(Homily 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Yr-A)
There is a traditional belief that
the Christian God manifests his power and omnipotence through loving
forgiveness and mercy. He does neither show up his power by extirpating the bad
and evil people nor by annihilating his enemies. God’s approach towards
humanity is that of Mercy and Love. A
deeper reflection on the readings of this Sunday brings to our consideration
the fact that the predominant motive and the recurrent theme revolve around
God’s omnipotence demonstrated in a paradoxical manner, because His omnipotence
is an omnipotence of Love and Mercy. In the first reading, the writer
maintains that Yahweh’s strength is the basis of his saving justice and his sovereignty
over all makes Him lenient to all. He is mild in judgment and governs us with great
lenience. The Psalmist equally confirmed it thus: “Lord you are kind and
forgiving, rich in faithful love for all who call upon you…God of tenderness
and mercy, slow to anger, rich in faithful love” (Ps. 86:5.15). The Gospel narrative is nothing but the revelation
of God’s patience and mercy made manifest in Christ. In the words of St. Paul:
“the patience of God is meant to bring you to repentance” (Rm. 2:4). Thus, the patience and mercy of God is for us a chance
to change and to grow, and this is obtainable by the power of the Holy Spirit
(second reading). The Holy Spirit is the
source of the power of the kingdom’s growth, expansion and transformation.
In the first reading (Wis. 12:13.16-19) the Wise man started
by admonishing us with the following words: “There is no God other than you”.
The sage said this at a time when all men at least believed in divinities, if
not in God. But today we battle with so many ideologies that tend to relegate
God to the background, for instance, there is the current of secularism that discourages
belief in any God. The modern man has
modeled a god of his own, and today progress, pleasure and science are man-made
gods. On the other hand, our attention is more on the admonition of the
sacred author, he admonished us to be just, because God is just, he loves all,
both the good and the bad. He is a merciful and just God, for this the sacred
author says: “For your strength is the basis of your saving justice, and your
sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all” (v.16) and again, “But you, controlling your strength, are mild in
judgment, and govern us with great lenience, for you have only to will, and
your power is there” (v.18). We are therefore invited to imitate the
gesture of God, who is patient and merciful to all: “By acting thus, you
have taught your people that the upright must be kindly to his fellows, and you
have given your children the good hope that after sins you will grant
repentance” (v.19). Thus, an upright
person must love all, both the good and the bad, imitating God, who is patient
and merciful. The attitude and patience of the Owner of the field in the
parable of the wheat and the weed speaks volumes for us. On the other hand, this passage invites the true sons and
daughters of God to be people of hope, because God offers to all, the
possibility of repentance after sin, a chance to change and to grow.
The Gospel of today (Mt. 13:24-43) presents before us three parables with which Jesus
intends to illustrate some aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven He has come to
inaugurate on earth. The kingdom of Heaven is nothing but the project of
salvation that God in his infinite love wants to realize through Christ. The
“kingdom” which in its earthly phase, initially is identified with the
community of the disciples of Christ, and therefore with the Church; has both an existential and eschatological
dimensions. However, in order to understand properly the three parables, it
is pertinent to underscore some vital points, thus situating us into the
context of the Jews at that time: ►First, the
Jews were waiting for the Messiah, the promised Savior, but they had a wrong
idea of Him, for they were waiting for Him like a powerful King and a just
judge, who will chase away evil and bad people, and welcome the just and the
honest. Even the apostles James and John in that episode where and when they
did not receive Him in a Samaritan village, asked: “Lord, do you want us to
call fire from heaven to consume them?” (Lk.
9:54). John the Baptist too, announced that the Messiah has “His winnowing-fan
is in his hand; he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into his
barn; but the chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out” (Mt. 3:12). But under these aspects
Jesus disappointed all, because he presented himself as Merciful and Meek, to
the extent that John the Baptist sent ambassadors to ask him: “Are you the one
who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” (Mt. 11:3). ►Second, it was
circulated among the Jews the opinion that the Kingdom of the future Messiah
would have been glorious, that it would have been imposed clamorously and
it would have triumphed over all kingdoms on the earth founded on injustice and
quest for power. But Jesus chose the ways of humility and mercy. With regards
to the first idea according to which the Messiah would have been a powerful
figure, Jesus clarifies the idea with the parable of the wheat and the weed, on
which we would like to give more importance, because it is the most important in the Gospel passage of
today.
The kingdom of heaven can be compared
to a man that planted good seed. The kingdom of heaven can be compared to the
mustard seed. The Kingdom of heaven can be compared to the yeast. These initial sentences of the three
parables are enough to make us understand that Jesus is speaking about a
kingdom of heaven that is here on earth. Only on earth in fact, there is
space for weeds and for growth. Nothing of these will be found in the future
and eschatological kingdom, but only God who will be all in all. By means of
these three parables Jesus traced the situation of the Church on earth. They are three essential parables for the
understanding of the nature, the duty and the destiny of the Church. In the
parables of the Mustard seed and the Yeast Jesus explains how the Kingdom of
God, though small and insignificant, has potentials for growth and the
transforming force to change the world.
First is the parable of the wheat and
weed, a man sowed good seed in his field and while everybody was asleep his
enemy came and sowed weed among the wheat. In fact, this parable raises the
common question we often ask: How come
the good and the bad people exist? Or even more precisely, why does God
permit that the good and the bad, the wheat and weeds exist together? Why doesn’t God intervene and remove the
bad people? Little wonder, the servants in this parable asked the owner of
the field, “do you want us to go and remove the weeds?” But the owner of the field
responded in the negative. The focal
point and distinguishing factor of this parable is the perspective of the owner
of the camp and that of the servants. The servants are of the idea to
remove the weed immediately. But the Master has a contrary opinion; he prefers
to wait till the time of harvest. Here, the teaching of Jesus is glaring, it entails that in the world, good and bad
people co-exist, and good and evil will also co-exist. It is not our task
to do the separation. For the existential space between the planting and
harvesting time is a period of Mercy and forgiveness. Even inside the Church,
among his disciples there can be and there is the mixture of wheat and weeds,
faithfulness and unfaithfulness, good and bad commingle. The community of
perfect people does not exist on this earth. The Church in se is holy, but it is made up of men, sinners, and as such
always in need of conversion and of purification.
The other two parables were very much
understood by the disciples unlike the parable of the wheat and weeds, little
wonder, they disciples when they were alone with Jesus asked Him to explain the
parable of the weeds in the field. In response Jesus explained to them that the
Sower is He Himself, the good seed indicates the children of the Kingdom, the
bad seed indicates the children of evil, the field is the world and the harvest
is the end of the world. However, much later in the history of the Church,
theologians identified the field with the Church, where the good and the bad
co-exist. Jesus through this parable
expresses and reveals the image of God, that is a patient God, ever-forgiving
and merciful, a God who waits! He
does not want the death of the wicked, instead let him repent and live (Ez. 33:11) Why? Because He wants to
offer us time for transformation, for He knows that the bad can become good. This
present time is an opportune moment to extirpate every form of weed and evil in
us and enrich ourselves of virtues and good works. Let us make every effort not
to waste this time or let it pass us by, because ‘who has time does not wait for time’.
Second is the parable of the mustard seed and it replicates how the kingdom of
heaven grows, just as the smallest of seeds grows into the largest plant. Jesus
in the parable of the Mustard seed explains how the Kingdom of God, though
small, will expand prodigiously and become a shelter for multitudes of people. By
that Jesus intends to teach us that the Kingdom of heaven, the community of the
disciples (the Church), is small in its initial phase on earth, but it
possesses vitality, an incredible capacity of growth and of expansion.
Third is the parable of the yeast, and
it indicates the growth of the Kingdom,
but a different growth, not necessarily in extension, but in intensity. The
parable indicates the transforming force that the kingdom of heaven possesses in
renewing all, making the multitude of men into bread to be presented to God. While
the first parable tells us to wait, the
parable of the leaven or the yeast tells us what to do as we wait, we are to
mix in love with all, avoiding the temptation of separation, division and
categorization into good and bad. In the Old Testament, the word “leaven”
is a symbol of evil, leaven corrupts. In this sense, we may say that “a little
bad can ruin all the good”. Some
exegetes have said that this parable is not about bread but about love. As
modern-day yeast changes flour into bread dough, so too, love changes our
lives, we are therefore invited to spread love until it touches everyone.
In the three parables narrated by
Jesus to explain the mystery of the kingdom of Heaven, therein we encounter
some contrasts: ●In the parable of the weeds in the field, the contrast is
between the servants and the owner of the field. The first in their impatient
zeal wanted to remove immediately the weed, in order to enable the seed to grow
undisturbed. But the owner said no, he prefers that they grow together until
the time of harvest when there will be separation. By this, Jesus teaches us
that in the big camp/field of the world and in the community of his disciples,
the good and the bad co-exist. ●In the parable of the Mustard seed, the
contrast is the smallness of the seed and its capacity to grow and to expand. ●In
the parable of the Yeast, the contrast is between the hidden presence,
unobserved of the yeast and its extraordinary strength for transformation that
enlivens the flour.
In the same vein, the three parables
sound like an admonition and as such call our attention to some vital points: *First,
we are not to block the force and the vitality of the Kingdom of God inside us;
we have to correspond with the divine grace and try to remove the weeds inside
us. *Second, we have to become more like the yeast, to ferment with goodness and
love those around us, we have to be like small seeds of grace that grow and
expand. *Third, we do not have to abuse the presence of God that tolerates our
incongruence and our infidelity. *Fourth, the separation of the good from evil
will come, but it will be done by God himself, the just and impartial Judge, let us not become God’s Chief Justice.
In the second reading (Rm. 8:26-27) St. Paul presented the Holy Spirit in action, in the
heart of the faithful. The Spirit is our great Helper in our weakness and our
great Intercessor when we do not know how to pray. Not only that, He makes
prayers for us in accordance to the will of God. Thus, in connection to the parables of today’s Gospel, we may well affirm
that the kingdom of God still maintains its extraordinary force, capacity of
expansion and transformation, irrespective of the imminent evil by the power of
the Spirit. Indeed, with particular reference to the parable of the yeast, the yeast per excellence is the power of
the Holy Spirit that is at work in the Kingdom. In all, the first parable
invites us to a patient waiting, the second admonishes us not to see the
waiting time as a moment of stagnation, but of growth and the third invites us
to allow the power of the Spirit to increase His love in us. The Holy Spirit is the source of the power
of the kingdom’s growth, expansion and transformation, for He comes to the
aid of the members of that kingdom.
Drawing the issue further, these passages from the book of Wisdom and
the Gospel invariably invite us to shun the temptation and tendency of dividing
and categorizing people into good and bad, for no one can claim to be
completely good without any fault, or completely bad or evil. Again, we are invited to avoid the temptation of
rigorism, of intolerance and intransigence towards others. We often ask for
comprehension and mercy when we go wrong, but many a times we find it difficult
to understand and show mercy to others when they go wrong. Furthermore, we need
to avoid forming ideas that are too negative of the world and a pessimistic
vision of life. And lastly, there is
need of avoiding the temptation of abusing God’s clemency and patience, by
procrastinating continually the commitment to conversion and the transformation
of one’s life. For this, our evangelist admonished us thus: “Anyone who has
ears should listen” (Mt. 13:43). And
St. Paul puts it in a more dramatic manner thus: “Are you not disregarding his
abundant goodness, tolerance and patience, failing to realize that this
generosity of God is meant to bring you to repentance?” (Rm. 2:4).
Against the backdrop of today’s parables
and the readings, is the fact that there cannot be a perfect and spotless
humanity made up of only the good people. Good and bad will co-exist till the
end of the world, like in the parable of the Wheat and the weeds. Even the
Kingdom of God on earth (the Church) is a mixture of good and bad people. As a
matter of fact, when we look around in our present world, we see that evil and
people who tend towards evil abound. It is true that in this world there are
many weeds, but also there is the wheat, even though they may not be very much
evident. However, the underlining point is that no matter how evil thrive, it
cannot prevail over good. Indeed, no evil power can stop the Kingdom of God’s
prodigious vitality and extraordinary capacity of transforming consciences in
the world. The Good News of today is
that the Lord is imploring us to change and he's giving us the time to do so.
He has given us a chance to change and to grow. Let us ask the Lord to help us
to collaborate with His grace at work in us, so as to continue to make effort
to grow and become matured and better Christians and children of His Kingdom.
Amen!!!
(Fr.
Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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