Seventh Sunday after Trinity
“the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”
Overview
We are in the middle of a series of parables about seeds, weeds and growing things. The farmer in this week’s gospel, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, is as much of a maverick as last week’s (who scattered seed generously over all the ground whether the soil was good or bad) today the farmer allows the wheat and the weeds to flourish together in his field. The workers want to root out the weeds but the farmer forbids them. Both weeds and wheat grow from the same soil and to uproot one may also uproot the other.
The Greek word used for weed in this story is Zizania, a wild grain that looks very similar to wheat. It seems that it is difficult to distinguish good from bad grains and the same can be said for human beings.
Just like last week, this week’s gospel makes it clear that human beings are not the best judge and that any judging should be left in God’s hands. The workers are not to distinguish between the two but are to care for and nurture both equally.
We want goodness to thrive and evil to fail. We worry that by failing to identify and root out what is bad we allow it to grow. Yet these parables ask us instead to trust that God knows what God is doing. The outcome will be the result of God’s work, not ours.
Our first reading, Isaiah 44:6-8, makes the same point. The people of God have been defeated in battle. A situation which was often understood to be the result of their god being defeated by the god of the enemy. Yet God is not defeated. “Do not fear, do not be afraid … I am the first and the last. There is no other god besides me.”
Trusting in God does not mean that we should be laissez-faire about what goes on in the world, it does not mean that we are to do nothing. There is much for us to do: we are tasked with the nurture and support of all, good and bad and in-between and leave the judging to God.
FIRST READING
Isaiah 44:6-8
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first, and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let them proclaim it;
let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
Do not fear or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
GOSPEL
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
