16th Sunday A
Fr James McTavish FMVD

The Wheat and the Weeds

After the parable of the sower this week we have a related parable – the wheat and the weeds. "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 wheat 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"'" (See Matthew 13:24-30). The young weed has a similar appearance to the wheat. One danger in pulling out the weed is that you might actually pull out the wheat instead. In this simple parable are many applications

Don’t be too quick to judge
When presented by the proposal of another, don’t be too quick to condemn or think negatively of it. We should not judge so quickly. Sometimes we are quite harsh especially in judging ourselves. It is quite easy to judge yourself very fast without first listening to all the evidence from the defence. Instead we pronounce ourselves “Guilty!” without a proper trial. Often here in the Philippines the judicial process is infamous for being so long at times. So how come we are so quick to judge ourselves and thus others too. The value of respect is important especially self-respect. The root of this term means to relook at yourself again. When we see what appear to be weeds go back and look again. We may discover that in fact it is a young wheat which if given care and attention can produce a rich harvest.

Discern well
It reminds us of the importance to discern well. They were three men in front of the firing squad. A Filipino, a British and ...an American. They had one last request. The Filipino, a man of discernment told the others not to worry but instead in the last moment to shout out the name of a natural disaster. This would distract the firing squad and in that moment to run away. He led by example and in the last request shouted “tsunami!” The firing squad wondered where, turned around to look behind them and the Filipino ran off. The British in the crucial moment shouted “Earthquake!” and managed to escape to safety in the ensuing melee. The American, a man little accustomed to discern was asked for his last word in this cruel life. He shouted out the first natural disaster that came to him “Fire!”

To be aware of our weak points
In modern psychology the terms consistency and inconsistency are used to describe the coherence and integrity of a person. Consistency is when all the parts are generally working together for the function of the whole and inconsistency will be when for example I have a goal (to pass an exam) but I do not put the means in place (I am lazy in my studies). In some ways we all have areas of inconsistency and we have to try to minimize their deleterious effects. If we say we will do something or pursue it then by all means we should attempt to fulfil that good resolution. What things are still outstanding in your life? What resolution do you still need to put into practice? Seeing as we all struggle in these areas we can be grateful that God has provided us with a Helper, the Holy Spirit. St Paul reassures us that “the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness” (See Romans 8: 26-27). Yesterday I was talking to a man who feels unsettled in their work and is not sure why. They felt more peace to know that it can also be a manifestation of the Spirit, who expresses in “inexpressible groaning” our desires to God.

If weed if obvious get rid of it
Whilst it is true that at times we have to take care to distinguish the wheat from the weeds it is also true that at times the weed is so obvious! At Easter I was in Australia visiting the family of some missionaries. They have a farm in the outback and were showing me around. In one moment, the dad, a farmer, slammed on the brakes of the pick up truck, jumped out and in one flash took a swipe at a big weed bush in the middle of his crop. Before I had even got out of the truck, he had uprooted the offending herb, thrown it into the back of the truck and was climbing back in again. Wow so agile! We need that same agility when we clearly recognize our sinfulness or wrongdoing. All our tendencies to sin such as selfishness, greed, lying, lust, jealousy, anger, impatience and the like are the weeds that need to be dealt with in our own lives.

God is patient with us
The first reading reveals the might of God and in fact mentions it three times! (Wis 12, 13. 16-19) “For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.” God is the master of might but thankfully does not treat us as our transgressions deserve. As one commentator notes “What are we going to do with the weeds in our lives? Some must be pulled up, which means a lot of death to self as we learn to say “no” to the temptations in our lives. But some weaknesses cannot be pulled up even as we pray to have them taken away. We may pray to be patient, but situations arise and we find ourselves very impatient. God allows some weaknesses to remain. He knows what he is doing. If he removed all our weaknesses, we probably would not remember how much we need him” (See Anawim Community reflections). God is patient with us and this reveals his mighty love for us. But it is also true that he is just and the time for harvesting will eventually come.

Let us pray and work hard! To maximize the yield of wheat in our lives. To minimize the weeds and do all we can to remove them. How lucky we are that we don’t need to wait until harvest to remove those irksome weeds – we can go to the sacrament of reconciliation even now. Amen.