Weeds Amongst The Wheat

My best friend's father lived in Central Illinois. Now, if you ever have been to Central Illinois you know that the roads down there go for miles and miles without a curve.  You can take a cue ball and if you were able to roll it down the centerline of the highway, by the time it got from you were to the next town, it would not be more than an inch off of the center, that is how flat it is out there.  It is so flat that one town is famous for its Indian mound, it is called Blue Mound and people come from miles around just to see something that is not flat!  

Jim's father related a story about something that happened between him and his father many years ago,  Jim Senior was but a boy and his job was to weed the wheat field.  He spent one Saturday morning weeding and to his way of thinking, he had done a superb job.  He reported to his father that the weeding was done.  Jim's father congratulated his son and went out to the porch to admire his son's handiwork.  It was almost as Jim had said. The field of wheat looked weed free!  Now his father shook his head and said that he saw a weed about eighty yards in and about six feet to the right of the fence and he suggested that his son go and pull it.  The boy peered into the distance and he could see nothing but a field of wheat and he turned and started to question his dad.  His dad was not one to be questioned and a glare at the boy propelled him on his way.  Once safely away from his dad, he mumbled under his breath that the old man was going senile.  He made it to the spot that was pointed out and there it was, one half of an inch taller than the brown wheat plant there was a very healthy stinkweed growing fat and happy right next to a stalk of wheat.  He turned and looked at his father who stood on the porch, arms crossed, and a big grin on his face as he saw his son pull the offending weed out.  Jim senior said that his dad could see a weed in a clover field at a thousand yards and that he would send you out to pull it! 

God, our Father, has absolutely perfect sight.  He knows weeds when He sees them and He also knows and appreciates the beauty of the wheat.  In our parable today, Jesus, explains why there is evil in the world.  It is not because the Father wants it, it is because He knows that if he mounts an expedition to remove the weeds, some of the wheat may be uprooted as well.  He wants every grain of wheat that he has planted to flourish so he allows them to grow together until the harvest time.  At harvest, the wheat will have had the most amount of time to grow and mature and to provide a bountiful harvest.  The weed too has seemingly grown but the difference comes at harvest.  The wheat is carefully selected and placed into the barn while the weeds are gathered and used as fuel for the fire. 
So, when you see evil in the world, be assured that God knows about it and it is being tolerated for the good of the wheat.  The wheat is more precious to him than anything and in the end, both wheat and weeds will end up where they belong.