Understanding Evil: Why Bad Things Happen | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode

of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla. I'm Melissa.

And I'm Ben. And we are here to unpack. some

of the teaching that has been happening recently

here at Trinity. We've been going through this

sort of teaching series called Growing Season,

where we're looking at what farming can teach

us about faith. And we're actually going to go

back to last week's sermon, where Rob talked

to us about the parable of the weeds. And so

just as we get going, I'm going to read that

parable for us. So this is from Matthew chapter

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

13, starting at verse 24. Jesus told them a parable.

The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed

good seed in his field. But while everyone was

sleeping, the enemy came and sowed weeds among

the wheat and then 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 these weeds come from? An enemy

did this, he said. And 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 until the harvest, and at that time I will

tell the harvesters, first collect the weeds

and throw them into bundles to be burned, then

gather the wheat and bring it into my barn. This

is the parable that Jesus tells. There's all

kinds of stuff happening in these verses. It's

partly, I think, about dealing with evil. I think

it's partly about, you know, what do we do when

bad things happen in the world? Where did these

weeds come from? Why are there bad things in

the world? You know, but then also questions

about how do we deal with the bad things that

happen in the world, right? Like, are we supposed

to just rip them out? Are we supposed to just

let it be? Like, there's a lot happening here.

Yeah. Yeah. So as you think about that passage

and maybe think about some of the stuff that

Rob talked about in his sermon, like, are there

any pieces that like really stand out to you

that you're like, this is like really interesting

or like really confusing? Yeah. You want to start

us out? Sorry. So, I mean, even just from the

sermon from last week, I think something that

really stood out to me and it is related to the

parable, but it was when Rob said like. as Christians,

we have kind of like permission to say like there

is evil in the world. And, you know, I think

a lot of times like in the secular world, it's

a lot of like, oh, we don't know why this happened,

et cetera, et cetera. But I think that was powerful

for me because sometimes I feel like, oh, like,

you know, that's not really something that's

normalized to say like, well, there are evil

forces in the world. Right. And then I think

even just with this parable, too, it's like.

there's always questions of like well why does

evil happen why does god let this happen why

not just stop all the evil in the world and it

is a good point where it's like if you do that

like what are the repercussions afterwards sure

yeah yeah yeah like christianity gives us permission

to say that there is evil in the world but then

also gives us the like reason right jesus is

like very directly like there is an enemy this

is what's happening especially in the secular

world a lot of times like evil is not a concrete

answer it's like sure cool evil's here how why

what yeah but it just says hey this is an actual

thing that's in here and that we have to deal

with right so it's grappling with okay if evil's

a thing it's not just that some physics in the

process failed there is a process here right

yeah yeah even if it's like a spiritual process

that we can't quite grasp yeah it's like there

there is a thing there is a reason this is happening

something's out there it's not just you yeah

yeah what about for you ben any bits that sort

of stood out the biggest thing that always stands

out to me is not judging people sure the biggest

things is that we are not here to judge yep we

can see that there's evil we can have discernment

of trying to point things out yeah but it's never

our place to truly judge someone or something

yeah yeah yeah so like the the bit about like

the weeds and and the farmer sort of saying don't

pull those out yet like wait till the end wait

even if it looks bad right now even with no that

is there there's also some good there too sure

whether that's uh rob talking about within ourselves

or within others sure hard to discern so let

things go for now and let god work through the

good sure yeah okay so i think in all of that

like one of the questions that sort of comes

out for me is like therefore like what should

our response be to like bad things in the world

right are we just supposed to like sit back and

like let it happen i think you know what i I

feel like that's probably a question that Christians

have wrestled with probably for like centuries

just because like, yeah, like, what do you do?

Like, do we go out and we try to tackle it and

find the people or do we kind of sit back and

just let it go? And I've in my head, I think

maybe kind of like. middle ground where I think

Christians have to be focused on social justice

if we do see that there are social injustices

being done Christians we are the ones who should

speak out we need to speak out for the vulnerable

right we need to speak out for the poor for the

people who are being systematically oppressed

and at the same time having that compassionate

lens right which I think this parable shows and

Ben you articulated so amazingly it's like don't

don't judge right because you never know who's

like what people are going to be in a couple

of years and I think it's just that's a very

compassionate empathetic approach to have and

of course god is going to have that empathy because

and compassion just as he has with all of us

yeah yeah yeah yeah his non -changing like constant

persistence and just being patient and loving

is amazing yeah that's one of the things i find

actually does the most good in people is just

being there with them sure and seeing them slowly

change around if they have ways that are evil

say they're doing something that isn't great

One of the fun things is time actually gets to

change a lot. Sure. They do stuff and like, you

know, I feel like this isn't working the way

I want it to. Sure. A lot of times they have

ways to help out. Sure. That's not to say we

need to just stand back forever. Sure. One of

the big things as well is if we see things that

are wrong, God gives us permission to name it.

Right. Call it out and say, hey, this is wrong.

Right. what he doesn't give us permission is

to say you are evil. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like that

reminds me there's a scripture passage somewhere.

I think in one of Paul's letters where he says

like, our battle is not against flesh and blood,

but it's a bit like the evil powers and principalities

in the world. Right. So like, if I see someone

doing something wrong, my problem is not. actually

really with that person as a person it's with

their behavior or it's with their their attitude

or like whatever is happening like i need to

find a way to like respect the humanity of that

person and say this is not okay it's you're still

a person you're still loved and made by god in

his image And also, you have a bad opinion. Yes.

Yeah. I also feel, too, it's like even just like

for ourselves, like looking inward and being

like, where were we so long ago and how far has

God brought us? Like I can say right now that

maybe a couple of years ago, there were probably

people who were just like, she's a weed. We need

to get her out of here. Right. But. God sanctifies

and he changes hearts. And it's like the last

person that you would ever expect to maybe change,

like God, he can do it, right? So I think it's

like, it's, you know, it's like if God was just

going to pull out all the weeds, it's like, well,

I would have been pulled out too, right? And

I think it's just sitting and being like, actually,

no, like don't pull out all the weeds. I'm thankful

I wasn't pulled out. Let them, you know, kind

of be there and just. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I like to think about team sports or especially

growing up, like tons of team sports. Sure. But

if you always looked at like the worst person

air quotes on the team, they would always be

the person who you don't trust them to always

have the ball or do the best thing or score whatever

they have the moment. But at the same time, it's

some of those matches where they're the ones

who have the ball and get that shot in. You can't

just throw them out. And this week we talked

about everyone is needed. Right. they're still

a person that can still do amazing things. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Okay. So then, um,

I think sort of around the same theme, often

when something goes wrong, we're looking for

who to blame. We're like, this is their fault,

or this is my fault, or this is the fault of

these circumstances that I'm sort of facing.

Um, so why do you think we often do that? And

like, what does this parable sort of have to

say to us about? that sort of process. I think

one of the things that I, or comes to my mind

immediately is the concept of cognitive dissonance.

Okay. Which if you haven't heard of it, it's

basically when you do an action that is very

separate from your beliefs. Sure. Like I believe

in charity and then also I never give to charity

ever. Right. It's something where it's like that

might eat away you a little bit, but if you do

things that really you don't actually believe

in or don't think you're right, that eats away

at you. Sure. And so one of the ways that our

brain. easily tries to just delineate and say,

hey, no, I'm still a good person, is to immediately

find where is the blame? Where's the thing that

I can pinpoint this onto? Sure. If it's me, okay,

it's me, but you can have a different spot where

you can pinpoint and say, oh, it's this action.

Oh, it's just this. Or it's, oh, it was me, but

I'm just tired. I just need to sleep more. Right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If it's someone else, it's

way easier to pass the buck. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's just not me at all. It's just, it's not

me. Oh, it's this guy. Oh, man. Right. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. So in some ways, our, like, brain

and our like desire to maintain a positive self

-image like yeah sort of motivates us to look

for blame and it's self -image but it's also

just not feel bad when you do something you don't

even your brain tells you yeah it's always the

classic like listen to your body but it does

give you a lot of good information so when it's

tell you like hey i feel really bad about this

sometimes it's good to sit with that for a second

yeah yeah yeah and i think even just whether

that's like blaming ourselves or like the world

or like whatever it's like i think When we don't

have an answer to it's like I feel like our brains

is just like, well, I have to find the reason

for this. I have to find a solution. I can't

just let it be empty. So we're like, we're going

to blame that and blame that. And I think that's

something humans struggle with, too, is just

not having an answer, you know. Sure. And just

exactly having control. And ultimately, there's

a lot of things that we're just not going to

have answers to until we see Jesus face to face.

how do we accept that? Right. And yeah, it's

a lot for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So then like, if

we think, go back to like, what does this parable

have to tell us about this? Like, you know, looking

for someone to blame. One of the things that

Rob mentioned in the sermon was like the. the

servants immediately are like, well, obviously

this farmer is to blame. He sowed some bad seed.

He did something wrong here. Something went bad.

That there's weeds there. But the farmer's just

like not playing that game. No. He's very much

taking that step back saying, I did things right,

which is good self -defense when you actually

did everything right. Yeah. Yeah. And but then

he says, I didn't do this. There is a reason

there is an enemy who's present there. And in

some ways, like, Maybe that still feels like

playing the blame game, but at least the blame

seems correct. Yes. I don't know. There is something

like blame isn't always negative. Sure. I get

blamed for donating to charity. I'm OK with that.

Yeah. Yeah. But it's what we do with that. I

think that's where it comes to like that judgment

comes back for my mind. Sure. Even if we blame

it correctly, we can blame it. Judgment, though,

is not my place. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And

I think also it's like when we do like recognize

that there is an enemy, that there is evil in

this world. I think it also reminds us not to

blame like humans. It reminds us not to divide

each other. I think it's. it's super easy. And

we see this a lot, even just like socially, right?

Like where some communities are kind of like

systematically made to blame another community.

And by doing that, you're not actually blaming

the ones who are in control. Um, but even just

like on this plane too, it's like, if humans

are like, well, that denomination is bad and

I'm the good denomination and that denomination

is bad. And then the enemy is like, yes, according

to my plan, blame each other, but don't blame

me. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's even in, like,

funny things that I've seen online where people

keep telling me this week that there are memes

of Americans blaming Canadians for all the smoke.

Yeah. Right. You're right. We do have the smoke.

It is coming there. But we didn't set these fires

intentionally. Right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So

then sort of related to that, one of the other

things that Rob said was that the presence of

weeds in the garden or in the field doesn't mean

that the farmer has failed. Yes. That there there

is an enemy at work. So like, yeah. What do you

think about that? Like, how does that impact

the way that we think about failure or about

challenges or hard things in the world? I get

to bring my knowledge of just me. I like to play

a lot of team -based games. Yeah. And so whether

it's online is where you get to see the most

blame and everything going around. But one of

the fun things is you can do everything right

and then still lose the game. Yeah. 100%. Yep.

But it's a nice way of saying, okay, even if

I do everything right, when there's still things

that I can work on, even if I did things right,

I can always improve. Sure. But having something

else that's out there saying, I don't need to

blame my teammates. I don't need to blame this

person or this thing. Yeah. But saying, OK, we

can actually collectively group up and say, hey,

there's evil out here. We can actually try and

work against this in whatever way we fits. Sure.

We lost it this way. OK, how can we better like

shore up our weaknesses? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. So

it gives us like an opportunity to like build

on our skills to like grow and develop a little

bit without that judgment. Exactly. Yeah. Because

if there was no challenge ever, we would not

really need to grow. We just have to stay a little

bit more stagnant. Yeah. And it would feel kind

of boring, I would think. Very. Yeah. Very. I'm

already good at everything. My life is perfect.

Just too good. Yes, yes. I think that is like

a really, it kind of addresses like perfectionism,

right? And that's, I think, something that plagues

many, many people. And then, you know, not even

just like giving up on a team, not giving up

on yourself too, right? Saying that, hey, like,

yes, there are flaws. I do have weeds inside

of me, but God hasn't given up on me, so I won't

give up on me either. And it doesn't, and I think

just... a lot of times we can maybe get into

like self -blame too right sure um but i really

like how the yeah and i like how the farmer was

like no this it just happens right like don't

i'm not blaming myself don't blame me um there

is even the world there's just because sin has

entered the world um and because we are in these

fleshly bodies it's something that is just part

of our reality until we see Jesus again. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I think it also really speaks to

that, like fix it mentality that we sometimes

have, or at least I sometimes have where I'm

like, ah, this thing has gone wrong in my life

or in someone else's life. Like who, how do I

fix it? How do I make this better? Like what,

what went wrong here? Um, and like, that's not

always bad. Like it's good to reflect on those

things, but I think just noticing, okay. The

fact that something went that something bad happens,

something unexpected happened. Doesn't mean that,

that, yeah, that there is a thing to fix always.

Right. Um, or that, like, I think sometimes the

other piece that sort of comes to mind for me

around this is like, Sometimes I think especially

in Christian circles, when something bad is happening

in somebody's life, we're like, oh, just just

like pray more about that. Or just like, you

know, if you were more connected to God or like

if you did, it's because you did this bad thing

that one time 10 years ago. And now this other

bad thing is happening in your life. Right. Like

try to make those connections. But this parable

sort of slaps us in the face and says, no. That's

not how this works. Yeah. Which is big. I think

even in my experience of doing a BA in psychology,

one of the things we always just come back to

is like, oh, everything's fully connected. Right.

And it's right. And a lot of the main answers

that we have for a lot of solutions for the biggest

problems are the simplest ones of like, oh, get

more sleep, pray more, read more. And those are

good, but you can't just blame someone like,

ah, you didn't sleep eight hours a day. Ah, that's

why you failed. Right. Yeah. Yeah. No, I feel

like that's, So important. I had a train of thought.

It's gone now. But if you just blame people,

oh, you didn't pray more. Well, how much is more?

How much is enough? Right. That's the one with

the power. Right. If I ask him once, we have

the faith that he's listening to us and he has

heard us. Yeah. He's not deaf. Yeah. It's a very

handy thing. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. For sure.

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it again, it kind of

like. I know there's going to be a lot of people

out there who are being blamed by maybe family

members, right, who are saying, like, you know,

why are you like this? You know, if you just

did this, then you wouldn't be like that anymore.

And I think that really is ingrained in a lot

of, like, Christian circles of, like, he did

this and this. Like, Job's own friends were like,

it's because you did this, and this is why God's

punishing you. And it's like, Job's like, I did

my part. And I think it's just really cool that

a parable like this exists in the Bible and that

God essentially like obviously he knows, but

like he knew that there are going to be people

who are going to go who are going to struggle

with that self -blame, with being blamed by other

people and just saying like, well, no, like you're

not the one to blame. There are things in this

world that are outside of our control and you

just kind of have to trust. you know, God's way,

God's purpose. And, um, I think in a way it can

bring peace to people as well. Sure. Very much

can go back to basics. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So to like, flip this a little bit i think

we're saying okay there's sometimes things that

happen that are beyond our control it's nobody's

to blame it's not our fault okay this is sometimes

true sometimes it is our fault yes this is very

true right okay so how do we balance this message

that we've just been saying with like responsibility

Absolutely. I get to go back to, thank you, Rob,

for discernment. One of the big things that he

was pointing out is discernment is always key

of understanding, okay, what is good? What is

bad? Even though we're not the final judges,

we can also still look at things and say, hey,

I don't think this was right. And so being able

to try and use that in our daily lives, say,

okay, go back to the readings, go back and say,

okay, like what would Jesus do in many scenarios?

Sure. Is this something where I would be loving

my neighbors or is this something that maybe?

is a little bit more selfish to me sure yeah

that's something we can use for sure yeah um

no i think you you hit it right on the nail and

i think it's discernment and then also just like

sorry guys i don't know why i'm struggling a

little bit to form some thoughts today um but

also i think accepting that we don't i think

i think sometimes like We don't want to take

the blame because of cognitive dissonance, like

you said. Yeah. And then at the same and along

those lines, it's like we don't want to think

of ourselves as like capable of doing bad. Right.

We don't want to think of ourselves as capable

of hurting someone or doing things. And I think

it's just accepting that you're not perfect and

that it's OK to take accountability and it's

OK to say sorry. It's OK to still keep growing.

Sure. And then. you know just balancing like

you know you're not the reason that the world

is falling apart and at the same time you're

also not a perfect person and you're gonna hurt

people you already have hurt people because we're

all humans and just um accepting that and being

okay with that yeah it's like taking that like

right leveled perspective of ourselves like i

think often Humans are really good at going to

extremes of binaries and being like, okay, in

this situation, either I'm definitely the victim

and have no blame at all, or I'm the worst and

it's all entirely my fault. And I think often

the truth is somewhere more in the middle. Oh,

grayers are big. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And

so having that right level perspective of ourselves,

of saying, okay, I... I'm not the cause of all

the world's problems, but also sometimes I'm

the cause of the problems in my own world. Yeah,

absolutely. Right. And, but approaching that

with a level of like grace, right? Like I think

one of the things, um, about, we don't really

love talking about like conviction, but like

this idea that like from the Holy spirit, like

sometimes we get this sense that like, I'm not

doing the right thing. I think the Holy spirit's

conviction is always covered in grace. Right.

It's never like you are a bad person. You did

a bad thing. Like all of that. It's like, no,

no, this thing that's happening is not good.

And so like, how do we take that to transform

me into a more Christlike person? Right. It's

never like tearing one down. It's like, it's

building you up. Right. Right. And so like when

we say, Hey, I need to take responsibility for

that. to to say that like our internal narrative

to be like okay i need to take responsibility

for that because i value this value i value honesty

i value love i value this relationship like whatever

it is right working towards building up rather

than i need to fix this because i'm a bad person

absolutely yeah i think the big thing for me

that i always get to come back to is not taking

things as personally sure there's a hundred percent

things that you can take personally if someone

just says you suck that's pretty personal yeah

sure but when you try and take it out of context

and take it less personally you suck doesn't

do anything. Like, what do I do with that? Great,

I suck. And what if someone says, hey, could

you try and like show up on time? Oh, OK, I can

do something with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's taking that step back of trying not to

take things personally and then going, OK, this

didn't feel right. Let's take this. Let's go

back to the word or let's go back to friends,

especially like groups. Yeah, it's really handy.

Just say, hey, what do you think about this?

Yeah, this I didn't feel like went well. I'm

not sure why. bring it back to some form of basis.

Okay. Is it loving my neighbor? Is this like,

does this show the fruits of the spirit? Stuff

like that. And just knowing that like, as you,

as God is sanctifying you, but as you're also

like working this out and like learning, learning,

you're not going to be pulled out. You know,

you're still going to be in the farm, the farmer's

hands. And you're still going to be taken care

of. And I think it's just when God. gives us

that grace, reminding us to give that grace to

other people too, right? Because we all have

the power of pulling out the weeds, just pulling

people out and disregarding them and just showing

that grace to everyone. Yeah. One of the quotes

I like, he's from a guy called John Green, but

he has one quote, which is, treat yourself like

you're on a team that you're cheering for. If

you're cheering for your team, you don't want

them to just give up if they make a mistake.

You're like, no, get back out there. Keep going.

So it's trying to help knowing that both you

are on your own team, but also that God on your

team he's actually cheering for you right yeah

even if god is there cheering for you and he

says hey that that wasn't great that didn't go

so good right he's there to help not to say you're

bad but to say hey this didn't work let's fix

this a little bit right we've got room to go

yeah yeah that was powerful that was really cool

yeah i'm glad i'm glad yeah um okay so we have

all just kind of said um evil exists in the world

there is an enemy at work okay do you think that

like people actually believe that i don't know

okay right does that like does that sound crazy

or like superstitious or i i do think maybe you

would have to kind of come from more of like

a spiritual lens, right? If you are part of a

religion, if you believe in a certain spirituality,

like Christians, I guess that might fit a little

bit more in our worldviews. Sure. I think as

Christians, you know, we understand that, you

know, God is good, good, and there is an evil.

I think that might be a little bit hard sometimes

to explain to folks who might not be part of

a church, who might not be Christian or part

of a religion. Sometimes when I look at the things

that happen in the world that kind of come out

and I'm like. This is evil. You know, there's

really no other way to look at it. It's like

this is pure evil. And then there are some things

where I'm just like, well, actually, humans also

suck, which is from sin, from the original sin.

But at the same time, it's, you know, I think

people are also capable of doing really bad things,

too. And whether or not that was influenced by

the enemy or if it's just they are just going

through something very difficult right now. I

don't know, that might be something up to God.

Yeah, for sure. Even going off the human suck

narrative, it's very common to be like, oh man,

we are terrible at these things. Yeah, yeah.

But we're also made in God's image, so it's fun

to grapple with the two of going, okay, we're

made in God's image, and also, we don't do things

right. But that's also where the parable of the

weeds helps us give us more time to grow. It

doesn't just cut us down the moment something

is bad, it's... give room, and then hopefully

we can actually, especially the weeds inside

ourselves, we can try and sort a little bit out

on our own and try and grow the proper fruit.

Sure, yeah. Yeah, I think, like, if you were

to, like, just, I don't know, walk up to somebody

on the street, I wouldn't recommend this. If

you did, you would just walk up to a random person

and be like, yeah, yeah, there's evil out in

the world. Like, people would maybe be like,

well, there's bad things in the world. Yes. I

think we all have this, like, innate sense. that

the world is not as it should be right yes right

like and and people will name that differently

and like have different language for that but

i think generally we're all on the same page

that like things are not always good no right

um just look at the news yeah yeah yeah exactly

right um just go breathe the air outside in ontario

this week um right like it's not good um But

I think what Christianity does and like other

religious systems sometimes do this as well is

like gives us a name for that. Yes. Right. And

says, yeah, evil exists because there is an enemy,

because Satan rebelled against God and is now

on this mission to destroy God's world. Yes.

Right. So do you think that that. is helpful

like in what ways is is that sort of narrative

something that is encouraging or something that

gives is useful in some way i think it's pretty

handy for me okay one of the nice things about

having that narrative is if i were to tell like

a friend oh there's evil in the world they probably

would go okay but that's a lot of my friends

at university who aren't necessarily religious

they go okay evil sure they might pinpoint and

really like to pinpoint and blame things like

oh it's a corporate greed or oh it's sin in some

aspect sure whatever the sin may be yeah But

for us to say, OK, evil is out there, I can pinpoint

it more on evil and less on specific people or

actions. Sure. And then I can try and reroute

it and say, OK, we can work with everyone here.

Whoever is nearby, try to be a blessing to whoever

you're around. Yeah. And work together, not having

the blame on specifically something. Sure. Someone

specific. Yeah. Saying, OK, there's a forces

process. how can we collectively work against

it? And then through God's grace and wisdom,

hopefully we can come up with some ways to try

to keep ourselves accountable and growing rather

than just forcing it onto the more tangible aspects.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think something like...

when when we hear like you know there's evil

in the world and there is an enemy i think that's

something that should bring people together kind

of like you said but so i wasn't speaking to

mike i'm speaking to mike now that's something

should that should kind of bring people together

especially um christians right like we should

be coming together to bring as much light and

love in the world because we know that evil does

exist and it does impact people and then at the

same time um you know there there are folks who

may have experienced like being told like you

have the devil inside of you and that's why you

do this this this this this right and it's just

being like um I don't think that's the direction

we should be taking this. We shouldn't be using

the fact that there is an enemy to then blame

one another. Right. To be like, you are part

of the enemy or whatever. Like, right. You know,

I think it's really just being like, OK, so there

is this evil there. We just have to be together

and we have to have each other's backs and we

have to approach each other with grace and compassion.

And even if there's going to be people who. don't

believe in what we believe we still extend that

grace and compassion to them as well because

we want the best for them and we don't want them

to be hurt by the evil that is there and um i

think it i think there really is so much power

when christians come together in light and in

love and just pray and are just like you know

like we just want good things for the world we

want people to be blessed we want people to be

safe and protected and um and just as christians

reminding that A lot of things are in God's hands.

And at the same time, it's not like we're completely

powerless, right? Like there are things that,

you know, prayer, speaking to God, reading the

word, getting involved in community, fighting

the systemic injustices we see because we live

in Canada, we're Christians, we don't face the

same persecution as maybe other groups. So using

those privileges to then help those who cannot

speak for themselves, that is a way we can fight

against evil. We're called to stewardship. We're

called to help those in need. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

For sure. Yeah. And I think one of the important

pieces for me in like at least sort of framing

all of this is that like we all come together

as Christians, as humanity, ideally, right, to

fight against evil in the world. But actually

we. Can't win. If it was just all of the people

getting together, mission failed. It's not going

to go well, folks. But the Christian narrative,

the story of hope that we have is that Jesus

has actually already defeated evil. Yes. Right.

We know the end of the story and we're just like

not quite living there yet. Right. And so all

of this, this coming together, this doing good

work, this loving our neighbor, like all comes

under the umbrella of Christ's love and power.

Right. That works in and through us to confront

the evil powers in the world. Absolutely. Right.

That. Yeah. And I think we just need to remember

that in all of this, that like the servants aren't

just like out there doing their own thing. They're

doing their own thing under the direction of

the farmer, under the direction of God. Yeah.

All things are possible through God. Yeah. He's

not just passive standing by and just watching

everything. You can pray to the same guy who

has the power to help you through in defeating.

the mythical force of evil that's out there yeah

we can name it and also have the guy who knows

how to beat it on our side yeah it's great yeah

it's very helpful it's very handy yeah yeah so

i think just that reminder that yeah there is

evil in the world there are things that will

go wrong and we don't need to waste our time

trying to find the blame right that we can say

you know there's an enemy yep and and that enemy

Sometimes is at work in people, but that's not

because the people are bad. It's because the

enemy is sneaky. Exactly. Absolutely. Right.

But God wins. God wins. And God's like, here,

come join my team. Thank you. Yeah. Pretty cool

stuff. That's my coach. I think it's like then

it just kind of reminds us because when we do

see evil in the world, we can get really hopeless,

right? Sure. But just from this whole conversation,

since God is on our team, Jesus has already like

won. He has already defeated evil. Just turning

this into like a story of hope and trying to

turning it into something of like, we know what's

going to happen. So let's just try to do as much

as we can to help people and to be love and light

in the world as we can and not let. evil or weeds

or anything divide us yeah yeah for sure takes

a lot of the pressure off of us as individuals

we don't have to find the blame and go into chaos

and going no it was your fault that was this

fault that was yeah we could just sit back say

no god's got this god's got this my job is to

walk the path that god has laid out for me exactly

yeah whether i need to take responsibility or

wasn't me entirely doesn't necessarily have to

matter we get a lot of times mess or lost in

trying to place the blame when we just focus

on the issues okay was this part wrong sure go

with it and work towards the solution yeah yeah

that sounds great yeah yeah thank you so much

folks i think this has been a really helpful

to sort of unpack what's happening in this parable

and give us permission to name what's wrong yes

um but then to move on from that and to say OK,

things are wrong. Maybe there's wrong in me,

but I can still do good. God is still working.

God is here. God is in me. Exactly. Even as I'm

doing wrong things sometimes. Sometimes. I think

it's really messy, but I think it's also really

hopeful. It is. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you for

tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

I pray that whatever challenging circumstances

you are facing, that you're able to find some

ways through, that you are able to find ways

to extend grace to yourself, to extend love to

your neighbor, and of course, to rely on God

to get you through it all. And we'll see you

again next week.