XVI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
THE WEEDS AND THE WHEAT
By our Pastor, Fr. Carmelo Jiménez
What a beautiful continuity between the message from last Sunday and the message for this XVI Sunday in Ordinary Time. Last Sunday in the Gospel we heard the parable of the sower and the Gospel from this Sunday is the weeds and the wheat. So today we have two sowers, one good and the other bad. The owner of the land, the good sower, teaches us patience and finally, the harvest.
The text that we hear from the Book of Wisdom speaks to us about the infinite power of God, and of the good way he knows how to steward it, being kind and benevolent. This is an example for us so we can also know how to steward the power we have. “There is no god besides you who have the care of all.” (Wis 12:13a) In relation to this reading the psalmist proclaims God’s love, kindness and clemency, before whom all the nations bow down and from whom the psalmist himself asks for strength.
“For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.” (Wis 12:16) What a great description of the power and strength of God, because that is in justice, in indulgence and in kindness. God cares for all that exists and he does not need to demonstrate to anyone that he is just. I could even boldly affirm that even those who do not count on God, because they are atheists or agnostics, should not fear, because God does count on them, with their values and their commitments, because He is a just God. Saint Matthew affirms: “for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Mt 5:45)
“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.” (Mt 13:24b-25) Part of the prayer that I say when I give a blessing to those who have a birthday during the week is: “God our merciful Father who has made us good and healthy from the beginning of life, we give you thanks for…and we ask that…” Because God, in the moment that he created us put everything good in us, but the devil was at work as well and planted evil in many souls. One of the great blessings that God gave us when he created us is freedom, our free will. With it we can each make our own decisions, but also the devil has taken advantage of it to put himself in front of us. Temptation is not sin, but it is sin to give into the temptation. Temptation is the bad seed put in us. It will depend on us whether it will be converted into sin or not. Most of us know the story of the bad neighbor who plants weeds and that the beginning it looks like wheat and later it chokes out the wheat, which is frequently what the bad does to the good. We know that it is not only God who sows, but others as well. But the important and decisive thing is to know how to wait and give goodness and kindness opportunity and time.
In Jesus Christ, everyone has opportunities through their experiences of grace but also those of misery. This parable of the wheat and the weeds seems to be a description of our own personal lives. But to feel far from God when evil grows in us would be spiritual suicide. We all know about our own lives, but divine patience is a gift that we will all need.
“The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.” (Rom 8: 26a) So when God examines our heart he does not find it empty, but rather there the Spirit has gotten into the deepest part of our being. Through the Spirit we learn that God has created us and he will never abandon us to the impotence of our weakness. The same Spirit of God groans within us, suffers with us and yearns with us for freedom. We are never alone for God the Holy Spirit accompanies us.
I will conclude by saying that God’s patience makes possible conversion and faithfulness. That we are never alone because God never abandons anyone, and especially not the sinner. And so, even though in some of us the weeds have grown, remember brother and sister, God continues to wait for our wheat. God continues to wait for each of us.