Today, we hear another parable from Jesus about sowing seeds. Last week, we heard about the sower who scattered seed in different types of soil. Today, we hear about two sowers who have very different motives. The farmer sows good seed in his field, preparing for a bountiful harvest, while his enemy sows weeds amongst the wheat, hoping to destroy and sabotage what the farmer has planted. Biblical scholars claim that Matthew was talking about a weed called darnel, a very common destructive weed in Israel that resembles wheat. When wheat and darnel grow next to each other as small plants, they look exactly alike. The farmer can only tell the difference between them when the plants mature and the grain start to form.
Jesus’ parables may seem simple on the surface, but they give us many rich teachings when we delve into them and break them open. In today’s parable, the servants ask the master if he wants them to pull up the weeds to get rid of them, but the master warns them that if they try pulling them up, they’ll uproot the wheat and destroy the harvest. The master wants to allow the wheat and weeds to grow together in the field, not separating them until harvest time, but the parable doesn’t tell us if the master’s judgment was correct, if this ended up as the right decision for a successful harvest. Reflecting upon this parable, we might ask ourselves what Jesus’ goal could be in telling about the weeds and the wheat. If we assume that the master’s judgment was right and provided for a bountiful harvest, today’s parable might be trying to assure us that the wheat will survive the attack of the weeds sown by the enemy, that the forces of good in the world will survive the forces of evil. We’re called to trust in the Lord, to trust the Lord’s judgment in the end times, to trust in his ability to do the separating of the wheat from the weeds when that time comes. We live in a modern world today where intolerance and judgment are so pervasive. We have seen this taken to the extreme during the months of the pandemic, haven’t we? Even within our own Church, some might think that there is only one way of being a true Catholic. We might want everyone to live out the Catholic faith the same way we live it out. We might be unwilling to listen to other voices within our Church that are perhaps a bit different than our own. Perhaps we don’t want to recognize the diverse ways our Catholic faith is expressed and lived out in the world. When you go to mass in a different culture or in a different part of our country, the mass is very recognizable even if you don’t know the language, even though there are different styles and approaches that give a unique flavor to the mass. The same could be said about the different ways we live out our faith based upon different cultures, personalities, and interests. We are all recognizably Catholic, but there is also a diversity of expression within the realm of Catholicism.
Being open to different facets of our faith and learning to grow in the ways we see God are perhaps connected to the attributes that are prescribed to God in our 1st reading from the book of Wisdom, attributes that we are called to emulate and practice in our lives. The book of Wisdom sees God’s justice and leniency coming from his power, mastery, and strength – quite a paradox, isn’t it? Wisdom sees God governing us and judging us in justice, in clemency, in kindness. God could use his power over us in a very heavy-handed way, but he doesn’t. He calls us to trust in his love and mercy, to respect him and honor him, but not in a fearful way, rather in a healthy, loving way. Showing that same sense of justice mercy, love and respect in the way we interact with our neighbors, in the way we live out our Catholic faith in the great diversity of expression that exist – that is what we are called to do. Perhaps you were not expecting this message in today’s homily, which reflects the richness and beauty of the parables that Jesus give us in his teachings and ministry. As we live out the spirit of the Eucharist in our lives, as we are nourished by the body and blood of Christ, as Christ lives within us in this very special way, may we marvel and respect the rich diversity that exists within our Catholic faith. That is truly a way for the Eucharist to have an affect on our lives.
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