Organic Leadership

Jesus told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
'An enemy did this,' he replied.
'The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.' (Matt. 13:24-30)

Jesus tells a number of parables that point toward the natural world. One of the reasons for this is that most of the people who were listening were familiar with the land and the growing seasons. The people were farmers or shepherds of one kind or another who understood the cycles of sowing, growing and harvesting. But Jesus may have used these metaphors for another reason. Perhaps people themselves are not unlike the natural world in which they inhabit. They are born, grow and die. They do well under certain condition (good soil) and not so well under others (rocky, weedy, etc.).

A word that we may have heard tossed about here and there is “organic.” We hear of organic foods or organic environments. The word refers to the natural world as well as to a certain purity associated with it. Organic produce is supposed to be more natural because it is grown in non-toxic or, at least, less toxic conditions. They are supposed to be free of added chemicals typically used to enhance the productivity of the plants. The inclusion of chemicals, steroids and other human efforts to direct the growth process might make the produce easier to manage and perhaps even more desirable to the eye but these things often include unwanted side-effects as well. Chemicals used to enhance the growing process can introduce pollutants that may, in fact, be worse than the challenges of simply allowing things to grow on their own. Some say that we are literally being poisoned by the food that we eat.

Jesus' parable concerning the weeds and the wheat might seem a bit risky for gardeners or pastors or parents or anyone who has a stake in a growth process. It can be uncomfortable at times to allow things to grow naturally. But at the same time, perfectly shaped and colored store-bought tomatoes taste horrible compared to the ones that grow next to my house.

The lesson? I am not sure. There are probably many lessons here—but the first one seems to have something to do with trust. It takes a degree of faith to stop weeding out everything that doesn't look like whatever it is that we are trying to grow. It takes faith to trust the growing process. It takes humility to admit that despite the intentions, sometimes all those control efforts turn out to be carcinogenic. God knows how to grow things even in hostile environments.