At first, Jesus is describing the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord just said, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field” (Mt. 13:24). So far, so good.
But then, Jesus says, “While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off” (Mt 13:25).
What does that have to do with the kingdom of heaven? An enemy who comes while all are asleep and sowed weeds all through the wheat.
Notice, everyone is asleep. In the spiritual life, this type of sleep is when we get hypnotized by the ways of the world. Sadly, the temptation afflicts us to think of faith in God and the Bible as little more than an optional fairy tale story that is to be left behind once we get to work in “the real world.” This is the sleep that arises from the lethargy that the world induces in us: laziness about the things of God. The weariness advances without us fully noticing it. One of its effects is that if we do value faith, we begin to see it as a self-improvement technique rather than a way of salvation in Christ.
The weeds are the sins that the devil sews by temptation. Sin is not only the crossing of a line and doing something “bad.” Sin is something the enemy introduces to our heart. He wants us to embrace it with our will. Sin operates a lot like hypothermia – as we sin we get more and more used to it thinking it is warming us. But all the while it is drawing the life out of us. And notice, that the sin entwines itself among the wheat. Sin seeks to coil around the good things of our life and slowly devour them.
And this is done by the one Jesus refers to as our enemy. Jesus tells us that the enemy is the devil (Mt 13:29). It is not fashionable today to believe in the existence of the devil. The two mistakes we make about the devil are 1) when some people think he is around every corner; and 2) when others believe he is a myth. Jesus is clear. The devil is a real being, a fallen angel who is hostile to us. He is our enemy.
It is crucial in our faith life that we don’t become obsessed with the devil. But it is also crucial that we are not naïve to his tactics. He seeks to sew weeds among the good gifts that God gives us. The weeds are designed to look enticing. Temptation is never ugly in its appearance.
Our response is always to cling to Jesus. We cling to the Lord especially in the Holy Eucharist – by attending Mass each week at the Vigil Mass or Sunday. We cling to Christ through frequent reception of the Sacrament of Confession. Prayer, especially prayer to Our Lady in the Holy Rosary is another means of clinging to Jesus.
As we meet Jesus and dwell with Him in grace, He heals us and frees us from the ways of the enemy so that we may walk the way of the beautiful harvest of the Kingdom.
God bless,
Msgr. Bransfield
