Personal Integrity Luke 23:18-25

You can see in the picture that we have brush growing in the fence line.  As long as the root remains the stuff grows back, and you can’t dig it out without removing the fence!  What is a farmer to do?  How about just a little bit of brush killer?  Lots of farmers use the stuff to make their lives easier. 

I have even read about conventional sunflower farmers using Paraquat to kill weeds and defoliate their fields and therefore enable an earlier harvest.  Then I read that Paraquat was actually called “Agent Orange” during the Vietnam War where 20 million gallons were sprayed on the jungle and farmer’s fields in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.  The leaves fell and the crops died.  Soldiers and farmers on both sides suffered from exposure to the chemicals.

For an organic farmer the acceptable ways to kill unwanted vegetation are limited to mostly mechanical means rather than chemical.  On more than one occasion I have dreamed of using a little “round up” on a stubborn poison oak sprout or a scrub oak growing right on the fence line where I couldn’t dig it out.  What keeps me from using chemicals like these on my farm?  Am I afraid that an inspector will find out?   No, because I have not chosen to cooperate with the organic certification process.  So what then?   Why don’t I sneak a little bit of weed killer here and there when weeds and brush grow faster than I can control them?

The enemies of Jesus brought him to Pontius Pilate the Roman governor of Judea.  They asked for Jesus to be put to death because he was “stirring up the people” and was claiming to be a King.  After examining the evidence Pilate admitted to the crowd that he could not find Jesus guilty and offered to release him.  Instead they all cried out for Pilate to release someone who had really stirred up the people.  Barabbas was his name.  Barabbas had been arrested for causing an insurrection in the city and killing someone.  The crowd shouted that they wanted Barabbas released instead of Jesus.  Now Pilate had a dilemma.  He knew Barabbas was guilty and that Jesus was innocent but the crowd was pressuring him to release the wrong man.  What would he do?  Luke wrote, “and their voices began to prevail”.  (Luke 23:23)  John the Apostle’s writings included another insight. He said that the crowd was accusing Pilate of being an insurrectionist himself if he let him go.  They said if Pilate let Jesus go he was no friend of Caesar!   (Kind of funny that Pilate actually DID let an insurrectionist go anyway, Barabbas.) 

So Pilate caved and Jesus was sent off to be executed.  So why do I choose not to use chemical weed killers on my farm?   I don’t want to be like Pilate who caved to the pressure of the moment.  I would rather let the weeds and brush go free because I believe having weeds is better than freeing chemical herbicides for use on my farm.