Weekly Devotion: In the Weeds
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I owe a deeper understanding of who I am because of Dr. Hans Asperger.
Hans Asperger was a pediatrician credited with finding a type of autism different from what had been usually considered autism.
In the midst of World War II, Asperger wrote his findings in 1944 about this variant of autism. Dr. Asperger noticed children who were quite smart and verbal, but they had a hard time with social skills and might even seem unempathetic. This was far different from the then-common understanding of autism as someone living in another world, who tended to be noncommunicative and probably nonverbal.
This was a godsend for so many people like me. People who wondered what in the world was wrong with them now had a diagnosis that they could understand. Millions of people all of a sudden had a way of understanding themselves that they never had before.
Dr. Asperger became a hero to so many people.
Until he wasn’t.
There were two things people didn’t pay attention about Dr. Asperger. The first is that people ignored his nationality which was Austrian. Second, they didn’t notice the year he wrote his paper on the kind of autism that bears his name; 1944. Austria was under Nazi German control and had been since the Anschluss or Annexation of Austria in 1938. There is now some evidence that Asperger might have collaborated with the Nazis.
Writers and activists who once praised Dr. Asperger are working to separate him from his discovery. That’s understandable, but the thing here is this: we can’t ignore the fact that this Nazi collaborator also discovered a type of autism that has changed people’s lives for the better.
It’s fascinating to learn how so many people who have done wonderful things that have made the world a better place also did things that were just wrong and hurtful. Philip Johnson, the architect who designed the IDS Center in Minneapolis, was a Nazi sympathizer. The jazz great Miles Davis was rumored to have abused his then-wife Cicely Tyson, and so on. Our heroes are not just imperfect, they have sometimes done some terrible things.
Our text in Matthew focuses on three parables where Jesus explains what the kingdom of God is all about. He starts off with this parable where a farmer owns a field that is growing wheat.
One night a rival comes and plants some weeds. “Let them grow up together,” he tells them.
He tells them the harvest will come and then gather up the wheat and weeds and put the weeds in the fire.
The way of the world is to fight back against the evil we see in our world.
Of course, that’s a good thing. It’s a needed thing. But far too often we want to see the world in black and white; good people over here and bad people over there. The goal is to rip out the weeds, and spray as much weed killer as possible.
God is about justice, but God is also about love and grace. The ways of the world want to punish and destroy, but God seems to want to do something different- at least until the harvest.
Evil isn’t something that is just out there. That’s the stuff of movies. In reality, good and evil, wheat and weeds, reside in each of our hearts. As Martin Luther has said we are both saint and sinner at the same time. People like Hans Asperger are guilty of collaborating with the Nazis, but they are also people who can do good can change lives for the better. Without Dr. Asperger’s work, I would have never been diagnosed with autism and I would have never had a better understanding of myself and how to advocate and navigate in this world.
In God’s Kingdom, God is not rushing to judgment. Instead, God is patient giving all of us time to repent and change. Judgment will come at the harvest, but God wants to show love and forgiveness until the very last moment. In God’s kingdom, God wants to save people until the very last minute. God seems to want the fire to purify, to burn away the weed that is found in all of our lives so that we maybe be finally free from the powers of sin and death.
-Dennis Sanders, Pastor