Unstoppable

A Reflection on the Gospel for July 19th, 2020:
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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MATTHEW 13

24 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the householder came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' 28 He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29 But he said, `No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'" 31 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." 33 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened." 34 All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37 He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

The parables of Christ used common images in uncommon ways. Farming was then and is now something more or less understood by nearly any audience. In this set of parables, He compares the Kingdom of Heaven as both wheat and a mustard seed. Wheat would be a staple in the local diet, but the particular breed of mustard plant that He speaks of, native to the Middle East, is a pernicious weed. It spreads out of control and chokes out plants around it. The closest equivalent here in the Maritimes is mint — as lovely as it is, it grows out of control and once it takes root is near impossible to contain.


The Kingdom of God is wheat because it’s life-sustaining and intentionally planted. However, as Jesus tells us, the enemy has planted weeds among the wheat. It’s hard to deny that as we look at our world and even our own hearts. On a global scale, we see the presence of evil in the world in war, hunger, strife, and disease. As Canadians we enjoy the benefits of a democracy, but that comes alongside colonialism, racism, sexism, ableism, religious persecution, and other evils. I can be a devout Christian who desires the Good for all people, while also bearing in my own soul the weeds of each of those evils. Those weeds are real, but they are not who I am in Christ.


Yet we can take comfort in the second image Jesus shares with us of the Kingdom of Heaven as a mustard seed. Mustard seed, an unwanted and hard to contain weed. Jesus planted that very seed by His life, death, and resurrection and no matter how hard the evil one works to sow evil around it, Jesus’ Kingdom will grow and prevail. Even now, when the evil of disease has driven us into social isolation, it has not stopped the growth of the Kingdom of God. As with any weed, when our path is blocked, we find another way. We could not all safely meet, so we met online. Our Children and Youth Ministries got innovative and found new ways to serve in an online environment. We invited people to stream Mass and people actually joined us and kept coming back. Our priests and deacon addressed painful and difficult topics; they challenged us; they kept us growing.

When we feel worn out and done in, remember that the Kingdom we’re growing is life-giving like wheat, unstoppable like a weed, and planted by our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. If God is for us, who can be against?




Stephanie Potter

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