“Come home.”

Last fall, Ellen and I adopted two kittens from HAWS. Recently, one of them has developed into quite the escape artist, seizing any opportunity he can to bolt out the door and make his way under our deck. One night, he pulled a Houdini and made his way out of his harness (which we thought would help alleviate the problem), and again went under the deck. Once there, the “cat and human” game began. The cat settled in at a location out of the human’s reach and stared at the human with a rather smug look on his face. He then moved around a bit, eventually edging closer and closer to the human, but right when the human thought the cat could be apprehended, he scurried away. Food, toys, and a soft voice had little effect. As we were engaged in this battle of the wills, something interesting happened. Our other kitten made his way to the kitchen window and began meowing almost as if calling out to the one under the deck, “Where are you? I miss you. Time to come in.” The cat under the deck responded to that call, came out from under the deck, up the stairs, and to the door to be let in. 

This weekend’s Gospel reading from Matthew 13 is a story Jesus once told about a farmer who sowed wheat in his field, but then at night an enemy came and sowed some weeds, more likely than not darnel which looks very similar to wheat when it is growing. Apparently, this was a common practice when neighbors were not happy with each other. When the plants began to mature and the workers noticed the darnel interspersed with the weeds, they asked the owner of the field if they should rip it out. Because he didn’t want to lose any of the good wheat with the bad darnel, he told them to wait until the harvesters would sort it out. 

Jesus’ point? There is good and evil in this world, and there is a big waiting game going on before Judgment Day because our gracious Lord doesn’t want to lose anyone. What that means for you and me is that as tempting as it is to want to rip out all of the evil people from this world (and our lives in particular), we aren’t God and do not know what is actually in a person’s heart or if, even though now a person might be walking away from the Lord, he or she will eventually come to Him. Our waiting game involves praying that those who are now “weeds” might, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be changed into “wheat” (which only our gracious Lord can do). 

And here’s the thing. Remember how it wasn’t the human voice that coaxed the cat from under the deck but the voice of another cat? This is how it works when we see one we love apart from the Lord. The waiting game involves calling out with the voice of one who in all humility realizes he or she is also a poor,  miserable sinner. But being together with our Lord and living in the joy of His salvation is so much better. And so we patiently wait and pray that those now lost respond to the voice of the Lord who Himself is calling in love,  “Come home.”