Many of those who listened to Jesus were farmers who could understand that it is difficult to distinguish weeds from wheat when the plants are small. It is only when they have grown taller that the difference becomes easier to see. But by then the roots are so intertwined that the weeds cannot be pulled out without harming the wheat. That can only happen at harvest time. Likewise, it is very difficult for us to accurately judge true and faithful disciples from the crowd because we all pretty much look the same (there, I said it!). In Jesus' day, the Scribes and Pharisees seemed to be the most religious of all, yet He rejected them for lack of true conversion. They were convinced that they knew for sure who were "weeds" and who were "wheat." And they were also sure that the ones they rejected were rejected by God also. However, Jesus did not see things the same way. Nothing is worse than for us to pass judgment on another’s relationship with God. Even when we are absolutely convinced, there is undoubtedly something we don’t know. We are not God; and when we judge we take the place of God. Often times we want a simple solution, so we simply ignore this kind of reasoning, but Jesus is saying that doing so will bring an even harsher judgment upon us. We can’t let ourselves fall into the trap of being smug, like the Scribes and Pharisees. They were so confident that of course, they were the “wheat” but Jesus is saying that precisely because of their judgmental behavior they would be among the weeds thrown into the fire at harvest time. The same is true for us today. We have no justification in passing judgment on another and if we do we may put ourselves into the same fire as all the other weeds. If we would only let God do the judging, as my mom would say, we would all be better off.
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