16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today we continue with some more parables of Jesus. Which are not just comparisons but also contain riddles or puzzles within them. Unexpected twists that help us to understand more about the kingdom of heaven. They often conceal more than they reveal and so are enigmatic and mystical in nature.

If we can spot and understand the twists in them then it helps us to understand what Jesus is really trying to say to us. So we start with the first parable. That of the field of wheat. This was something that his audience at that time would have understood as they relied on wheat to make bread.

So we hear that a man sowed good seed in his field. Whilst he was asleep an enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and made off.

This is the first anomaly which should make us a little puzzled. Because if you have an enemy – can he really be bothered to get hold of an enormous bag of weed seeds and then carefully sow them amongst the seeds of wheat you have just planted? There are surely easier ways to get at someone you don’t like. It’s almost comical. It would take a long time to carefully do this and cost a lot of money I am sure.

The owner’s servants are surprised and ask him if it was not good seed that he planted. They think maybe he has been a negligent farmer.

They ask if he wants them to weed it out. Surely he should say yes please! Another twist that shows Jesus is pointing to something deeper. But he says no let them grow together until the harvest then the reapers can separate them out.

What Jesus is pointing towards is that we mustn’t be surprised that good and bad exist together until the end of the world. God allows the good and the bad to stand together side by side. Until the end. This doesn’t mean that God is unaware of all the evil that is happening in the world. That he can’t see or he doesn’t care. All will be sorted out at the end of time.

Next we have the mustard seed. A man took a mustard seed and sowed it in his field. Now at that time a man would never do that because mustard plants were weeds. They were invasive shrubs. They would grow to maybe a height of 10 foot tall. So far this is all a warning that something isn’t right. His audience would be puzzled. They are used to the kingdom being compared to great cedar trees of Lebanon as in the Old Testament. Never a mustard bush. Birds would rarely nest in such shrubs.

What he is getting at is that the kingdom starts from small beginnings but ends in a great way but perhaps in ways you do not expect. Like a field of wheat with weeds in it. It goes beyond the visible and becomes something great. Like a small group of fishermen becoming over a billion Catholics.

Thirdly we have the parable of the leaven. Now in the Old Testament yeast is associated with uncleanliness. That why you had unleavened bread at the Passover as it was a sign of purity. Jesus himself speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees. Their hypocrisy. So for Jesus to use this way of explaining the kingdom is very strange. And to mix it with 3 measures of flour which is the equivalent of 25 kg of flour would make a lot of bread.

Jesus is implying that the kingdom starts small but is something that is powerful and transformative. Yeast was something that was thought to be mysterious as they didn’t really know how it worked back then. In these parables Jesus is reminding us of the supernatural nature of the kingdom.

As always the apostles need help in understanding these parables. So Jesus explains the first parable to them. He says that:

The sower is Jesus.

The world is the field.

Good seed are the good people.

The weeds are the bad people.

The enemy is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the world.

And the reapers are the angels. (That where we get the phrase ‘grim reapers’ from.)

God allows his sunshine to fall on the good and the bad as they exist side by side. He is a merciful God and hopes that given time and opportunities people will change their minds and their lives and to respond to his goodness.

We must remember that it’s not just about separate people. We all of us have good and bad sown into the very hearts of each one of us. We need to uproot the weeds and nurture the good wheat within our own selves.

Let us pray that when the end of time approaches we will be judged according to the good choices and good deeds we have performed in our lives.