Thought for the day – Sunday 19th July 2020
Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
I often find myself thinking back to last year when we were trying to figure out what the implications of Brexit were. I got frustrated by the extreme views in both directions during programmes like the BBC Question time when people were intolerant of each other’s views and there was shouting and jeering and in my opinion some of the most appalling behaviour I think I have seen in a long time. Those days seem to have been lost somewhere in the mists of the Coronavirus and issues that were of paramount importance seemed suddenly to have disappeared of the nation’s agenda.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all thought the same, had the same passions and beliefs? Lived in accord with one another at all times? I think not. It sounds idealistic, but it is only when we are challenged by others that we ourselves grow. The farmer must be frustrated when he plants good seed and that harvest is cluttered with weeds, he no doubt would love to look out on a field of perfect grain, but life isn’t like that and I am glad about that, I value the rich diversity of the world I live in.
Our forefathers have made mistakes in the past believing that the right way, the best way is to have a world of people just like us, who look the same, think the same, speak the same and look at where it has got us. We really ought to value our diversity, celebrate different cultures and beliefs, attitudes and tastes, we should not look at one another and try to improve those who don’t fit the stereotype we think they out but to love everybody for who they are, as they are.
We are reminded in the Gospel story for today that it is God who does the sorting out of the wheat and the chaff at the end of time. It is rather presumptuous of us to assume that we are the good harvest that gets treasured and those that are different to us are the tares that will be discarded. Let us treasure one another, wherever we are and whatever we look like, then and only then will we be serving the purpose of God.