HOMILY for July 23, 2017: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

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16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A

St. Jane Frances de Chantel

July 23, 2017

Lessons from Weeds and Wheat Growing Together

By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Sunflowers and Weeds

I have always enjoyed some gardening – at least when I have time to do it.

I remember once planting sunflowers.  I really like them and was looking forward to them forming the background to the other plants and flowers.

Well, as the sunflower seeds sprouted and emerged above the soil, there were also some weeds.  It was very difficult to tell the difference between the leaves of these weeds and the leaves of the sunflowers.

I realized this too late and pulled up some of the sunflower plants with the weeds.  And then I decided to stop weeding in that area.

I figured that soon the sunflowers would grow so tall and start to bloom that it would be easy to tell the difference between them and the weeds.  That is exactly what happened and I ended up with some beautiful sunflowers and was easily able to weed around them.

Wheat and Weeds

This experience is what Jesus is talking about in today’s parable.

The farmer tells his workers not to pull up the weeds that are in with the wheat.  This seems counter-intuitive, against what seems to make sense.

But the farmer’s direction is correct.  The type of weed here looks like wheat in its early stages and you might pull up both weeds and wheat.

And beyond that, the kind of weed being referred to had roots that intertwined with the roots of the wheat.  So, even if you could identify and pull out the weeds, you would probably injure the wheat in the process.

Well, as with any parable, Jesus is really teaching us something about life and how we are to follow him.  There are some excellent lessons here.

Not Saying: Don’t Guide

First, what is Jesus not saying here?

Jesus is not saying that we should not guide our children, grandchildren, and youth.  We do need to guide them in what is right and wrong, and in choosing good friends.

Also, Jesus is not saying that we should condone or be passive about certain evils – things like foul language, racist remarks, abortion, and so on.  We need to be good models for our world when it comes to such things.

Saying 1: Don’t Weed Out

What then is Jesus saying with this teaching about the wheat and the weeds?

First, he’s saying: “Don’t weed out one another.”  He wants us to resist the human tendency to separate, divide, exclude, and shun in all its forms.

Sometimes religions, and those of us who are religious, can get into this sort of behavior.  In recent years, even in our Church, some have wanted to identify those who are weeds and pull them out and exclude them from Communion for reasons well beyond sound Catholic tradition. 

This kind of action just does not seem consistent with today’s Gospel.  Jesus calls us here to be patient and even give, what we might call weeds, the chance to grow to become wheat.

Saying 2: Don’t Label

That moves right into the second thing Jesus is saying here.  Do not even label others as weeds.

Again, there is in us all a human tendency to do this.  The problem is that it is an either/or dualistic approach – we versus them, the good versus the bad.

The best of our Catholic tradition has warned against and even condemned dualism.  Jesus calls us to a more unitive approach.

This means that we see both others and ourselves as one because, in fact, there is a mix of wheat and weeds right within me and within you.  Jesus is patient with us in letting us grow, and wants us to be patient with others in letting them grow.

 Saying 3: Nourish the Wheat

And that moves right into the third point Jesus is making.  He wants us to concentrate more on the wheat.

Nourish the wheat, just like the sunflowers in my garden, and it will grow well and be easily distinguishable from the weeds.  There will be a good harvest and God in God’s own way will take care of any weeds.

In other words, act positively in promoting what is good. 

Conclusion

A Franciscan theologian, Father Richard Rohr, offers some wonderful advice on this topic and I will conclude with his advice.

He says: “If you want others to be more loving, choose to love first.  If you want a reconciled outer world, reconcile your own inner world.

“If you notice other peoples’ irritability, let go of your own.  If the world seems desperate, let go of your despair.

“If you want a just world, start being just in small ways yourself.  If you want to find God, then honor God within you, and you will always see God beyond you.

“For it is only God in you who knows where and how to look for God.”  In short, pay more attention to the wheat than to the weeds.