The Story of the Weeds

THE STORY OF THE WEEDS

“If you could sit down with God and talk about anything, what would you want to talk about?” the instructor asked the class.
 “Why would a good God allow evil in the world?” one of the students responded.

“I know the answer,” another student volunteered with a raised hand.

The instructor did the usual, diplomatic move when faced with an impossible philosophical/theological dilemma. He stalled.

“This is a question that has been asked by many people through the years…” the instructor began, searching through his mental index for an “EXIT” sign to this conversation.

“But,” the student with the raised hand persisted, “I know the answer!”

The instructor was in trouble. A man who was sensitive to the keen minds of his students, he did not want to discourage learning, but he was also not wanting to open Pandora’s Box right there in the classroom. What to do, what to do…

The student with the raised hand would not be ignored. Problem was, this student was fairly new to the topic, didn’t have a lot of experience, hadn’t written any research papers on the topic yet, and frankly, lacked some of the finesse that other students possessed in presenting convincing arguments on a given topic.

The instructor was in a real bind. He wanted to show respect to the youthful questioner and not quench the desire to learn via the Socratic method (that’s Q&A for you and me!) in the student who professed to “know the answer” to the impossible question on the table.

At a loss, the good instructor allowed the young man with “the answer” to speak.

“You told us the answer a few months ago!” the young man said to the instructor with a look that begged, “Don’t you remember?”

“When you told us ‘The Story of the Weeds’! You said that Jesus told the disciples that the wheat and the weeds would grow together until the harvest. If the workers pulled out the weeds too soon, it could pull out the good wheat, too. It just isn’t the right time to pull out the weeds yet!”

This story, which could have taken place on any college campus, took place in our own children’s ministry, called Uptown, where Doug Baker, our children’s minister, shared ‘The Story of the Weeds’ (Matthew 13:24-30).

When Doug went to share the story with this little “Bible Answer Man’s” grandma after church, when she came to pick him up, she said, “Oh, of course, ‘The Story of The Weeds’, he told me all about it!” Turns out this young Bible scholar shares all the stories he hears every week with his grandma, even though she does not come to church.

Our preacher (in “big” church), Jason Locke, asked us yesterday, where the next Nelson Mandela, a young man who overcame difficult odds and went on to teach the whole world about reconciliation, respect, love and forgiveness, might come from.

Hmmmm, I just might have an answer!

--Posted by Mama O.