Weeds

Go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man. --St. Peter, from Luke's gospel. chapter 5:8

 

I love Peter. He is so transparent, so true, so clumsy with his words, and so in love. It is not surprising that Jesus chose Peter as the one to build His Church upon. Peter is an everyman. We are all like Peter in some way. At times we feel we could take on the world for Jesus. We are afraid of nothing when we feel Him close! Then, when our Jesus seems a distant captive to our wanderings and our weak will, we betray Him. I will never understand why or how the Church of Jesus Christ ever became captive to the ideas of some human concept of perfection. Look at who Jesus built it on! Jesus told them that the weeds must grow with the wheat. The Church is holy, not perfect. It is set apart, and it is human. It is up and it is down, it is passionate for truth, and it is clumsy at times. But it is the vessel by which God chooses to give us Himself, warts and all. It brings beauty to the world, and sometimes it allows weeds to grow with the flowers. And so far, the gates of hell haven't overcome it. St. Peter, pray for us.

 

wkm