Monday, July 24, 2017

The weeds among the wheat

Homily: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
          Friends, we have been considering over these past weeks certain parables given by Jesus which he used to give his disciples a vision of what the kingdom of heaven would be like.  These he gives so that all of us—even the most simple among us—might have an idea of how this mysterious kingdom that Jesus often proclaimed would look.  Even the fact that Jesus uses the word “kingdom” to describe it is a metaphor in itself, which separates it from other forms of political organization and government.  In other words, it would be much different if Jesus said “the republic of heaven is like…” or “the empire of heaven is like…”  In describing heaven as a kingdom, he sets it apart and defines its basic structure.
          Perhaps, then, people were confused when Jesus proclaimed to them “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  At first, they might have thought, “Great!  We’ve been waiting for Yahweh to send us the Messiah, the great King, who would establish God’s lasting kingdom and subdue all of our enemies.”  Looking around, however, they quickly found that none of those things were happening and so, perhaps, began to become perplexed.  Thus, Jesus began to teach them in parables what the kingdom—which, he proposed, was at hand—looks like.  One of these—the parable of the wheat and the weeds—was meant to dispel any confusion about why all of God’s enemies—that is, those who do evil in the world—had not yet been subdued.
          In the parable, Yahweh is shown as the wise farm owner who, not knowing that his enemy had sown weeds among his wheat, allows the weeds to grow alongside the wheat until the time of the harvest, so as not to uproot any of the wheat along with it.  He knows that his wheat—that is, the children of his kingdom—are strong and can withstand the presence of weeds among them and still produce fruit.  Thus, he leaves the weeds among the wheat knowing that, ultimately, the plans of the enemy will be squashed as the wheat is gathered into his barn (that is, into heaven) and the weeds will be thrown into the fire to be burnt (that is, in to the depths of hell).  For the children of Israel who were looking for a kingdom of heaven in which all of their enemies would be subdued and purged from their midst, this parable provided an explanation that demonstrated the wisdom of leaving evil doers and sinners among them.
Still, there’s a problem with the parable, right?  In last week’s parable, Jesus taught that the wheat sowed among weeds was choked and so produced no fruit.  This week, however, he shows the wheat growing up with the weeds, but, instead of being choked, they produce fruit anyway.  So, how do we reconcile what seems to be a contradiction?  Well, by remembering that these are metaphors and that metaphors are always limited: they are meant to highlight certain aspects of things.  In doing so, however, they often give an incomplete picture.
In the parable of the sower who sows indiscriminately, Jesus was teaching his disciples not to allow themselves to get intertwined with those who do evil, for the evil doers will choke out the divine life within them so that they produce no fruit.  In the parable of the weeds sowed among the wheat, however, he was teaching his disciples that it is possible to coexist with those who do evil and still produce fruit.  In the first, Jesus is warning his disciples not to give themselves over to the ways of those who do evil, because even their good intentions to be righteous will fail because of the constant influence of evil around them.  In the second, Jesus is saying that the mere presence of those who do evil is not enough to keep the righteous ones from producing fruit, because they have not given themselves over to evil ways.  Both are true, in spite of what seems to be a contradiction, and so contribute to create the rich image of the kingdom of heaven which Jesus is trying to construct.
Still, there is one other troubling thing in this parable.  In it, Jesus indicates that there are “children of the kingdom” and “children of the evil one”.  In doing so, he seems to say that there are some who are destined for heaven and some who are destined for hell.  We believe, however, that God creates all men good and destines them for heaven; and so why does Jesus say that there are “children of the evil one”?
Contrary to what was commonly believed at the time, Jesus was teaching that the kingdom of heaven would be open to all, not restricted to one ethnic race, predestined by election beforehand by God.  This is why he proposed the parable of the mustard seed.  In it he showed that the small seed of the kingdom would blossom into a large bush in which all the birds of the air (an image for the many nations and ethnicities of the world) would come and make their nest.  Being a member of either kingdom, therefore, is a matter of choice, not predestination.  Thus, the “children of the kingdom” are those who have turned to the way of righteousness—in other words, those who have chosen to become children of the kingdom—and the “children of the evil one” are those who have refused the way of righteousness, thus choosing to become children of the evil one.
Now, because each of these has chosen their way (instead of having been predestined to a certain way), each of these can still choose the opposite way: the children of the kingdom to become children of the evil one and the children of the evil one to become children of the kingdom.  Thus, Jesus proposes the parable of the yeast, saying that the kingdom is like a little yeast that is mixed in with dough.  Having been mixed in, it causes the whole batch of dough to rise.  With this parable, Jesus is indicating that the children of the kingdom, mixed in with the children of the evil one, can lead them to convert and choose the way of righteousness and so cause the greater growth and expansion of the kingdom throughout the world.
My brothers and sisters, these parables are reasons for us to have great hope while living this world.  It is obvious that God, through his divine grace dispensed to us in the Church, has raised up children of the kingdom throughout the world.  It is also obvious that the evil one, who is the devil, has stolen from the children God has raised up men and women who have given themselves over to evil, thus becoming children of the evil one.  All of us, I suspect, would be glad to see this evil banished from our midst.  As we can see, however, it is not God’s plan to act in an outwardly powerful way to accomplish this.  Rather, he leaves the children of the evil one among us; and this for two reasons: 1) because uprooting those who do evil could cause some of the weaker ones among the righteous to be uprooted, too; and 2) because he longs to see the children of the evil one converted to become children of the kingdom.
Therefore, we, who consider ourselves to be children of the kingdom, have some work to do.  We are called to be yeast in the midst of the world: glorifying God in our prayer and in our work so that those who have given themselves over to be children of the evil one would be converted and the kingdom of heaven would grow and expand throughout the world.  This is the task given to us as disciples and there is no more worthy work than this in the world.  In this Eucharist, therefore, let us give thanks for the grace to be children of the kingdom of heaven; and, strengthened by it, let us take courage and embrace this work so that our king, Jesus Christ, may truly reign among us.

Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – July 22nd & 23rd, 2017

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