'We are all sinners in the hands of a loving and forgiving God.

 

Sixteenth Sunday in OT  A  2023

 

 

In today’s Gospel parable, Jesus is suggesting that we let the weeds in the garden grow along with the wheat till harvest time.  When the question was asked:  Do you want us to go immediately to pull up the weeds?  The response was given: “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.  Let them grow together until the harvest.”

 As I reflect on today’s Gospel of the parable of the weeds and the wheat, my conviction is we live in a very weedy world.  Isn’t it true, there is much too much violence, hatred, power-grabbing, self-centeredness in the world today?  We have to look no further than ourselves to recognize too much self-centeredness and not enough God-centeredness and other-centeredness.

Jesus tells us this parable to illustrate the patience of God in dealing with weeds.  Wait until the harvest.  The Church of Jesus is not to grow impatient with the weeds.

What weeds are we talking about?  Yes, the weeds of life are all about us.  We are all sinners.  We all have demons.  In terms of this parable, we all have weeds – the weeds of pride, the weeds of materialism, the weeds of anger, the weeds of lust, the weeds of self-centeredness, and the weeds of holding grudges.  Often enough, we are more aware of these weeds in the lives of others than ourselves.

There are significant weeds in the life of the Church – the weeds of sexual abuse, the weeds of power, and the weeds of not living out the Gospel that is preached.

What are we to do in the face of the weeds that are all about us?  The parable suggests that God is patient—much more patient than ourselves.  Matthew’s Gospel could be renamed the Gospel of Punishment postponed.

 harvest.”

 

 

With this parable, Jesus is telling us clearly we are to be an inclusive church.  Since its earliest days, the Church has preferred to tolerate different levels of commitment and holiness.  I wonder if you can observe in your own family life different levels of commitment and holiness.   Even if this is true, are we not called to love and embrace each and every member of our family.

This attitude of acceptance is also in line with the revelation of God “as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in kindness.”

An inclusive Church that is kind and lenient toward its own members and toward everyone else should be an inspiration to a divided world that has a tendency to judge harshly, to be quick to anger, and to uproot weeds even at the cost of damage to the good plants.  The Church is to stand forth as a sign that we are all brothers and sisters which allows honest dialogue and invigorates it.

A Church that is welcoming and has room for everyone, a Church that can forgive and forget, a Church that does not condemn, criticize or judge has God’s heart beating within the Church.

May we pray for the grace of the patience of God.  This does not mean passivity or helplessness or an attitude of giving up.  Does this mean we are to sit back and pick daisies while the innocent suffer?  It means we are to love ourselves who are sinners and who have weeds that disappoint us.  The truth of our lives is that we are all sinners whom the Lord has turned his gaze upon.

The evangelist Matthew is concerned that no punishment be meted out prematurely.  Beware of the overzealous volunteers, anxious to “weed out” undesirables, supremely sure of their ability to identify such undesirables with unfailing accuracy.  What looks like weeds to us may well be wheat.

What are we to make of the weediness of our Church that doesn’t always reflect the love of Jesus in the lives of people?  Do we look for a Church without weeds so that we can focus more fully on God?  As illustrated in the parable, as disillusioning as this may be, the weeds are going to be present till the harvest at the end of the world.  The Church will always be a Church of sinners.  Again, this doesn’t mean that we are to be passive recipients of evil as in sexual abuse.  We are to stand for the Gospel and hold ourselves and others to a Gospel way of living.  But at the same time, as long as people are people, there is going to be some weediness in our own hearts and in our world.

What are we to do?  What did Jesus do?  Recall the story that Jesus told of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 and went in sheep of the lost sheep that had gone astray.

Recall the story of the woman caught in adultery when Jesus said to her accusers: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”

And to the thief that was crucified along with Jesus: “This day you will be with me in paradise.”

I call your attention to the words of St. Paul in the second Scripture reading: “The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness: for we do not pray as we ought.”  I have always taken great comfort in this reading from Paul to the Romans.  Even though I’m sure your prayer is always very focused, and you never get distracted, I confess that my mind is capable of wandering in prayer.  I am too capable of getting caught in the busyness of life and not focus on resting in the Lord Jesus.  But I am very comforted that the Holy Spirits brings my distracted and useless prayer to our loving God.  My “very weedy prayer,” so to speak, through the grace of the Holy Spirit deepens my union with Christ Jesus.  Thanks be to God.

To sum up the parable of the weeds and the wheat, at the end of the day, we are all sinners in the hands of a loving and forgiving God.

 

Have a Blessed Day.