Wheat and Darnel

Thursday, May 29, 2008 -- Week of Proper 3

Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 969)
Psalms 37:1-18 (morning) 37:19-42 (evening)
Proverbs 21:30 - 22:6
1 Timothy 4:1-16
Matthew 13:24-30

1 Timothy opens with a warning that "in later times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits..." He speaks of those false teachings coming from those "whose consciences are seared with a hot iron."

The next line is this: "They forbid marriage..."

Matthew's gospel is the parable of the field with the good seed and the weeds. Both have been sown in the field. The householder's slave ask, "Do you want us to go and gather them?" The answer is, "No."

It helps to know a little Middle Eastern agriculture here. The weeds are probably darnel, a common species of noxious rye grass that looks very similar to wheat as it grows. There are some forms of darnel that have toxic properties. Only when the plants mature can you tell the difference between wheat and darnel. The wheat produces fruit, the grain that can be ground into bread. The darnel does not, and it may be poisonous.

The homeowner's caution seems to have multiple messages. First, the slaves do not have the capacity to tell the difference between the wheat and the darnel, at least not until they have grown enough for the wheat's fruit to be manifest. Second, because the two are growing together, it is likely that these high-minded purists in attempting to rid the field of of the weeds will actually do great harm to the good plants. The lives and roots of the wheat and weeds are so intertwined that to uproot the weeds will destroy or harm the wheat.

My 33rd wedding anniversary is just over a week away. When Kathy and I were married, we had great hope. But we had no way of knowing whether our relationship would be fruitful or noxious, whether we were planting wheat or weeds. It was the same for others among our friends, as we went to one another's weddings. They all began with love, joy and hope. Now we know. It took a bit of time to discover that some were pretty poisonous. Occasionally a sick relationship could be renewed, with prayer and counseling, repentance and forgiveness. Sometimes it became clear, this relationship is toxic to its core. Pulling out those weeds was always painful, always an experience of death. And many innocent lives were intertwined and injured. But there was a second planting, either as a renewed single or sometimes in another marriage. And often new growth and new fruit blossomed from the place that once was toxic.

Though there was no way to know for certain on that day thirty-three years ago, something good and fruitful was beginning for me and for Kathy. We have friends who made their vows to each other 16 months before we did. I know that we'll get an anniversary greeting from them, because these things are important to them. They celebrated their 34th anniversary in February. Their love and their lives have been abundantly fruitful. But they have been forbidden marriage, at least one that is recognized by the church and the state. They are two loving men of same-gender orientation. And one of them is black. Earlier generations would have forbidden them to marry had they been a man and a woman.

Some people whose consciences seem to be seared with a hot iron fail to see the loving faithfulness of this couple, the good fruit and abundant wheat that they have produced. Many weed-pulling, reforming purists have sought to rid the field of their type. But time has been revealing, and love has been manifest in them.

1 Timothy's correction to those who have paid attention to deceitful spirits is to point them toward goodness. "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God's word and by prayer." Sometimes it takes a little time to see the fruit of thanksgiving and sanctification. After 34 years of love in the midst of weed-pullers, my friends just laugh when those who can't tell the difference between wheat and darnel call them "fruits." They are. Fruit-full!

Lowell
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Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

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