WEBVTT 00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:06.240 Have you ever looked at our world and wondered why God doesn't do something? 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.320 Why doesn't He intervene? 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:14.000 Why does He allow evil to continue? 00:00:15.519 --> 00:00:23.359 Turn on the news, scroll through social media, you'll see the world is troubled. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:38.479 Another war, another act of terrorism, another soldier dead, another family torn apart, another child caught in violence, another scandal here and there. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:43.759 And sooner or later every believer asks the same question. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.479 Lord, why don't you stop it? 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.719 Well that's exactly the question Jesus answers in today's gospel. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.640 A farmer plants good seed. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:05.680 But during the night, while everyone is asleep, an enemy slips into the field and sows weeds among the wheat. 00:01:06.719 --> 00:01:10.959 When the servants discover what has happened, they are bewithered. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:14.000 Master, didn't you sow good seed? 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:16.879 Where did all these weeds come from? 00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:24.959 The master answers with five words that explain the entire Christian understanding of evil. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.760 An enemy has done this. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.640 Notice what Jesus does not say. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:33.599 He does not say God planted the weeds. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:37.599 He does not say evil comes from God. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:42.719 He doesn't say good and evil are equal powers fighting one another. 00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:43.359 No. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.799 God created everything good. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:51.519 It is the corruption of what God made good. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.560 It is the work of an enemy. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:57.840 Jesus even names the weed. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:08.080 The Greek word for weed is zizania, almost certainly referring to a weed that was called Darnell. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:13.120 Every farmer in the ancient world feared it. 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:17.599 At first it looked almost identical to wheat. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:19.840 You couldn't tell the difference. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:25.039 Even worse, its roots wrapped around them, around the wheat. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:30.159 You pull it up too early, and you could destroy the crop you were trying to save. 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:42.400 In fact, sowing Darnell into someone else's field was such a common act of revenge that Roman law actually had to prohibit it. 00:02:43.599 --> 00:02:48.960 Jesus' listeners immediately understood what Jesus was talking about. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:54.240 But then comes the question that every one of us has asked. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:57.199 Do you want us to pull them up? 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.400 Do you want us to pull up the weeds? 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:05.680 In other words, Lord, why don't you act now? 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:08.639 Why don't you remove evil? 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:10.560 Why don't you stop the violence? 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:12.639 Why don't you judge the wicked? 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:15.840 Why are you waiting to pull up the weeds? 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.520 Jesus' answer surprises us. 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:21.039 He says, No. 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:27.039 Not because he lacks power, but because his wisdom is greater than ours. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:30.400 Then he gives the reason. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:37.919 He says, Lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:42.719 For years, many people have misunderstood this parable. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:47.120 They think that Jesus is talking about weeds inside of us. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:49.280 He's not. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:54.400 Because later in the same chapter, Jesus explains the parable himself. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:57.759 The wheat are the children of the kingdom. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:01.199 The weeds are the children of the evil one. 00:04:01.919 --> 00:04:07.039 The question is not why God allows sin to remain in our hearts. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:11.439 We are called to uproot those sins immediately. 00:04:11.759 --> 00:04:21.439 The real question is this Why does God allow sinners to remain in a world instead of judging them immediately and taking care of the evil? 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:26.800 Well, the answer is astonishing. 00:04:27.519 --> 00:04:32.800 Because God gives up never gives up the possibility of conversion. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:35.279 Think about Paul. 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:40.079 Before Damascus, he was hunting and persecuting Christians. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:49.839 If God had judged him too early, if he had eradicated that weed too early, there would have never been an apostle to the Gentiles. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:55.600 Think about Saint Augustine, brilliant, restless, far from God. 00:04:56.000 --> 00:05:01.120 If God had judged him too early, he would have never had his great conversion. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:04.639 There would have never been a Saint Augustine. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:06.639 Think about Peter. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:10.240 Three times he denied knowing Jesus. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:16.959 If Good Friday had been his final day, we would have never had the first Pope of the church. 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:21.439 Every saint in heaven has this in common. 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:30.079 There was a moment when God could have judged them, been hard on them, but instead he was patient. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:34.079 That's why today's reading says something extraordinary. 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:38.720 It says, Your mastery over all things makes you lenient. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:41.120 Did you hear that? 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.439 God is patient because he is powerful. 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:48.800 You see, weak people panic. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:52.560 Weak people strike back immediately. 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:55.439 Weak people rush to judgment. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:02.000 Only someone completely confident of the final victory can afford to wait. 00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:07.279 God's patience is not weakness, it is mercy. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:13.199 But we never we must never confuse mercy with indifference. 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:18.639 God's patience is not permission, it is an opportunity. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:25.120 An opportunity to repent, an opportunity to forgive, an opportunity to come home. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:31.600 Saint Peter would later write, The Lord is not slow about his promise. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:40.160 He's patient with you, not wishing that any one should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:44.000 That's exactly what Jesus is teaching us today. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:52.720 The delay is not because God has forgotten justice, the delay is because God desires salvation for all. 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:57.360 Now the gospel turns the mirror towards us. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:05.120 It is easy to look out in the world, look out into someone else's field and point out all the weeds. 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:11.680 It's much harder to ask, where is God still calling me to conversion? 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.519 Where are my weeds? 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:27.439 Perhaps it's resentment you've carried for years, a relationship that needs healing, a habit or a sin that you keep justifying, a prayer life you've been neglecting. 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:33.040 The same patience God extends to the world, he extends to you. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:41.680 Not because he approves of our sins and our laziness and our habits, but because he loves us too much to give up on us. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:44.639 One day the harvest will come. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.079 Jesus is very clear about that. 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:59.120 Justice will come, judgment will come, but today, today we still have an opportunity. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.319 Today is a day of mercy. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:06.240 Today heaven is still searching for prodigal sons. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.120 Today's grace is still changing lives. 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:14.480 Today's saints are still in the process, still being made. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:24.000 In a few moments we will come to this altar, not because we've already become saints, but because we're practicing Catholics, saints in the making. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:28.879 Here Christ feeds us with his own body and blood. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:32.960 Here the divine farmer continues his work. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:37.200 Here grace does what human efforts never can. 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:42.240 So never mistake God's patience for God's absence. 00:08:42.559 --> 00:08:46.480 He is working, even when you cannot see it. 00:08:46.879 --> 00:08:50.559 He continues to call even when people resist him. 00:08:51.919 --> 00:08:55.840 He's cultivating a harvest far greater than we can imagine. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.799 The only question is whether we will allow his grace to transform us. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:07.360 And if we do, then one day those words of Jesus will no longer be a promise. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.919 They will be our reality. 00:09:10.639 --> 00:09:19.200 This beautiful reality where Jesus says, Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:26.399 Be a good seed, trust in the Lord, and all will come to fulfillment. 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:27.360 Amen.