Tending the heart's garden
We are in the time of parables. And this Sunday we hear about the ‘parable of the weeds of the field’. A bit like last week we get given the actual parable itself in verses 24-30 and then we get given the interpretation in verses 36-43. With the explanation already given it would seem my job this morning has been made rather easy – but then again with a passage that warns how there will be ‘weeping and the gnashing of teeth’, and the exhortation for those with ears to ‘listen’, perhaps some careful and deeper reflection is nonetheless required!
In the parable Jesus describes two sowers. One sows good seeds – that being wheat. The other, ‘an enemy’, sows weeds. And when the good seeds grow bearing grain, they do so along with the weeds. To better appreciate the picture being painted a brief botany lesson is needed. The ‘weed’ in question goes by the botanical name Lolium temulentum, which is an especially problematic plant for farmers as it looks much like wheat and can only easily be identified once ripe.
Furthermore, it is vital that it is removed before the milling process, because if both are milled together the flour will be spoilt. Another botanical fact – the good and bad plants in question tend to grow together entangled. In fact, because the roots of this weed become so intertwined with the roots of the wheat, we are further told in the passage that the master forbids the slaves to simply pull up the weeds, for such a forceful act could harm the precious wheat. In other words, care is required.
Of course, the parable is an allegory. It tells of another more profound story beyond itself. The one who sows the good seeds is Jesus. The field is the world; the good seeds are the ‘children of the kingdom’ and the weeds are the ‘children of the evil one’. Moreover, the enemy is the devil, the ‘harvest’ is the end of the age, and the reapers, who separate the weeds from the wheat during the harvest, are the angels.
The passage concludes with a dramatic eschatological vision – that being a description of the end times – where the good are separated from the bad. The bad are destroyed whist the good enjoy the radiance of heavenly glory. It is a terrifying and dramatic scene of the good being separated from the bad, the righteous from the unrighteous.
What we are being reminded of – uncomfortably perhaps – is that what is evil, what is lacking in goodness, is very often parasitic on the good. It will corrupt what is good in ways that can be subtle, deceptive, and unexpected. This might be in the form of unhelpful, destabilizing thoughts, unkind words, or forms of individual and social blindness towards injustice. It disturbs and encroaches on the good, disrupting it from bearing fruit and building places of peace.
Moreover, extracting these harmful patterns can be difficult. Like the weeds, they can be deceptive and hard to identify. They can become entangled with the good, making them hard to spot. It can even be that brashness in trying to separate them might prove more harmful. Indeed, some evils, as our passage reminds us, are best left to the reapers of the harvest, the angels.
Nevertheless, perhaps some work can begin now. Perhaps, whilst heeding the gospel’s warning that deep care will be needed in teasing the good from the bad, we can still get things going. And getting things going, begins by recognising that Jesus’ words are not solely intended for two distinct categories – the good and the bad.
Rather they help highlight the fact that in us all are shades of righteousness and unrighteousness – goodness and a lack of what is good. Our task, as earthly pilgrims destined for eternal glory, is to more fully enable that which is good. Our task is to attend ever more fully to the indwelling life of God in us and one another and be formed more fully into the likeness of Christ.
But it takes courage. It involves us doing the difficult thing of looking deep within ourselves with honesty and acceptance at what is and at what needs to change, if we are to live more fully in Christ.
‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit with me’, prays the psalmist. Here the heart describes our innermost self, the location for ‘all the eternal treasures of the spiritual life’, as one Russian Orthodox saint put it (Theophan the Recluse).
The point is simply this: if we are to help nurture the good seeds, then we must confront and free ourselves from the distracting and even harmful weeds, by attending to the garden of our hearts. In prayer and faithfulness, we must become attuned to our deepest selves, to the eternal treasure chest dwelling within us, which holds the power to transform us and indeed our world.
‘Let anyone with ears, listen!’
Some things may well require waiting until the time of the harvest. But until that time, let us attend to, protect, and nurture the peace and goodness of Christ in us and in one another.
+ Amen
Father Seb Lundberg, 19/07/2026