REFLECTION FOR THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

CULTIVATE THE GOOD SEED OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Readings: Wisdom 12:13, 16-19, Romans 8:26-27, Matthew 13:24-43

Our world is full of pairs of opposites. Almost everything comes in pairs as death with life, birth with death, hot with cold, good with bad/evil, and darkness with light.  There is basically nothing in the universe that is not subject to the tension between the two elements of positive and negative and we human beings, being part of the universe, are also subject to these tensions. With the parable of the weed in the gospel reading of today (Matt 13:24-43), Jesus reminds us of the opposing presence of the good and evil in the world and with the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven, he teaches us about the growth of the kingdom of God and how our entrance into that kingdom on the last day depends on how we have been able to rightly choose between good and evil.

In the parable of the weed, the good seed represents the righteous while the weed represents the unrighteous. The Son of man is the sower who sows the good seeds in the world while the devil sows the weed. This parable touches on the much-debated problem of evil in the world. God is not the cause of evil in the world because everything that God created is good (Gen. 1:10). So, essentially, evil is not part of creation. Evil is a product of our free choices; an action that cannot be blamed on God because when we exercise our freewill rightly, we will always choose the good which is the object of the will.

Truly, one of the scandalizing paradoxes we find in life is that those we perceive as evil tend to thrive more than the good ones. More often than not, our immediate intervention towards their attitude is like that of the servants who went to their master asking for permission to uproot the weed. But our God is a patient God who offers us ample opportunity to turn from our evil ways and do good. Inasmuch as we detest the bad habits of those who do evil, we should be careful in the way we treat them lest we too turn to evil. As Christians, we should bear in mind that evil is always conquered with good (Rom. 12:21).

Again, the owner of the field did not permit the servants to uproot the weeds because the weeds had already taken roots and doing so would have endangered the growth of the good seeds. As such, in our lives, evil has to be checked often and preventive measures have to be carefully taken to ensure that evil habits do not take root in us. It is always easier to get rid of a sinful habit when it is first noticed than later when it has grown and produced great sin. Daily personal examination of conscience and recourse to the sacrament of reconciliation will assist us a great deal in this regard.

Viewed differently, by not allowing the servants to uproot the weeds until harvest, Jesus is also teaching us how we are to relate with those whose perspectives and ways of life differ from ours. The first reading also supports this claim when the author of the book of Wisdom says that God cares for all men, both the good and the bad (Wisdom 12:13) and our God judges with mildness and governs us with great patience and forbearance (Wisdom 12:18). Such therefore should be our attitude as well. If we consider ourselves righteous, we should be ready to put up with the weaknesses of the unrighteous (Rom. 15:1). We may not align with the views of others but at the same time, we need to respect their views even when they differ from ours. This will be beneficial in curbing the spate of religious violence and ethnic/ racial intolerance in our world today.

From the parable, it is evident that the kingdom of God, as it exists here on earth is a mixture of both good and evil. Both good and evil exist side by side. However, the fact that God permits good and evil to exist side by side in this world does not mean that evil will ever go unpunished. On the contrary, the punishment of evil though not always immediate, will surely come at the harvest time and it will be very severe. Therefore, the period between now until our own harvest time is an opportune time for us to examine our lives and put evil deeds out of our lives. If we do not do that, then, when harvest time comes, we will be bundled together like the weeds and thrown into the blazing eternal furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:42).

Finally brethren, one lesson we must always keep in mind from these parables is that every habit, both the good and the bad ones have tiny beginnings. They both grow from a tiny seed. Great sins all have small beginnings. They grow from temptation to commit sins. Once we consent to them, the temptations grow larger. So, we have to ask ourselves these set of questions. What kind of seed do we sow in the world and what specie of seed do we allow to grow in our hearts or associate with? Are we like the evil one who sows the evil seeds? Do we sow the good seeds of love, patience, generosity or the bad seeds (weed) of hatred, sin, despair or evil? If we cultivate good habits and sow good seeds, they will grow into a field of rich grains; develop into a big tree like the mustard seed; and will cause the dough to ferment into delicious bread like the tiny bit of leaven. May the Lord grant us the grace to always choose good over evil and to always sow good seeds in the world. Amen