Today’s Gospel begins where last week’s Gospel ended. We’re in the middle of Jesus’ parable discourse; a series of parables that Jesus was using to teach his followers about the kingdom of God. Last week we heard the parable of the sower who sowed seeds on different types of soil with varying results. That parable was meant to get us to discern how the Word of God affects our lives; are we fertile ground that lets the Word of God grow in us and become fruitful.

     Today’s Gospel contains three more parables, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the parable of the yeast, and the parable of the mustard seed. These last two are closely related in their meanings in that something small can be the agent for some very large results.  Any baker can tell you that it takes just one ounce of yeast to leaven seven pounds of flour. And the mustard seed that Jesus speaks of is among the tiniest of seeds yet grows into the largest of bushes. The point is that God can work through small and ordinary agents to produce surprising and significant results. In my homily last week, I gave an example of one woman in the southern U.S. years ago; how in one small act brought about very big changes, and possibly even helping in the downfall of communism in Russia. We only have to look at the saints through the ages, many of whom had very humble beginnings but brought about very big changes in the Church and in the world. 2000 years ago, Jesus started his Church with just twelve; well let’s make that eleven people; which has now grown into a Church of over 2 billion people today.  

     The other parable in today’s gospel; the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus himself explains to the disciples. He said: “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.” In the parable, when asked by the servants if they should pull up the weeds. The master replies, “No, if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest.” When the two plants first sprout from the ground they look very much alike. Only when they get bigger are they easily distinguishable, but by then the roots are intertwined so that one cannot be uprooted without damaging the other. In reality this parable brings to mind the age-old question:  Why does God allow evil in the world? Why does he allow bad things to happen? Why doesn’t he uproot the evil ones?” As far as plants go, wheat will always be wheat and a weed will always be a weed; but in reality, a person who appears to be a weed always has the opportunity for redemption. We are given free will to follow God or not and to change our mind in the process. God is always waiting for the prodigal son to return; and searching for his lost sheep. This parable teaches us about the pitfall of judging others. Are we able to tell the difference between the weeds and the wheat in our society? Our view of others is often clouded, causing misjudgments. There may be other underlying circumstances that we’re unable to see.  Some things may seem very obvious to us, but only God has the full picture. It’s a lesson for us on how to treat other people. And as an old saying goes; “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”

     Because of the devil planting weeds among the wheat of God’s field, there will always be those who are evil among us. From the very beginnings of the Church there have been weeds. You could say that Judas was the very first weed among the wheat of the Apostles. Jesus himself knew this but would not uproot him. All through the history of the Church there have been weeds; numerous scandals that have been planted by the evil one; up to the most recent sexual abuse scandals. But we cannot judge the whole wheat field by the presence of a few weeds. The enemy sows weeds but we can’t burn the whole wheat field down. Jesus says to wait until time for the harvest. The final judgment is up to God. But we do have to be wary and watchful. The Church, at least in America, has all types of safeguards like we do in our safe environment training, transparency in our financial policies, etc. These actions eliminate many who are prone to evil, but there will always be those in any organization, whether it be religious, government, educational or corporate, there will always be those who try to find ways to beat the system. But God is ever watchful and is aware of those who bear evil fruit. As Jesus says in today’s Gospel; “At the end of the age there will be weeds to be burned.”

     As I said in my last week’s homily, parables work on different levels. And a person can hear the same parable several times and each time gain a different insight into its meaning. As I was writing this homily and reflecting on the three parables given to us today something else stood out to me; a common thread in all three is the virtue of patience. When the farmer was informed of weeds among his crop, he could have immediately tried to get rid of them, but as Jesus pointed out, pulling the weeds would also mean damaging the wheat. Jesus calls for patience until the harvest. The same with the tiny mustard seed; when planted it grows into a very large bush, but it doesn’t happen overnight. One of the first lessons we learn when it comes to growing is that it takes time. When we plant the seeds of faith in our children, our friends, and others we meet, we won’t always see immediate growth, but the important thing is that we do the sowing and the nurturing, and then have patience. And then the yeast; have you ever tried to watch bread rise? The point is that patience is needed for our spiritual well-being. Unfortunately, patience is a virtue that seems to be seen less and less in today’s fast paced world. With most everything we need readily within our reach. We get frustrated when we have to wait for something. Just as I had written this the other day it reminded me of myself just a couple days earlier getting quite frustrated when I had to wait more than 10 minutes for food at a fast-food restaurant. We all get impatient at times. Patience for the right moment to speak or act is not always easy. The pressure is on for a quick fix to problems, instead of a well thought out solution. Waiting for God to answer our prayers can be frustrating. But God is patient with us, and it would do us well to imitate Christ by cultivating the virtue of patience. We should be grateful that God has patience with us because we’ve all failed at times. We are all sinners, but God patiently waits for all those who do evil to change their ways. With patience, God’s presence slowly becomes more evident in our lives, and we are able to see how he is working within us and within the world.