SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - A

16th SUNDAY – A (Wis 12:13, 16-19; Rom 8:26-27; Mt 13:23-43)
Theme: We shall remain firm and grow well as the good seeds in the field of the Lord


Reflections:

- Last Sunday we have meditated upon the first parable of the thirteenth chapter of Mathew, in which Jesus using the parable, speaks of good seed that has fallen on the good soil and give proper fruit and we have come to conclusion that ‘we reap/collect only what we sow’: if we sow only thirty percent we reap only thirty, if sixty we reap sixty and if we sow hundred percent by listening and embracing the word/seed of Christ, we reap hundred percent.
- This shows, on the one part, the work of the good Sower who sows the seed abundantly into the camp/field of the world: that means that God has called to himself all the seed and God has destined that all the seed fall in his camp of intimacy with him; it depends on the seed to choose and embrace the kind of ground it desires and in and by which, it deepens itself for its growth; Even though God has destined the good soil of faith/church for its stay and grow, it is always the freedom of the seed to accept and embrace the soil; if it stops itself on the road side it will have its own result; if it stops itself on the rocky ground it will have its minimum and perishing growth; if it stops itself in the bushy thorns it will have its fast growth with the fast disappearance. But the good soil is always OPEN and PROVIDED for all the seed EQUALLY. It is only the choice of the seed which comes from the hands of sower (the one who wills that seed to be fallen into the good ground because no sower sows carelessly and with negligence but some seeds escape his hands little early to search for its own soil and its own joy).
- This shows, on the other part, on the choice that seed makes for its ‘residence and growth’ as we have just said above. Its sprouting, its blossoming and its flourishing completely depend on its free choice; No need of blaming the sower because the Good Sower does all the sowing with the good intention of ‘giving life to each and every seed’ and he doesn’t want to block and impede the ‘free going’ (like that of prodigal son who goes out with his own freedom and the father who respects the freedom of the son) of the seed from his hand or from his presence;
- Therefore, we reap only what we sow; that was the message of the last Sunday and it is the not the intention of repeating what has been said but continuing the message of last Sunday to today and from today to tomorrow, because, we are on the walk towards the understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom of God;
- It’s also the intention of the Church and its liturgy; not that we divide the weeks and read the word of God; but every week is a step for another week; each week is built up on the previous week; therefore, there is a link between each Sunday; Our Liturgy is the process or circle of the mysteries of God and Us; It is with this reason we unite and tie each week with the previous and following ones. Though little strange, we also see today, the Church is asking us to go back and hold the ‘starting point/point of departure’ of these readings and therefore, we find in today’s verse for Alleluia a strange verse than that of today’s gospel. It goes back to remind us of the prayer of praise and thanksgiving of Jesus (Mt 11:25f – the gospel of two weeks back) for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to the little ones.
- In listening to the word of God we have to be always little ones and we are the same: being little, being meek and being humble we embrace what Jesus teaches us in the manner of parables and thus enter into the ‘intimate relationship’ that Jesus prepares between ‘God and Us’ by being mediator himself and that’s why Jesus affirms little ahead: ‘no can come to the Father except through me’. That’s what the Church wants us to continue to do and to enter into the mystery of the kingdom of God;
- Jesus chooses to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of God in the way of parables and therefore, the parables are not simple stories and not simple fables and not even simple messages to be just listened but ‘a means’ of making the listeners enter into the depths of God’s revelation;

First reading: Justice is the measurement

- The book of Wisdom and today’s first reading shows that Our God is God of justice; everything will be measured with the justice fulfilled; therefore, all our words and actions will be judges at the end of the world with the ‘measure of justice’; If we show justice we receive justice and even the contrary is true; if we do not sow the justice we cannot reap justice;

Second Reading: the aid of the Holy Spirit

- We need not worry about our weakness and we can, as believer and followers of Christ, easily fight/overcome the moments of our difficulties, our temptations and our weakness, not by our own effort, but with the ‘help’ of the Holy Spirit who always comes to our aid as St. Paul assures us in today’s second reading;
- Even before we pray and raise our cries to God, the Spirit himself prays and cries for us with God. What we need to do is only ‘heeding’ to his voice and paying ‘attention’ to his cries and finally join with him ‘offer’ our life, weak and fragile, to God.

Gospel reading:
Let us grow into the big tree to give a shelter to the many people who look at us

- The parable of good seed and the weeds:
o Parable as it is:
 It is the second parable that Jesus exposes to his listeners to reveal the mystery of the kingdom of God;
 There is a grain of wheat and also the appearance of weeds, suddenly and one fine morning, as the result of the work of the ‘enemy’ and Jesus never speaks of the ‘devil’ here in this particular account of the parable but speaks of only ‘an enemy’;
 The dialogue between the ‘householder and the slaves (not even servants)’ about the presence of the weeds among wheat (good works that are being fulfilled by the master and thus the slaves ask him the question: Master did not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?: this dialogue again indicates us that ‘the Master’ (God) do not sow ‘bad seed’ or sow badly, but at the same time there is the visible reality of the ‘work of the enemy’;
 The time of the harvest: first there will be the collection of the weeds (the acts of the enemy) to be burnt and then the gathering of the wheat (good works) to the barn.
o The parable explained:
 Jesus explains also this parable; also because he has already explained the first parable of the good sower; now he explains the second one, and this would be last explanation of the parables.
 The place/condition of explanation: it is a noteworthy to see the disciples asking Jesus for the explanation of the parable not immediately and not in the public but ‘little later when they have come home’ and ‘in private’ when they are alone with Jesus: it could be either the disciples are scared/afraid of asking their master anything in public; could be also because of how the crowds would feels about them if they ask for it in the public; in this way, they have shown themselves ‘pretending’ and ‘fearing’; but the reaction of Jesus seems to be normal; without telling anything about this he goes on to explain the parable;
 Though we do not need to explain again here all the Jesus has done, we can notice that, Jesus reveals the mysteries of ‘Son of Man’, ‘the world’, the children of the kingdom, the work of the devil, the judgment as the harvest time, the angels and also the hell ‘the furnace of fire’; After everything has done and fulfilled by the Son of God, all those who remain firm and grow as good seeds will shine in the kingdom of their Father; by ending the explanation by calling the name of the Father, Jesus reaffirms the fruit of embracing the kingdom: ‘shining in the presence of the Father’.
o The answers for the three important question we may ask in life:
 ‘How this evil has entered into the world?’: the first question for which we can find an answer in the verse 28: ‘the enemy has done this’ and little later Jesus indicates that this enemy is the devil and its followers; from the time of the creation there is the reality of evil that always works against the good that God intends; this is an unavoidable situation; we have to always be reminded of this ‘presence and effect’ of the evil that surrounds us to disturb us and thus leading us out of the ‘way we have chosen’, the faith and the church;
 ‘When will this evil/devil take chance in our lives?’: this is the second question which comes out as the result of the first; in the verse 25 Jesus in the mode of the parable gives us an answer, “but while everybody was asleep’. The time of the sleep is the time the devil; we can easily means here, the spiritual sleep in the form of ‘negligence of prayer’ and ‘less attention towards the spiritual life’ and ‘giving less importance to the works of the spirit’; it is the spiritual sleep into which we often fall and it is the perfect time for the devil to enter into us to take the chance of ‘our weakness’ and thus making us fall away from the ‘camp of the Lord’. Here we have to stay awake; St. Paul tells us that we are not the children of the night/darkness but the children of light; we have to keep awake as the children of the day without giving any chance to the night or to the hour of sleep to take control of us; sometimes, all of a sudden, and on the fine morning we find the ‘weed’ in our life and we are disappointed with it and ask so many questions with the worry, how and why this weed/evil has come; we need not wonder at it because we have already an answer for this; it is the work of the enemy/devil in our ‘weak’ time/hour of sleep; but we have the Holy Spirit who comes to our aid in the time of our weakness (second reading); we have to fight back with the strength of the spirit against the weeds that try to press us down in our faith and in our life;
 ‘But how long?’ would be the immediate question that arise; how long this evil show its power? Why God is so silent about it? Why doesn’t eradicate it completely? Why the Church is so silent about the injustices/weeds that are taking place without giving ‘IMMEDIATE’ reaction? From one question flow out many more of this kind; and for all these questions just only one answer is given by Jesus in today’s parable, “Until the Harvest” (v.30); we need not judge God’s silence; we are not capable of understanding his love; we cannot that easily measure his mercy; He is so kind and merciful that he gives ‘one more chance’ for the return of the evil/weed to him; He is God who does not want the death of the sinner but he desires that the sinner comes back with the conversion of the heart; For this He show lot of patience even beyond our measure, human measure;
o Our attitude should be: instead of murmuring and blaming God for his silence, we also learn to be in tune with the mercy of God and thus show patience and mercy even in our own daily situations in which we find ourselves with the same kind of question; and thus our attitude should that of ‘being in reality (first answer), being vigilant (second answer) and being patient and merciful (third answer) and it should be our Christian attitude until the time of harvest (time of judgment according to the justice – firs reading).

- The parable of Mustard Seed: growing into love of God and of neighbors
o The nature of the mustard seed: looks very small but once it is sown it will grow into a big tree so that many birds make their nest in it;
o We are like a mustard seed: we are sown in the camp of the world, in the camp of the church, in the camp of the parish community; once we are sown we cannot remain without any effect; we have to grow and we have to grow into a great tree (good and exemplary life) so that many come under our shades for their struggles and find rest;
 We have to grow vertically; tree becomes big by growing vertically; we have to grow vertically, that is, in the love of God;
 We have to grow horizontally; tree becomes grand with the spreading of its branches horizontally; we have to grow horizontally, that is, in the love of neighbors;

- The parable of the Yeast: becoming contagious of love
o The nature of the yeast: though little it makes the flour leavened by its presence;
o We are called to be ‘Yeast’: we are mixed in the flour of the community/family and of the Church; we have the task of transforming all the flour into the Yeast; our fragrance of love should spread to all; all should become contagious of love;
o It is growing deep and profound and becoming one: while as the mustard seed we grow vertically and horizontally in the love of God and of neighbors, as the Yeast we grow deep and profound so that we, with our loving life, lead people into the life of love;

Conclusion: we are the wheat, mustard seed and the yeast

- To us have been revealed the mysteries of the kingdom specially in the mode of parables through which we become partakers of these mysteries;
- To understand and to accept more, by listening and by embracing, we have to always be little, small, meek and humble;
- We grow always as the good wheat though we find the situations of the ‘weed’ around us;
- We are called to be ‘mustard seed’ to grow and to give life and love to others.
- We are finally the yeast by which all the massive flour is leavened and thus we become contagious, not of enmity but of love;
- Finally, we shall remain firm and grow well as the good seeds in the camp of our Lord.