Tag: god’s judgment

The Parable of the Tenants (Matthew 21:33-46)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year A1 Comment
Illustration of the parable of the vineyard workers, in the Codex Aureus of Echternach, c.1040 C.E.

“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

“The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.

“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

“Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

“‘The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

“Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. (New International Version)

I once saw a guide dog gently pressing on his blind owner to go a certain way. But the man didn’t go that way. The dog kept pressing until the blind man kicked his dog. And then, the guy walked smack into a parked car on the street.

We can sometimes think too much of ourselves; and tend to believe that what we say and do and think are right – until we walk into a parked car, looking like a fool.  We need, of course, to listen to God. Yet, because we cannot see God, it’s too easy to treat the Lord as if he were an absentee landowner.

Today’s parable is about who will inherit the kingdom of God. The religious establishment of Christ’s day were not characterized by Christ’s Beatitudes. They thought they were okay. But they were really like a blind man kicking the guide dog, believing their way was right.

There are five truths illustrated in this parable that we need to grasp. The point of the parable is that Christ is looking for people who do God’s will and produce righteous fruit. Before we get into those truths, let’s get the cast of characters straight:

  • the landowner is God
  • the vineyard is Israel, God’s people
  • the tenants that the landowner put in charge are the religious leaders
  • the servants are the Old Testament prophets of God
  • the Son is Jesus

God is patient and longsuffering

God is like the guide dog who gently and lovingly keeps nudging, trying to get the person’s attention. In the parable, God’s people are likened to a vineyard. Jesus drew much of his teaching from the prophet Isaiah.

In Isaiah chapter 5, Israel is likened to a vineyard that God carefully takes care of, looking for fruit, but not getting any. For Jesus to tell the parable about a vineyard, gained the attention of people who knew the Scriptures.

Like Isaiah, Jesus pictured God as having a persistent, patient love for people, even when the tenants rebel and try and throw God out. The landowner, God, has:

  • planted
  • put in a wall
  • dug a winepress
  • built a watchtower
  • rented it out
  • sent the servants 

All these verbs describe a God who put a lot of time and energy into the vineyard. Even today, God still fusses over the vineyard and is looking for people to produce fruit in keeping with a genuine sense of righteousness. 

Humanity, especially the religious insiders, are sinful

In contrast to God’s love and care, is humanity’s persistent rebellion. The picture is of people who are hell-bent on rejecting the love of God. God’s patient love is met each time with a heightened hardness of heart on the part of the tenants. Jesus wanted the crowd to feel the situation of the landowner who goes beyond normal conventions in continuing to send servants; and the tenants’ violence in response.

God feels the weight of human sinfulness. Because the landowner is absent and we cannot see him, we may forget or not realize that God feels the full range of emotions. Each person who goes their own way and refuses God’s love; does not respond to God’s efforts to see fruit produced; and any system that is imposed contrary to God’s good order and care, all grieves God. Jesus later expressed his own grief and longing:

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37, NIV)

The Son was sent as the final act

Any “normal” landowner would throw the tenants out after the first sending of servants that didn’t go well. Yet God the landowner knew what he was doing. Jesus actually summarized the plot line of the Old Testament, and of our lives, as well. The history of salvation moves like this through Scripture:

  • God loves people
  • people keep rebelling against that love
  • God keeps pursuing peoiple
  • then, God does the unthinkable by becoming one of us 

Jesus, stepped into this messy, bloody and violent world, full of hatred and hardness of heart. Then, the Son was killed and thrown outside.

God’s judgment is awful

Jesus drew his listeners into the story, and invited a response to what the landowner would do after all of the overtures to the tenants. The listeners responded that “he will bring those wretches to a wretched end.” And in a sense Jesus says, “You are them.” 

Jesus invited them to remember and realize the Scripture by looking at it as the Son who was killed. He let the crowd know that rejection of the Son results in the Son becoming the most prominent person. Jesus wanted them to look at their bibles and see Christ. He was rejected by his own – which will result in a pulverizing judgment, like a stone falling on a person.

God replaces the whole crew

God is transferring the kingdom of God from the proud and hard-hearted religious insiders to the repentant, soft-hearted outsiders. The self-righteous people failed to accept Jesus because of their insistence on being right; the spiritual beggars accept Jesus and God’s love and are the true subjects of the kingdom. The supposedly spiritual people who had all the religious traditions failed to see what those traditions really point to. 

We don’t own the kingdom; God does. God calls the shots, and has every right to expect people to produce the fruit of mercy, purity, and peacemaking in keeping with a humble heart that desires genuine righteousness.

The Red Vineyard by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Maybe this parable seems a bit distant from us. To help us hear the story of Jesus as his original hearers heard it, I now restate the parable in a contemporary form:

Listen to another story about who is really a Christian. There was a landlord who built an upscale apartment building. The landlord spared no expense in creating apartments that were comfortable and homey. Everything he designed and built was with the care of someone who thought about what people would need and like most about a place to live. He included a host of amenities to his apartments because he really wanted the people to have as much joy living there as he did designing and building them. 

The owner put a gate around the complex so that the apartment community would be safe and secure. He hired a security firm to keep watch over the apartment complex. Then, when every detail was in place, the landlord rented out his apartments. But he didn’t just rent them out; he wanted to see the joy on the faces of the renters when he made a contract with them that included an entire year’s free rent. After that first year, when it came time for the first rent to be due, the landlord did not receive a single rent check. He was puzzled about this, so he decided to send some of his employees to collect the rent in person.

While the renters were in one of the large common lounges enjoying being together, they saw the landlord’s employees coming from a distance. So, they hatched a devious plan. Over their year of living in the beautiful apartments, they began to think they were especially special, and not like other people who lived in places that weren’t as nice as where they lived.  They gained such a twisted idea of their own importance that they believed they didn’t need to pay rent; and no one was going to tell them what to do. After all, they deserved to live where they did. They have a right to it. They don’t need to answer to anyone, including this supposed landlord who they have never seen in this last year, anyway.

Then the renters took the landlord’s employees and beat one, killed another, and took a baseball bat to a third. They took the bodies and threw them in the dumpster behind the building. Then the landlord, not wanting to evict his renters even after such a terrible experience, sent some other employees, more than the first time. But the renters had no guilt about what they had done, and did the very same thing to the second group of employees.  Even after this, the landlord was reluctant to let the law take over and decided to send his own son to collect the rent so that the renters could keep living in his apartments.

But when the renters saw the son, they said to each other. “Look! The guy sent his son. If we kill him, then we can forget about the old man and claim the whole apartment complex for ourselves.” 

After telling this story, Jesus asked all the church people listening, “When the owner of the apartment complex comes, what do you think he will do to those renters?” The crowd was into the story and replied, “He’s going to judge those ungrateful murderers, and replace the whole bunch of them with all new renters.” 

Jesus then said to them, “Have you never read in your bibles that the son who was rejected and killed has become the most important person of all? The Scriptures are all about the Son.”

“So, I am telling you that even though you have been in the Church all your life, it isn’t yours. I’m going to replace the whole lot of you with people who are humble and sensitive to sin; people who know they don’t deserve the nicest place to live in the world. If you persist in ignoring the Son, all you have to look forward to is God’s judgment.”

When all the important church people heard Jesus’ stories, they knew he was talking about them. And, even though they saw themselves in the story, they still wanted to do their own thing. They didn’t change one bit. Instead, they decided to be sneaky and try and do away with Jesus in their lives without getting in trouble. 

The kingdom of God and Christ’s Church is not an entitlement. And it does not inoculate us from God’s judgment. We must produce fruit in keeping with repentance. God is gently nudging us, like a guide dog. Will we respond in humility and turn where the Lord wants us to turn?

Some Needed Encouragement (Revelation 15:1-4)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The Seven Last Plagues and the Harps of God, by Nicolas Bataille, c.1380 C.E.

I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds,
    Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    King of the nations.
Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
    and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (New International Version)

Let’s keep in mind that the book of Revelation (also known as The Apocalypse of John) is a vision of the Apostle John about how things shake out in the end. The purpose of the vision is not for us to get lost in esoteric speculations about the future and try to figure out specific dates and times of God’s judgment.

Rather, John’s Revelation was primarily meant to give believers a future hope that their hardships and suffering will not last forever; there is a time coming, soon, when Judge Jesus will make all things right and all things new. In other words, the vision of John was designed to provide needed encouragement to followers of Jesus.

The believers needed a connection to their spiritual heritage – a way to see that they weren’t an isolated faith island in the middle of the world’s crud. The heavenly beings were singing a song of Moses and of the Lamb (Jesus). The two are connected, thus bringing together the saints of ages past with the struggling Christians of the present.

The song of Moses is a song of triumph, sung after the Israelites passed through the Red Sea unharmed and the Egyptian army was eradicated:

“I will sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.

“The Lord is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
    he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
    are drowned in the Red Sea.
The deep waters have covered them;
    they sank to the depths like a stone.
Your right hand, Lord,
    was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
    shattered the enemy.

Flee From Egypt, by Rev. Albert Lee Wagner, 1975

“In the greatness of your majesty
    you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
    it consumed them like stubble.
By the blast of your nostrils
    the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
    the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.
The enemy boasted,
    ‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
    I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
    and my hand will destroy them.’
But you blew with your breath,
    and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
    in the mighty waters.
Who among the gods
    is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
    majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
    working wonders?

“You stretch out your right hand,
    and the earth swallows your enemies.
In your unfailing love you will lead
    the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
    to your holy dwelling.
The nations will hear and tremble;
    anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
    the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;
    terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of your arm
    they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, Lord,
    until the people you bought pass by.
You will bring them in and plant them
    on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling,
    the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

“The Lord reigns
    for ever and ever.” (Exodus 15:1-18, NIV)

Throughout the millennia, this deliverance from harsh slavery to freedom is annually recalled and remembered in the Passover. The original Passover in Egypt involved a lamb being slain and it’s blood applied to the doorposts of each Jewish home. The avenging angel “passed over” those homes and instead dealt with the Egyptian houses which had no lamb’s blood over the door.

The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (Jesus) are really the same song. Both the deliverance out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, as well as the deliverance from guilt and shame through the cross and resurrection, was real salvation from all that oppressed and hindered the people from living into their true selves.

This connection to salvation history was a great boon to the early believers undergoing their own brand of injustice, oppression, and persecution – just for being followers of Jesus.

So, we all need to apply the death of the Lamb to our present situations, so that we can endure through hardship and not give up and experience a failure of faith. We continually need a strengthening of faith, to recall and remember who we are and to whom we belong, so that we will sing our own song of hope and deliverance.

“Awake and Sing the Song,” by English hymnist William Hammond (1719-1783)

Awake, and sing the song
Of Moses and the Lamb;
Tune every heart and every tongue
To praise the Savior’s name.

Sing of His dying love;
Sing of His rising power;
Sing how He intercedes above
For those whose sins He bore.

Tell, in seraphic strains,
What He has done for you;
How He has taken off your chains
And formed your hearts anew.

His faithfulness proclaim
While life to you is given:
Join hands and hearts to praise His name
Till we all meet in heaven.

Amen.

Endure Patiently to the End (Revelation 14:12-20)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the Spirit, they are blessed indeed, for they will rest from their hard work; for their good deeds follow them!”

Then I saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was someone like the Son of Man. He had a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Then another angel came from the Temple and shouted to the one sitting on the cloud, “Swing the sickle, for the time of harvest has come; the crop on earth is ripe.” So the one sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the whole earth was harvested.

After that, another angel came from the Temple in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, who had power to destroy with fire, came from the altar. He shouted to the angel with the sharp sickle, “Swing your sickle now to gather the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for they are ripe for judgment.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and loaded the grapes into the great winepress of God’s wrath. The grapes were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress in a stream about 180 miles long and as high as a horse’s bridle. (New Living Translation)

The Scripture meditations I offer each day are based in the daily readings of the Revised Common Lectionary. The readings are designed to move us through the whole of the Bible in a three year cycle. And they are arranged so that Thursday, Friday, and Saturday readings anticipate the Sunday scriptures, and the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday readings reflect on Sunday’s texts. Today’s New Testament lesson is such a reflection on Sunday’s Gospel reading of Christ’s Parable of the Weeds (Parable of the Wheat and Tares).

Jesus made it clear in the parable that it is not our job to weed out evil. This will be done by the angels at the end of the age. In Revelation, we look forward into the future as to what happens with the plants and the weeds. As you can readily see, it is a grim picture. Those who are visual learners, and picture the words in their minds, their stomachs might be turning after the reading of today’s text.

The entire book of Revelation was originally meant to encourage believers in Jesus to persevere, endure, and keep going in their commitment to Christ. As they were undergoing difficulty and even persecution for their faith, this apocalyptic vision of the Apostle John was to instill hope: It will not always be this way.

There is a time coming soon in which the problem of evil is taken care of, once and for all. Until that final day of judgment comes, we are to hold fast to our faith, and continue to keep the commandments of Christ.

The wrath of God has always been an issue with various people throughout history. In contemporary theology, it is common to have groups of folks polarized between either making God out to be constantly angry and looking to zap people; or dismissing God’s wrath altogether as some outdated and antiquated idea. Neither of these approaches will do.

God’s anger and wrath exist, yet is never divorced from God’s love. Rather than viewing wrath and love as two sides of the same coin, I believe a healthier and more biblical understanding is to discern God’s wrath as an expression of God’s love. I will explain….

When God bends to observe us in the world and sees injustice, war, poverty, oppression, trauma, and abuse from narcissistic people who exalt themselves above others and use them for selfish purposes, God is not okay with this!

Whenever God looks at the world and sees governments, institutions, corporations, and even churches which maintain structures that keep others from becoming all that God intends for them to become, divine compassion is stirred up, along with a determination to bring about justice and righteousness.

Only God has the combination of willingness, power, and ability to handle the evil of this world, in a way which is both just and loving.

I realize there are many times when we wonder if God is really watching, or not, and are curious if the Lord is aloof and uncaring to our plight. There is a day when the dramatic will happen, but that day is not today. For now, God is patiently and carefully working divine love into the fabric of this world, in such a way that it will not destroy the innocent and compromise the integrity of the righteous.

Until the time is ripe for God to act in a more decisive manner by equipping angels with scythes and bringing in the final harvest, we experience pain and hurt.

We sometimes are misjudged and misunderstood by others. We often get shafted by systems which are supposed to be helping us. We can, however, be assured that God is working behind the scenes, planting seeds of love and grace. The Lord is pastorally tending to our growth, till the time is right to gather the abundant crop.

Acting too soon, and going off half-cocked without enough information, is what we humans tend to do. Not so with God.

The fact of the matter is: Justice and injustice will co-exist side-by-side for a while. Righteousness and evil will be found together everywhere we go, including our own hearts – holding both our altruistic motives and our evil inclinations.

Sisters and brothers, let us endure, persevere, and be patient. God is good, and will not forget your deeds done in faith; your actions inspired by hope; and your work animated by love.

Lord Christ, you came into the world as one of us, and suffered as we do. As I go through the trials of life, help me to realize that you are with me at all times and in all things; that I have no secrets from you; and that your loving grace enfolds me for eternity. In the security of your embrace I pray. Amen.

The Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn….’”

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear. (New International Version)

Harvest in Provence, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

People of every age struggle with the evil present in this world – and also within the church. For how do we make sense of those who profess Christ but have no fire and passion for their faith? How do we reconcile our own faith with folks in the church who seem to care more about getting their own way than about sacrificing themselves to reach people who do not know Christ. Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” In other words, listen!

Jesus has informed us that in this present evil age we live in, between his two advents of incarnation and Second Coming, not everything for Christians is going to be rainbows and unicorns.

There are competing pressures on the Church, and sometimes she will fail. The kingdom of God has broken into history and is present, but sin and evil is there, too. So, our focus must be on the hope we have when Christ comes again to judge the living and the dead.

In Christ’s parable of the weeds (or the parable of the wheat and the tares) the enemy of our souls seeks to distract the workers by overwhelming them with evil. If Satan cannot prevent God’s kingdom from being established in the human heart, the devil will try and corrupt the heart by throwing as much evil at it as he can. 

The devil has no problem with people saying they are Christians; the thing Satan has a problem with is people giving themselves unconditionally and unreservedly to God for kingdom business.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Jesus (Matthew 7:21, NIV)

Where did all these weeds come from?

I’ll frame this question in the modern form that many people have asked me over the years: “If God is a God of love, why is there so much evil in the world?” Or, “If this is Christ’s Church, why is it so messed up?”

Jesus is straightforward in his answer: An enemy did this. In other words, God didn’t plant evil – the source of evil comes from the devil, not God. God’s agenda is for the seed to take root in the human heart and grow into a full-fledged embodiment and commitment to the words and ways of Jesus.

When that growth doesn’t happen, the problem is not because God messed up; it’s because the devil has also done his own work of planting. And the devil wants the opposite of God: to have Christians nit-picking each other like a bunch of crazy chickens, and keeping a demonic pecking order; instead of being the continuing presence of Christ on this earth.

What do we do with all these weeds?

That is, how do we deal with wicked people?  The answer seems obvious: Pull the weeds up and get rid of them. Get rid of wicked people and their wicked behavior. Yet Jesus says in response to this line of reasoning in a clear and unequivocal answer of “No.” But why? Because doing violence to the weeds ends up doing violence to the wheat, as well.

Christ’s answer to the problem of evil is: Let God take care of it. Meanwhile, until that fully happens, we must co-exist with evil, rather than exterminate evil people.

There is always a temptation for believers to force people into the kingdom of God (e.g. the Spanish Inquisition). Yet, at the harvest (the final judgment at the end of the age) evil will be squarely dealt with. Judge Jesus will have the angels separate the wheat from the tares, and the weeds will be burned up.

This teaching from Jesus may open up a whole set of other questions, such as:

  • What am I supposed to do with evil? Just watch it happen? 
  • Am I to let that evil person just be evil? Shouldn’t I give them what they deserve?
  • Shouldn’t I at least tell evil people that they are no good rotten sinners? That they are going to hell because they are wicked?

This doesn’t mean we do nothing. Earlier in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus has already said: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44)  We are to love and pray people into the kingdom, not force them in.

As for the evil, Jesus will decisively solve the problem of evil, not you, nor me! It isn’t our place to be judge, and if we make it our place, we’ll end up hurting and destroying our brothers and sisters.

Where is evil?

A sobering reality taught by Jesus in this parable is that it’s not a simple matter that we, the wheat are here, and they, the weeds, are over there. It is much more sinister than that; the enemy is within, not out there. 

We have no further to look than in our own hearts and within our own faith communities – which is why we need the lordship of Christ to completely overtake us. Evil is present in the Church, next to the good, seeking to:

  • discourage people in their commitment to Christ
  • offend and hurt others, particularly by overlooking and speaking ill of weaker people
  • step on others in order to get it’s way
  • be a stumbling block to those trying to do God’s will
  • promote ignorance of God’s Word, for no one can live by God’s will if they do not know what it is

The eventual end of sinister people is that, when Christ returns, they will be separated from the righteous and thrown into the fire, just like a harvester would do with a bunch of weeds. As the wicked went about their lives in anger, upsetting others in this life, so they will be tormented in the next.

Conclusion

We may expect God to handle evil in a hurry. But the kingdom of God doesn’t work that way; it’s intended to be planted in the ground, and takes time to grow. While it’s growing, evil is there, like a weed.

Whenever things go sideways because of wickedness, we might expect God to act quickly and drastically to uproot the evil. We may confuse God’s slowness as being uncaring, when in reality it means that God is patient, and desires people to change. And change always begins with you and me.

God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, we are a complacent people. While you desire us to be a beacon of light to a world in need, we are preoccupied with all the weeds in the field. We are sorry for the madness unleashed through our own selfish desires. May you plant the seed of love in our hearts for all people, not just our friends. And we shall commit to watering and nurturing that seed with your Word, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.