“Master, did you not sow good seed? Where have the weeds come from?”
Good seeds and bad weeds grow together everywhere. You find them in families and neighborhoods, classrooms and businesses, courthouses and churches. We search in vain for the pure meadow of unadulterated wheat. If we go knocking on the door of any monastery, we’ll be told readily that the holiest monk there wrestles with the darkest demons. If we look in our own hearts with honesty, the seeds and weeds are evident.
Jesus describes two groups in this parable: children of the kingdom and children of the evil one. While it’s pleasant to imagine these as two distinct communities that never dine together, in fact, I’m both a citizen of the kingdom and a child with a dark heart, often on the same day. The weeds are in us, just as the good seed is planted firmly in our hearts. Which claims the greatest territory has a lot to do with which one we water most.
How do you encourage the good seed and discourage the weeds in your field?
(Reflection and questions by Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings)
Since the Sunday Gospel is the heart of the Gospel Weeklies, an important part of preparing to share the Gospel with children is to read and reflect on it in advance of your class session. The Gospel at Home and the Gospel for All Ages (see Gathering Rituals/Questions) are resources on our website that can help you do this. While these resources take a break in the summer months, we’ll be drawing our weekly reflections from Exploring the Sunday Readings.
Image credit: Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
