A truly powerful person does not use their power against the weak and vulnerable
It is a good idea to periodically review our life patterns and the wisdom we can learn from them. The Scripture readings for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time offer a good helping of wisdom and a beautiful parable to reflect on.
If we take the time to review our lives, we notice various periods when we could be considered weeds and others when we could be considered wheat. If our lives were to freeze at the moment when we seemed like weeds, other people might want us uprooted and burned in a fire. At other times, we might be revered and cherished as the wheat among the weeds. Those of us who are severely self-critical might always see ourselves as weeds and may even attempt to uproot ourselves out of self-hatred. Others of us take a talent that we’ve been given and bury it out of fear that someday we might make a mistake and appear to be weeds. All of these are reasons why the parable tells us to wait until harvest time and let the harvester make the decision.
The wisdom we are offered this weekend gives us a timely teaching about the proper use of power, especially if we want to do it in the way that God would do it. A powerful person joins forces with the weak and vulnerable, allowing them to be examples of real strength. A powerful person, wielding that power as God does, uplifts those who are struggling and champions the fate of those who are broken.
Only a weak leader tries to prop themselves up through their authority and power. This is good wisdom for the exercise of our own personal lives. If we look at our lives through the parable of the weeds and the wheat, we might notice how sometimes we want to pull those in our lives who appear to be weeds and use this authoritative strength to supposedly cleanse our lives. According to the parable and the life of Jesus, this is truly a misuse and destructive use of power. If we are truly powerful, we can wait until the harvest time and let the true harvester make the decision between weeds and wheat.
This feast of Scripture readings we are offered this weekend should lead us to reflect on our own fears and insecurities. What else would lead us to uproot or destroy a person or thing that we have labeled as a weed in our lives?
If we are made in the image and likeness of God and we are promised eternal life, why would we be threatened by the presence of something or someone that appears to be a weed? Even if our power allows us to uproot a threat, history tells us that another one will appear, just as frightening and just as real. Wouldn’t it make more sense to address the recurring fear in our lives rather than keep uprooting people or things that seem to threaten us?
Once we have identified the fear and put it in its proper place in our lives, security comes from the promises of God and not from some fake power to change our environment. Enjoy the wisdom we are offered.
