God even loves weeds

Your stuffed dog doesn't have much fur left, and he's lumpy from the time you took him in the bathtub by mistake. Your favorite t-shirt is so small your belly button sticks out when you wear it.

But you still beg your parents, "Please, don't throw them away!"

Jesus would understand not wanting to get rid of something yet. In this week's Gospel (Matthew 13:24-43), He talks about even keeping weeds around for a while!

"The kingdom of heaven is like a farmer who planted wheat in his fields," Jesus taught. "When his workers found weeds growing in the wheat, the man said, `If you pull them up now, you might pull the wheat up with them. Wait until harvest time, and then you can pull everything up and throw the weeds away.'"

The Gospel story is like that. The "farmer" Jesus talked about was really God, who "plants" people all over the world. Some people turn out good, like wheat, and some bad, like weeds -- but God doesn't want to just get rid of bad people. God sees good stuff even in "weeds," like you see fun stuff in your old t-shirt.

You don't want to throw out your stuffed dog, either. Even though he's got dirt on him that won't come out, you don't care. Besides, maybe someday, they'll invent something that can clean him up!

That's how God feels about bad people. God lets the "wheat" and the "weeds" grow together, because maybe someday, the bad people will change. If they haven't changed when they die and get "harvested" by God, they don't get to go to heaven.

But if a bad person turns good, there's always a place in heaven for them. God doesn't throw people away -- even if they're as messy as an old shirt or a stuffed dog. God loves everything: weeds, shirts, stuffed dogs and people!

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK: Jesus, help me love people as much as I love my favorite shirt or my stuffed animals. Amen!

(07-15-99)