Homily for the Week of July 20, 2014

HOMILY: Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2014

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19

 Psalm 86:5-6, 9-10, 15-16

 Romans 8:26-27

 Matthew 13:24-43 or 13:24-30

         For the second weekend in a row we hear Jesus telling stories involving farming. He uses what are called parables.  Parables are short stories about good and bad, about how we are to change our life. There are about 40 of these parables in the Bible.  Most of these stories, like the one that I just read, are based on farming.  Last Sunday we listened to the parable of the sower who the seed fall on all kinds of ground. This week’s parable deals with a resulting question: how are Christians to react to those who reject the Word God and the life of the Christian community? But Jesus is not trying to get you to farm or even to plant a garden. Jesus uses the stories to explain how we might be a better person or more spiritual.

         Most of his stories have a conflict between good and bad, between those that are in and those that are out. Fights between families were part of the world at the time of Jesus. And they are still part of our world. Revenge or getting even can often be part of our culture. But usually Jesus tries to convince us that there is really only one group that matters, and that is the group of people who believe in God and try to do what God wants them to do. Jesus also tells us that regardless of what group you belong to, God cares about you.  God does not have favorites.

         Lets look at the story I just read about weeds and wheat.  When you find weeds sprouting in your garden or flowers you usually try to do some weeding. That is probably what most farmers and gardeners would do. But Jesus says: Let the weeds and the wheat grow together. At harvest time God will make the necessary separation.

         Can you see yourself in that story?  How often have you said to yourself:  It is not what I want to do that I do, but it is what I do not want to do that I do?  How can it be that when I want to be good I get tempted to do something bad.  At times we also label some people as wheat and others as weeds.   We think of some persons we know as bad and others as good. 

         We often will not admit that both good and bad can live side by side in our families, in our churches, our schools, our workplace - everywhere. Because of this we find ourselves judging others.  But We must be thankful that God is the final judge. The good and the bad must stay alongside each other--just like the wheat and the weeds. One must tolerate the other, but the activity of the Spirit will encourage a good and fruitful harvest in the end.

         Jesus is also telling us today that even in the beautiful side of life, where we are in harmony with God, there is always the possibility of evil and many weeds somehow get in with the wheat.

         Furthermore, evil cannot be eliminated by destroying everything that appears evil. Rather, we have to work through a life that is not perfect, knowing that the evil that lurks in the weeds is a constant reminder that  none  of us perfect, and that only Jesus can guide us to be on the right road.

         All of these stories point us to our need to prepare ourselves every day to meet God as our judge when we die. Yes, the future begins today; the heaven to which we hope to go some day begins today.  Jesus, through these short stories, is trying to teach us that heaven must truly begin here in this life;  here on earth. Jesus is also teaching us of God's forgiveness. He is telling us not to be less merciful and patient than God as we notice family members, friends, strangers and Catholics who don't always practice what they preach.  Most of us can spot a hypocrite when we see one --unless it is our self. How many of us have wondered why God couldn't have created everyone to be as wise and generous and perfect as we are?  Wouldn't that be splendid?

         Just as trees or any plant grows gradually day to day without noise, so too do these Bible stories about how goodness and spirituality grows in us.   It is not the size that is important but the desire to change. But these stories also teach us that God's church has plenty of room for everyone. Jesus has opened his father's house to everyone including the indifferent and the imperfect. So the next time that we ask God to condemn someone who has done something bad,  let us remember our own weedy moments and be thankful that God is always ready to forgive us. 

     Jesus is present in everyone and everything. He does not distinguish between the bad and the good. God does not go around as some evangelists might say demanding a perfect society of the saved and driving out those who don't fit. Sinners are welcomed into the inner space of God's house. The walls of the church do not separate the saved from the damned. Like the arms of a loving mother Jesus  hugs and embraces all of us his children.  Jesus says that the wheat is strong enough to survive the weeds.