Wheat

We had a funeral today for a 19 year old who was killed in a car accident this past Sunday. As I sat in the sanctuary and was thinking about the tragedy of this event I couldn't help but think about how this coming Sunday's gospel reading might fit the situation.

I see the parable of the wheat and the weeds being shared to address of the question of why is there evil in the world around us? Why do we, as believers, end up suffering. Our instinct is often to suggest something, in tragic moments, like it must be God's will. Really? This parable seems to suggest that God didn't plant the weeds, the evil, but it was the devil. The problem is we can't really tell the difference between the wheat and the weeds, so we need to allow them both to grow.

Why did the evil ugliness of Brady's death happen? I don't know, but I am awful tempted to blame the devil. What will come of this? I don't know that either, but I do suspect time will inform us much better. What I do believe is that we were given a promise in our baptism that we are wheat... you are wheat.