Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time (Year A)

Wis 12.13, 16-19;  
Rom 8.26-27;  
Mt 13.24-43

LEARN TO BE PATIENT AND COMPASSIONATE LIKE GOD

We have in today’s gospel three parables of Our Lord concerning the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is a theme central to Jesus’ teaching. In fact, the very first verse of Matthew’s gospel concerning Jesus’ ministry says, ‘From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”‘Matthew 4:17. This was already a clear indication of the arrival of the Messianic era. The Jews already had certain conception about this kingdom which they called the ‘Kingdom of God’ but more often, because out of reverence they avoided using the name of God, they called it the ‘kingdom of heaven’. They believed it was eternal and universal, and that God was already king by existence and by right, although not yet in fact. His kingdom was only partially acknowledged on earth, especially among the Jewish people, who kept his law and observe His ordinances. The full consummation will be at the end of the present age when the establishment of the kingdom would usher in the messianic era.

No wonder the Jews had great interest in what He had to say, but also no wonder there was a great misunderstanding, for the people hoped that the establishment of the kingdom would entail the overthrow of the oppressive Roman regime. To help the people understand the real truth of the matter, Jesus gave them many complementary teachings about the kingdom, which He did by means of parables. It was the ideal method for explaining something which was not easy to understand. This use of parables had been foreseen by the Psalmist; as Matthew mentions, Jesus’ method of teaching fulfilled this prophecy: ‘I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’ Matthew 13:35.

In the first parable which our Lord clearly explains to His disciples, the enemy of a landowner sows weeds among the landowner’s wheat. When the servants of the landowner discover this, they ask him if he wants them to pull up the weeds. But the landowner tells them to wait until harvest time, lest they pull up some wheat along with the weeds. Then the weeds can be burned and the wheat harvested.
Jesus is clear on this – it would be disastrous to attempt to achieve a pure Church in which there are no sinners. Until the harvest and final judgement, there will always be some sinners in the Church, and we are warned not to judge others. That is God’s work which he alone has the right to do, and which he will do, but in his own time, not ours. Our human judgment is fallible and could make serious mistakes, so we must not usurp God’s right to sort out the wheat from the weeds.

This ties in with today’s first reading, from the Book of Wisdom. God is shown as a righteous judge. He is all-powerful, but he always judges with mercy and forbearance. The writer says, ‘Through such works, you have taught your people that the righteous man must be kind, and you have filled your sons with good hope because you give repentance for sins, … so that we may meditate upon your goodness when we judge, and when we are judged we may expect mercy.’ wisdom 12:22.

After this first parable, we have two very short, rather similar parables. The first concerns the mustard seed and the second is about the yeast mixed in flour. We must not be deceived by the smallness of the seed into thinking that it is insignificant, for from it a laa large tree will grow at the same time, Jesus taught His followers that they had a role to play, which He compared to that of leaven – only a small amount was mixed into the flour, but its effects were felt throughout all the flour, causing it all to rise, so that its intended purpose could be reached.

So what are the various roles and responsibilities that Jesus is teaching us as His Church in these parables? We must stay alert so that we do not give the devil the opportunity to plant the seeds of our own destruction. We must not judge others, but leave the judging to God, the great judge. We must be patient and persevere to the end, knowing that the kingdom is growing towards its fulfilment. We must be like leaven, so that as we live in the world, we can win souls to Christ by our words and our example. In this way, we will reach the reward promised by Jesus at the end of the explanation of the parable, “The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”Matthew 13:43.

Fr Joseph Osho