Reflecting on the Word

By Dr. Karla J. Bellinger

It was early spring. The master gardener was really busy. A kind  friend offered to weed her perennial garden while the weeds were  still small. She was very grateful. He was an expert on tulips. He  knew what tulip leaves looked like. So he diligently weeded that  garden clean. When he was done, the tulip leaves proudly stood out  from the bare soil that surrounded them. As spring unfolded in the  garden, though, there were no forget-me-nots. The coreopsis was  gone. There were no more buttercups. The tulips grew strong and died back. The next year, that same friend offered to help. “Let me do the weeding,” the master gardener said. 

We really don’t know what we don’t know. Sometimes we  assume that we know ourselves and others. The research, however,  reveals that we create stories in our minds based on partial pieces  of information. We do not have all the evidence on anything. If you  and I had the job of weeding out the good and the bad in a group of  people, we may see the acts that a person does and judge accordingly.  But moral theologians tell us that moral blame is based on act,  circumstance, and intention. We can and must judge acts as morally  wrong or right, but we do not have enough information to pass  further judgment on a person. Only God knows the circumstance  and intentions behind an act. 

Why doesn’t God ask us to do the weeding? Little leaves that  come up in early spring do not look like the flowers they will be  when they are mature. We would often pluck out the wrong things  if it were up to us. We don’t know what we don’t know. Jesus offers  today’s parable so that we will practice mercy, not judgment. 

“Let me do the weeding,” the Master Gardener says. 

Consider/Discuss 

  • The most beautiful flower in a garden may look like a dead stick in early  spring. Think back to some of the ugly things you may have done in your  life. How has God helped you to grow so that you mature and blossom? 
  • We tell stories about people in our minds. Have you ever had an “aha!”  moment when you’ve said, “How could I have been so wrong about that  person?” 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Good Gardener of us all, sometimes we look just like dead sticks  or tiny weeds. But you have a vision of what we can become. Affirm  our strengths. Challenge our weaknesses. Never let us stop growing.  And today, assist us in revising our story about someone. Reveal to  us where we are impatient or unmerciful or unkind or uncharitable,  for we want to see others as you do.

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