All Really Does Mean “All”

Readings for Sunday July 17 2011 

 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time       

          If God is so strong, why is He often so silent? For the second week in a row, our Gospel passage focuses on Jesus' use of parables to teach us important lessons about our relationship with God. God's Kingdom is described in three parables, the parable of the weeds and the wheat, the parable of the mustard seed, and the parable of the yeast. God's Kingdom is unlike any other kingdom the world has seen. Other kingdoms are based on power and force: God's Kingdom enters our lives in a quiet, unobtrusive way, but in the end is the only kingdom standing. It is a Kingdom based on humility and love, not strength.  Through these parables, Jesus teaches us that the Kingdom of God is a real reality, not just make-believe. What we see here in our world is a backdrop for a spiritual battle. Jesus names the key players involved in this drama: Himself (the Son of Man), the devil, the angels, the children of the Kingdom, and the children of the evil one. Notice that, as Jesus was explaining the parable, He didn't talk about the devil and the angels as if they were a myth, but rather He talked about them as if they really existed.  This 'reality' may be difficult for us to believe because so often God seems distant from us. Our society is constantly telling us that our faith in God is silly, that it is like having faith in the 'tooth fairy'. Many 'intellectuals' see faith as superstitious.  They often see it as a problem that God is invisible to us. Jesus addresses this problem in His parables: though it seems like God is distant, He is rather just quiet. Although He is standing next to us, is even in our hearts, He is not getting in our face.  God respects our freedom, and doesn't force us to make a decision to follow Him. This is a risky proposition on God's part, because we have the ability to reject Him, and to 'cause others to sin' and be counted as an evildoer. As followers of Jesus, we must be convicted of the reality of Jesus, the reality of His love for us, and the reality of the truth of His teachings. Let us ask God for the grace to accept His small, quiet invitation to allow the Kingdom of God to grow within our hearts and become a beautiful place of His love. In this way God will safely bring us to His dwelling place in heaven and reveal to us the fullness of His Kingdom with total clarity.           

Summary of the Gospel by YM Central

Reading 1             Wisdom 12:13, 16-19

There is no god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.
For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity. But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you. And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.

Reading II             Romans 8:26-27

Brothers and sisters: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groaning.  And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will.

Gospel                   Matthew  13:24-43

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?  Where have the weeds come from?' He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.  Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."'" He proposed another parable to them.  "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.  It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.  It becomes a large bush, and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'" He spoke to them another parable.  "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened." All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.  He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.  His disciples approached him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."  He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.  The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.  Just as 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 who cause others to sin and all evildoers.  They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.  Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.  Whoever has ears ought to hear."

FYI-cross-reference Matthew 7:15-23

 By their fruits, you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit? Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heave Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord,  when did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name? Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'

Questions for Discussion:

1. What accountability are you now feeling for yourself? For others? To God? What are you "hearing" God call you to do as a result?

2. Why does God choose the quiet approach to establishing His kingdom?

3. Why is it important to believe that the spiritual concepts that Jesus was talking about (angels, devil, etc.) are real? What happens to the 'weight' of Jesus' teaching if they were just 'make-believe concepts?