strive to pull something out, then it has to be the ‘pulling out’ of sinful ways in order to pave way for holiness of life.

            I would like to conclude this weekend’s reflections with this: Capital punishment for instance should be reviewed in countries that “lawfully” permit it. No one has the right to take the life of another person no matter how evil the “accused” may be. When Mehmet Ali Agca nearly killed Pope St. John Paul II on May 13, 1981, some people called for him to be severely punished, but St. John Paul II did not only forgive Ali but went to prison to visit him. We should always remember that “vengeance is the Lord’s, and he will repay it when it is due.” We should pray for conversion of sinners and not for their destruction.