Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

MATTHEW 13:24-33
WHEN I WAS A BOY, MY MOTHER WOULD SEE ME SITTING ON THE SOFA READING COMIC BOOKS, AND, BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T STAND SEEING ANYONE SIT STILL, ORDER ME TO GO OUT THE GARDEN AND PULL UP WEEDS. I HATED THAT. I DIDN'T MIND PULLING UP WEEDS, BUT I COULDN'T TELL A WEED FROM A USEFUL PLANT. IN THE RHUBARB PATCH AND IN THE ROWS OF CARROTS I FELT FAIRLY SAFE. BUT WITH THE PEAS AND BEANS AND SQUASH -- I WAS HOPELESS. I WOULD STUDY EACH GREEN PLANT. I WOULD LOOK AT THE PICTURE ON THE SEED PACKAGE. I WOULD TRY TO DECIDE WHICH WERE IN NICE NEAT ROWS AND WHICH WEREN'T. BUT I NEVER DID IT QUITE RIGHT.
WHEN WE HEAR THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE WEEDS, IT SEEMS STRAIGHTFORWARD. WE ARE WHEAT, AND WE COULD CERTAINLY NAME A FEW WEEDS AMONG OUR ACQUAINTANCES. WE WILL BE GATHERED INTO THE LORD'S BARN, AND THEY WILL BE CAST INTO THE FIRE.
BUT LET US GO BACK TO PALESTINE IN THE FIRST CENTURY. IF YOU REMEMBER YOUR BIBLE HISTORY, THE JEWS WHO HAD ONCE BEEN A PROSPEROUS AND POWERFUL COUNTRY UNDER DAVID AND SOLOMON, WENT THROUGH A PERIOD WHERE THEIR KINGDOM WAS BROKEN INTO TWO KINGDOMS, ISRAEL AND JUDAH. ISRAEL, IN THE NORTH, WAS CONQUERED BY THE ASSYRIANS AND THEIR LEADERS WERE EXILED; THE ASSYRIANS SETTLED PEOPLE FROM OTHER PARTS OF THEIR EMPIRE IN ISRAEL. THIS ALL TOOK PLACE ABOUT 700 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST. TO THE JEWS WHO STILL REMAINED IN THE HOLY LAND, IN THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH, THIS CALAMITY WAS GRADUALLY SEEN AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE FACT THAT THE TRIBES IN THE NORTH HAD BEEN UNFAITHFUL, REFUSING TO WORSHIP IN THE TEMPLE, AND ADOPTING SOME OF THE PRACTICES OF THE NATIVES WHO STILL LIVED IN THE NORTH. IN THE FIFTH CENTURY, THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH WAS CONQUERED BY THE BABYLONIANS, AND THE PRINCES AND PRIESTS AND OTHER PEOPLE OF SUBSTANCE EXILED. TWO GENERATIONS LATER, KING CYRUS OF PERSIA ALLOWED WHAT FEW JEWS WERE LEFT TO GO BACK TO THEIR LAND. DURING ALL THIS TIME, THE PROPHETS HAD BEEN REINFORCING THE IDEA THAT BECAUSE THEY HAD BEEN UNFAITHFUL, THEY HAD BEEN PUNISHED. AND NOW, IN THE LITTLE KINGDOM OF JEWS THAT WAS ALL THAT WAS LEFT OF THE LAND GIVEN TO ABRAHAM, THEY WERE ALLOWED TO PRACTICE THEIR WAYS UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYES OF THE ROMANS.
THE PHARISEES BELIEVED THAT THE ONLY WAY TO GAIN GOD'S FAVOR WAS TO RIGOROUSLY KEEP HIS LAWS. AND THEY TOOK IT UPON THEMSELVES TO DECIDE WHO WAS A GOOD JEW AND WHO WASN'T. THE PHARISEES HAD CONVINCED NEARLY EVERY RELIGIOUS JEW THAT YOU COULD EASILY TELL WHO WAS ON GOD'S SIDE AND WHO WAS NOT.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING IS THAT THE WEED WHICH IS REFERRED TO IN THIS GOSPEL IS A PLANT CALLED DARNEL. WHEN IT IS IMMATURE, IT LOOKS JUST LIKE AN IMMATURE WHEAT PLANT. IF YOU WANTED TO SPOIL YOUR ENEMIES HARVEST, YOU COULD SEW SOME DARNEL SEED, BECAUSE IF EVEN A LITTLE OF IT GOT GROUND INTO FLOUR WITH THE WHEAT, IT WOULD MAKE PEOPLE SICK. AND IF IT MADE PEOPLE SICK, THEY'D NEVER BUY WHEAT FROM YOU AGAIN.
SO BACK TO THE PARABLE. THE SERVANTS NOW CAN BE SEEN AS THE PHARISEES AND THOSE WHO BELIEVED LIKE THEM. THEY ARE IMPATIENT TO PURIFY ISRAEL; THEY TAKE IT UPON THEMSELVES TO IDENTIFY WHO IS A GOOD JEW AND WHO ISN'T. THEY AGITATE TO EXPEL THOSE WHO AREN'T GOOD JEWS, THOSE WHO AREN'T RIGOROUSLY FOLLOWING THEIR INTERPRETATION OF THE LAW, FROM THE SYNAGOGUE, WHICH WAS A TERRIBLE THING TO HAPPEN. IN A WORLD WHERE THE SOCIAL LIFE OF A VILLAGE REVOLVED AROUND THE SYNAGOGUE, TO BE EXCLUDED WAS PUNISHMENT INDEED. JESUS' APOSTLES HAVE BEGUN TO SEE THEMSELVES AS THE NEW PHARISEES. AFTER ALL, THEY HAVE TO CHOOSE SIDES, AND THE PHARISEES ARE THE ENEMIES. AND MAYBE NOW IT IS THEIR TURN TO DECIDE WHO IS ON GOD'S SIDE, WHAT RIGHTEOUSNESS REALLY IS, HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS, HOW YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO WORSHIP. LIKE THE SERVANTS IN THE PARABLE, THEY ARE READY TO BEGIN THE TASK OF WEEDING IF JESUS JUST GIVES HIS WORD.
A DARNEL SPROUT LOOKS LIKE A WHEAT SPROUT. BUT WHEN THE PLANTS REACH MATURITY, IT IS EASY TO TELL THEM APART. THE GRAINS ON THE DARNEL PLANT ARE BLACK, AND EACH GRAIN TRAILS A LONG HAIR. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BY THE FRUIT WHICH EACH PLANT BEARS. AND YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FRUIT WILL BE UNTIL THE END OF THE LIFE OF THE PERSON -- AND MAYBE LONGER. SAINT JOSEPH, AFTER ALL, DIED BEFORE JESUS HAD LEFT HOME. WHEN JOSEPH DIED, TO ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES HE WAS A GOOD MAN, WHO HAD A SON WHO HAD TAKEN OVER HIS BUSINESS, AND TURNED OUT GOOD FURNITURE. PERHAPS THAT'S ALL JOSEPH KNEW, AND CERTAINLY ALL HIS NEIGHBORS KNEW, ABOUT THE FRUIT OF HIS LIFE. IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO SEE THAT THE FRUIT OF JOSEPH'S LIFE WAS JESUS, AND MARY, AND THE CHURCH; BECAUSE JOSEPH WAS THERE TO PROTECT AND NURTURE MARY EVEN BEFORE JESUS WAS BORN. YOU AND I AND CHRISTIANS DOWN THROUGH THE AGES OWE JOSEPH A LOT, BECAUSE WITHOUT HIM, MARY MIGHT HAVE BEEN STONED, OR MIGHT HAVE GIVEN BIRTH TO AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD AND THE WHOLE STORY OF SALVATION WOULD HAVE BEEN VERY DIFFERENT. YOU MIGHT SAY THAT THE FRUIT THAT ANYONE BEARS IS NOT APPARENT TILL THE END OF THE WORLD.
JESUS TELLS HIS DISCIPLES THAT THERE NEVER WILL BE A TIME WHEN YOU AND I CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WHEAT AND THE WEEDS, NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY. AND NO ONE ELSE CAN, EITHER. IF YOU MEET SOMEONE WHO CURSES A POLITICIAN, OR RIDICULES A BISHOP, OR LAUGHS AT A STREET PERSON; IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO HATES GAYS, OR MUSLIMS, OR DEMOCRATS, OR REPUBLICANS; IF YOU MEET ANYONE WHO IS QUICK TO DRAW A LINE BETWEEN US AND THEM, REMIND THEM OF THE WORDS OF JESUS: "LET THEM GROW TOGETHER UNTIL THE HARVEST." AT THE HARVEST, ALL WILL BE MADE CLEAR. AT THE HARVEST, WE WILL SEE THE FRUIT OF EACH INDIVIDUAL. AND WE WILL BE SURPRISED. SURPRISED THAT THERE WILL BE PEOPLE IN THE KINGDOM WHOM WE NEVER THOUGHT WOULD MAKE IT. AND SURPRISED THAT THERE WILL BE PEOPLE WE THOUGHT SHOULD BE THERE, WHO AREN'T. AND MAYBE, SURPRISED MOST OF ALL, WHEN WE SEE THE FRUIT WE HAVE BORNE, THAT WE WILL BE THERE AT ALL.