Here’s an allegorical tale from Roger Hull for folks of all persuasions.

If you attended a church last Sunday (July 19) that uses the Common Lectionary, the Gospel you heard was Mattthew 13:24-30,36-43. The Gospel is about a landowner who plants wheat in a field, but an enemy comes along and plants weeds. When the landowner’s servants see that both wheat and weeds are sprouting in the field, they ask if they should pull up the weeds. The landowner tells them not to pull up the weeds because they won’t be able to tell the difference between the weeds and the wheat. He tells them to wait until harvest time when they will be able to tell the difference.

The story reminded me of the situation with immigrants, legal and illegal, who are in our country. Some immigrants are like the weeds, and some are like the wheat. The administration is not patient, like the landowner, but like the servants who wanted to pull the weeds before they could tell the difference and risk pulling up wheat along with the weeds. By deporting anyone that appears to be an immigrant, we may be getting rid of some of the weeds but some of the wheat as well. Some of the wheat that is deported may be, or their children may be, a person who discovers a miracle cure or makes an important discovery.

At this point, we might need to be reminded that even among us, who have been here for a while, there are both weeds and wheat.

We have law enforcement that already deals with the weeds among us. They can also deal with the weeds among the immigrants without deporting everyone.

— Roger Hull