16TH SUNDAY A We give thanks to God as we begin a new week. The Liturgy today celebrates the patience of God in dealing with sinners as the first reading and the parable of the Weeds of the Fields reveals. Last Sunday we reflected on the parable of the Sower which deals mainly with the acceptance of the message of God as depicted in the types of soil. Today’s parable deals mainly with the God of both the saints and the sinners. We are invited to be like God who is generous with His love and gives forgiveness after sin. FIRST READING (WISDOM 12:13.16-19) The Book of Wisdom was written by a Jewish Author in touch with the achievements of the other cultures around. Cultural exchanges in places like Alexandria in Egypt could have played a role in his writings. The Book makes it clear that it is the wisdom of God that guides all of human affairs and directs the world with justice and with provident care. Today’s passage taken in its context beginning from Chapter 11:21ff is about God who is All Powerful and Merciful. It begins by saying, “For it is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the might of your arm? Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales and like a drop of the morning dew that falls on the ground.But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things, and you overlook peoples sins, so that they may repent.”(11:21-23) Today’s passage selection ties well with the parable of the wheat and the weeds. While there are many other lessons to learn from the parable, the author of the Book of Wisdom invites us to see a God who does not ignore evil practices, but allows time for repentance and conversion and to see this as a model for the righteous. The fate of the unrighteous is addressed by this passage. Chapter 10 puts before the readers how God has been kind to rescue the righteous ones in the past by bringing forth the stories of Noah and Abraham without mentioning their names. The question then is, what is the fate of the unrighteous man before God? The passage tells us that, God’s care is for all people and His sovereignty over all causes God to spare as He does not need to prove to anyone that he has not judged unjustly. In fact, the omitted verses says, “You are righteous and you rule all things righteously, deeming it alien to your power to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished. For your strength is the source of righteousness, and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare.”(12:15-16) The author tells us that though God has power to intervene directly in the affairs of the world at any time, the mildness and forbearance by which He governs the world is a lesson that the “righteous man must be kind.” This is a source of hope for God’s children because He gives repentance after sin, though that is not an encouragement to continue to sin. This passage opens us to the parables of the Kingdom in the Gospel of today. SECOND READING (ROMANS 8:26-27) For those who are righteous and members of the flock of Christ, prayer is a means through which they keep a constant touch with the divine. Just as Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, the Spirit helps them to pray and to pray well. The prayers of Jesus for His disciples is basically that the Father’s wish might be accomplished. The Spirit knows the will of the Father and it dwells in the disciples and so the Spirit is able to intercede in the right manner for the faithful of God. Despite the ever present inclination to set their minds on the things of the world therefore, the Spirit comes to the aid of the faithful to guide them into the right places. Today’s passage tells us therefore that, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” So even when we do not have the right words with which to pray, our disposition for prayer is all it takes and the Spirit picks up from there to supply what is missing. GOSPEL (MATTHEW 13:24-43) There are three parables in today’s Gospel and they all talk about the kingdom of God: the parable of the weeds of the field; the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leavened dough. Of these three, Matthew provides the explanation for just the first one. It is not difficult to see the beauty of the created world and how wonderfully they have been made. In the same way, you do not need a research to see the evil in the world which seems to be in conflict with the whole intent of God to create the beautiful world. How do you explain the presence of evil in a beautiful world created by a good God? Where is God in the midst of the chaos that we find in the world? Does God take notice of what is happening in the world? Why the seeming silence from the heavenly place when things go wrong? There are those who have concluded as a result of the evil in the world that there is no God. Today’s parable explains the silence of God in the face of what we see going wrong in the world of today. While chapters 1 and 2 of the Book of Genesis tells us of the wonderful beginning of the world in creation story, in the following chapter we also saw how humanity made its first fall in Adam and Eve which was worsened by the action of Cain who killed his brother Abel, the first account of death and particularly murder in the Bible. One can only watch the news with dismay today in the number of casualties everyday through violent means as opposed to natural death. Some of these questions must have bothered those who gathered round Jesus and the Matthean Community as well. Jesus therefore provides an answer in the merciful love of God who is patient even with sinners as He does not delight in evil. In the parable of the Weeds of the Field, Jesus presents the excellent work done by the farmer who had sown good seeds (wheat) in his field and as it is the usual practice returned home to take his rest. Unsuspectingly his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. The weeds sown by the enemy must have looked so much like the wheat as it was not discovered until the time when the wheat was supposed to bear its grains. The servants approached the householder for permission to remove the weeds which he recognised as the work of the enemy, but the householder told the servants, “Lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” This is perhaps not an advise to a farmer but to a preacher. But more importantly it is an advise to the righteous to behave like God who is patient with the sinner in the hope that the sinner will repent of his evil deeds and return to the right path with God. The Parable of the Mustard Seed is more of a metaphor which points to the enormous growth of the Kingdom despite its humble and minute beginnings. When a mustard tree grows wild its branches extend even outside the boundaries of its own plot. The Kingdom of God crosses the boundaries of nations, race and colour into the areas where even the human sower may not have intended. The birds of the air finding refuge in its branches is a reference to the inclusion of Gentiles and Pagans in the Kingdom of God and issue of concern even to the early Christians. The Parable of the Leaven asserts that the Kingdom of God included those who are unclean, sinners and outsiders. The Israelites were used to Unleavened bread. When Jesus refers to Leavened bread in this parable, it is a sign that social barriers between the Jews and the outsiders will be broken for the sake of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God does not exclude anyone. Today’s Liturgy calls us to see the Church as a mixed bag of saints and sinners and never to exclude anyone from the Kingdom. Good and evil cannot be separated just like that, the master will determine at the end of time. The wheat grows in each one of us, but the weed is also present in us. The evil things we do, represent the darnel in us while the good things represent the wheat. Which is more productive in our lives? The wheat or the darnel? Even though Paul himself often addressed the early Christians as Saints in his writings, it was very clear still that they had their weaknesses and needed the grace which comes through the Spirit to overcome and maintain their relationship with God. We cannot be in a hurry to root out all evils, it requires a lot of patience and prayer. Same thing applies to the problem of suffering in the world. God is not indifferent to all that goes on in the world but as the first reading today explains, “you who are sovereign in strength judge with mildness, and with great forbearance you govern us.” May The Lord bless your week and grant you mildness and forbearance towards all.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 20:23:21 +0000