Homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, A

In the old Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible translation, the landowner says to them, “Suffer the weeds to grow with the wheat.” Let them grow together. The root word in the Greek that Jesus uses is the word for forgiveness. 

I have Mass on Sunday, July 19

at St. Isidore @ 9:30/11:30 am

at St. Andrew @ 5:00 pm

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. 

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowd, saying, 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. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from? He answered, An enemy has done this. His slaves said to him, Do you want us to go and pull them up? He replied, No. If you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the weed along with them. Let them grow together until harvest. Then, at harvest time, I will say to the harvesters, First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into my barn. 

He proposed another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown, it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches. 

He spoke to them another parable. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened. 

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables to fulfill what had been said through the prophet, "I will open my mouth in parables. I will announce what was lain hidden from the foundation of the world." 

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father. Whoever has ears ought to hear." 

The Gospel of the Lord. 

Our first reading from the Book of Wisdom gives us a glimpse of the God we cannot see. "There is no God besides you who have the care of all... Your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all." Jesuit Fr. Greg Boyle recalls a moment during his 30-day Ignatian silent retreat in which he felt the overwhelming presence of God's love. This was such a liberating experience that now, in his books and public presentations, he often quotes Mirabai Starr, who says, "Once you know the God of love, you fire all the other gods."

The slaves of the householder came to him and said, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?... Do you want us to go and pull them up?" Every person you've written off as a weed has a harvest date that hasn't arrived yet. As St. Augustine pointed out, "people are more variable than plants. At times, what was grain turned into weeds, and at times, what were weeds turned into grain. And no one knows what they will be tomorrow." 

In the old Catholic Douay–Rheims Bible translation, the landowner says to them, "Suffer the weeds to grow with the wheat." Let them grow together. The root word in the Greek that Jesus uses is the word for forgiveness. Suffer the weeds. Forgive the weeds. Look at Jesus, who's like a big weed in the eyes of the world. They root him out. They decide that he is the impure one. He is the one who was pulled out and thrown away on the cross. 

On the cross, Jesus says, "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." In the words of the late Episcopal priest Robert Ferrar Capon, "Both heaven and hell are populated entirely and only by forgiven sinners. Hell is just a courtesy for those who insist they want no part of forgiveness." 

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. Wait, a mustard seed sown in a field? In the Middle East, mustard seed is the default crop. It's what grows in open, untended fields. No one sows mustard seed. It just grows everywhere, like mint or dandelions. The seed itself, the agent of this universal mission, is small and hidden in the ground. It does its work mysteriously and out of sight. This has been true from the beginning of creation. God runs the universe through the paradoxical nature of the cross, reigning through weakness, becoming empty for the benefit of others, bringing life out of vulnerability and death. 

This helps us hear the parable of the leaven. The first surprise is that the God figure is a woman. The second surprise is the amount of flour. Three measures of wheat is about three gallons, enough to make over a hundred pounds of bread. The third surprise is the image of the leaven. Leaven was often compared to corruption. A little bit of corruption, for example, could quickly contaminate everyone, or one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel. 

The baker-woman god hides the yeast in the loaf. Consider how that yeast works. It disappears into the loaf, suffuses it entirely, and puffs up little pockets of carbon dioxide. not unlike the breath God breathed into Adam, or the breath the Risen Christ breathed into his disciples. The leaven becomes so thoroughly a part of the loaf that it can no longer be detected, yet it completely animates the whole. The word was never absent from the world and is still present in, with, and under all that is. 

On Monday evenings, I usually meet with some friends to reflect on the scriptures for the coming Sunday. A woman who met with us for many years died last week. Pam lived with cancer for 14 years. About 10 years ago, Pam was having one of those moments when she just couldn't pray. It was Lent, and she had been using the Lenten little black book of daily reflections for her prayer. But for a couple of days, Pam felt empty and hadn't been able to pray. Now, don't ask me how her dog knew this, but on that day, Pam's dog brought her the little black book. 

The reflection from the previous day was exactly what Pam needed to hear. It was our second reading today, Romans, Chapter 8, verse 26. "In the same way, the Spirit, too, comes to the aid of our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes with inexpressible groanings." Before Paul makes a declaration of the Spirit interceding with inexpressible groanings, He speaks of creation itself, "groaning in labor pains until now," even as we "groan inwardly while we wait for adoption." In other words, we're part of something bigger than ourselves. Paul helps us see that the suffering we experience at any given moment is not the last word. God is tilling the soil of our lives, bringing something new to birth. 

We all possess the capacity to cultivate lives of both wheat and weeds. The divine sower is willing to wait. This Holy One is forever patient, refusing to prejudge, giving us the necessary time so that like the wheat, we can exceed the weeds in growth and vitality, cultivating holy lives despite challenging circumstances.