Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 'A'

Sunday July 20, 2008

Saint or Sinner or Both?

My maternal grandfather was a farmer—of sorts. Born in Brooklyn when farmlands could still be found, his mother abandoned his father and their children when ‘Pop’ was still a young boy. He was sent by his father to an orphanage operated by a Methodist minister in Millstone New Jersey where farmlands were a-plenty. At the age of emancipation he moved to Jersey City for more gainful employment as a plumber. Even in those days, farmhands didn’t earn enough to support a family.

A victim of the depression, he lost his home in Jersey City and moved to Morristown with a quarter in his pocket got a job at Picatinny Arsenal. Although he never became a professional farmer in the green pastures of Morristown, Pop Mooney’s boyhood days on the farm in Millstone gave him unique instincts and talents enjoyed only by authentic growers. He could uproot trees and move the earth around with the strength of a man twice his size. His backyard gardens were worthy of any in the garden state. They were his pride and joy—tomatoes, corn, string beans, carrots, beets, peppers, radishes, parsley—a veritable victory garden. But he didn’t grow wheat! It’s not a native New Jersey crop. But I do remember his pointing to the winter rye which, like wheat in its early stages, looks like rich green wide-blade grass but weeds tend to camouflage themselves among the rye. Pop knew the difference!

Although ‘Pop Moon’ as he was affectionately called, remained Catholic to the core, thanks to his Methodist foster father he was quick to weave Bible passages into his daily commentaries on life’s events and was alert to see the creative hand of God in nature and in all the circumstances of his life.

Somehow, I never inherited his garden instincts. I can still remember giving potted weeds to my mother to be placed among her treasured plants, which she accepted graciously despite her hay fever. A sacrificial gesture on her part for sure.

Matthew’s rendering of Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds is a simple but meaningful allegorical image of the reign of God. The parable has two lessons:

First, there is room in God’s garden for everyone, saint and sinner and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. I think it is fair to state that there is a saint and sinner in all of us. In the final analysis, judgement must be left to God.

Secondly, there is evil in the world. People are not inherently evil but people—sometimes good people—do evil things for a variety of reasons. Some because of the evil done to them; others because they were never affirmed in their inherent goodness—“God does not make junk!” Still others deceived by evil have adopted a warped view of the world. Some of these present themselves as ‘religious people,’ but their religion is distorted. They have never really grasped the full revelation of their God, whoever that God is for them.

There is indeed evil in the world but the worst kind of evil is disguised—the wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is the evil that has penetrated the most noble of religious ideals evidenced in the racism that pervaded Christian Europe centuries ago and in our own country to this day. We see it once again in the distorted thinking of terrorists. We see it in the rape of children and the greed of those who through trickery and deceit, rob employees and investors of their just compensation and future security. We have witnessed it in the greed of those sub-prime lenders who under false pretenses exploited unwary elderly borrowers who had no ability to pay back what they borrowed in equity loans.

”’Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’”

But sometimes the enemy is within and goes unrecognized, thus Jesus’ response to the servant’s request, ”’Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ … ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you might 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.’”

In other words, time will tell where virtue lives and truth flourishes and God will be the final judge and God will not be exploited or mocked.

There is yet another lesson in the second parable about the mustard seed. Although it is not really the smallest of all seeds that grows into the largest tree—the Cypress seed is smaller and the Cypress tree is larger—nevertheless, Jesus’ intent was to stretch the simile to challenge the Pharisees who considered the strength of the Jews equal to the Cypress trees of Lebanon.

The mustard tree is really a large bush and not all that attractive but it attracts all kinds of birds who come and nest in its branches to feast on its seeds. This is what the reign of God is like. Get the point?

We Catholics are a diverse group of every race and nations, saint and sinner—here comes everybody - messy at times but which attracts all kinds of birds (present company included) who nest within its branches to feed on the seed of God’s word.

Those who persevere in faithfulness are those who commit themselves not to be great but to be faithful and grateful.

An idea that begins with one person can change the direction of civilization. A witness to truth must begin with one individual but can spread very quickly to thousands. But words are not as strong a witness as the actions people of good will. A speaker at a church missionary conference on evangelization put it this way:

“When we want to take Christianity to one of our villages, we don’t send them books. We take a Christian family and send them to live in the village.” Isn’t it true that in any group-school, commercial/corporate, or society at large, one person filled with the Spirit of Christ can kindle the hearts of thousands.”

It may take a long time to distinguish one voice from another and separate the good from the bad, but eventually we find our call and at St. Paul assures us in his letter to the Romans, the Spirit intercedes for us with God until we finally get it right.

“Write thy blessed name, O Lord, upon my heart, there to remain so indelibly engraved, that no prosperity, no adversity shall ever move me from thy love. Be thou to me a strong power of defense, a comforter in tribulation, a deliverer in distress, a very present help in trouble, and a guide to heaven through the many temptations and dangers of this life.” [Thomas a Kempis, c 1380-1471, quoted in The Complete Book of Christian Prayer, Continuum, New York, 1996]
And I would add, let us live joyfully and gratefully even amidst the mess and the weeds.

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