Last week, I reminded you that Satan opposes the kingdom of God by trying to snatch the Word of God from our hearts (Matthew 13:4, 19). But when that fails, he has other ways of attacking God’s work. Christians must be reminded that Satan has never invented or created anything new. Instead, he destroys that which God has already made. The readings for this Sunday highlight the idea of God’s forbearance. I will focus on the parable of the weeds.
Today’s Gospel reading includes three parables and an explanation. Last Sunday, we mentioned that parables are human stories designed to highlight a divine truth. The emphasis today is on the first parable- the story of the enemy who came in the night and sowed weeds among the good wheat. From the Gospel reading, it appears that the parable of the weeds reinforces the notion of God’s forbearance. The three parables reveal that Satan is primarily an imitator. He plants false Christians, he encourages a false growth and he introduces false doctrine.
This parable of Jesus is meant to address the problem of evil namely “if God is alive, why is there so much evil in the world?” The parable offers a double answer to this question. First, the presence of evil Christians proves that evil is at work even in the Church. Secondly, no matter how saddening and scandalous this situation is, it must be borne with patience and cannot be changed by man. One must have great patience. It is only at the last judgment that the separation of the good from evil will take place.
God’s way is much more patient than man’s way. This is because when evil in any of its many forms stalks us, we have a tendency, as human as we are, to lash out, destroy both and good and evil or like James and John to call down fire and brimstone from heaven. That is our way but that is not the way of God. God is much more patient than we are. The patient of God is made manifest in the responsorial psalm “Lord you are good and forgiving.”
Good and bad both exist in the Church. In his explanation, Jesus points out the field is the world; he is the sower of the good seed; the devil sows the weeds and the harvest is the end of the world (cf Matthew 13:37-39). The parable makes clear that good and evil men live side by side on earth in such a way that it is impossible to separate them. We are not to think that only ‘Saints’ are found in the Church. Sinners are in the Church too. All that glitters is not gold so says Shakespeare. Therefore, we are not in the position to judge others; that must be left to the Son of man who will judge the living and the dead at the end of time.
It is God’s forbearance that is emphasised here as against the impatience of man. “ … The slave 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 reaper to collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned but gather the wheat into the barn” (Matthew 13:28-30).
Since God is compassionate and merciful, He does not destroy the evil man immediately. Although this point is not made in the gospel, since man is free and God’s grace is always offered to him, there is always the possibility that he will have a change of heart and turn back to God. Whether and when this will occur, we are not able to tell.
The forbearance attitude of God is affirmed in the first reading. It says, “Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness, and with great forbearance you govern us; for you have power to act whenever you choose” (Wisdom 12:18). The decision to condemn and pardon is the Lord’s.
As Christians, one of the beautiful and overwhelming gifts of God is forgiveness. Even the righteous man is aware of the fact that the grace of God is at work in him to will and to do according to God’s purpose. The book of Wisdom says it again, “ Through such works you have taught your people that the righteous must be kind and you have filled your children with good hope because you give repentance for sins” ( Wisdom 12:19).
In conclusion, St. Augustine in his book City of God wrestled with the problem of good and evil in the world and in the Church. The parable we just considered had a great deal of influence on his thinking. Let us take advantage of the Lord’s forbearance to amend our crooked ways. It is an undeniable fact that Satan is primarily an imitator. He plants false Christians, he encourages a false growth and he introduces false doctrine. Beware!
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