16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
This weekend we hear the reading from the first section from Chapter 23 of St. Matthews gospel, the story is the parable of the darnel in the field the seed and the weeds. In the parable of the wheat and weeds, Jesus recognized co-existence of good with evil. We often say ‘wouldn’t life be easier if everything were black and white’ as if there are ‘totally good people’ and ‘totally evil people’. Of course life is never that simple. We need to ask ourselves who are we called to be in a world where weeds and seeds grow side by side and we often find it hard to distinguish the difference between them. We are called to be the body of Christ the Church which is a church of Saints and sinners a Church of Seeds and Weeds a church that lives in a world in which very little is black and white. As people of faith we have to constantly ask ourselves 3 questions : Should we hide from the messiness and make religion a privatized personal relationship with God?
Should we insulate ourselves – sharing with those we think are worthy of our love, deciding who is worthy? Where is God in all this concern, worry and judgment? If we pray about these three questions and our problems and those of others we will see god is there in the middle of everything and his hand will guide us and as a result we will be the seeds that flourish and not the weeds or the darnel. Jesus used parables to challenge his audience to think and he uses the parables in our world of today to challenge you and me and make us think as well. The images and symbols in the Gospel Parables allowed for various interpretations, depending upon the audience and their circumstances. To help relieve anxiety among his persecuted followers, Jesus told this parable as a story about good and evil. Obviously, Jesus recognized good and evil lived together in his time as we recognize the same today. But, when Jesus made that co-existence part of God’s Kingdom, he must have shocked his own followers. How could God allow such evil in the world? Shouldn’t God act to save his people?
Why did he delay? These are questions that were asked in the time of Jesus and we still ask ourselves the same questions these days. The message of the parable is something that Jesus lived throughout his ministry. He reached out to all sorts of people, mixing with priests, crooks, scribes, politicians, children, tax collectors. Religious separatism was something Jesus refused to advocate, making it his business to seek out and save the lost. The Pharisees, those whose very name means “the separated ones”, criticised him for associating with the wrong crowd. But Jesus knew that all communities are a mixture of the good and bad, the crooked and the good. And, further, that it isn’t always easy to tell which is which. God ‘s perfect love for us shows itself in the gift of our free will. We have the power to freely choose Him or to reject Him. Let us Choose the Lord that we may have life and live it to the full.
Fullerton T 