Hope for Repentance: Reflections on the Readings for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

If you haven’t already read the readings you can find them here.

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Psalm 86
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43

As we continue with Chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel we will hear more parables which Jesus used to present a picture of the kingdom of God to the people. For some it was difficult for them to understand. The same may hold true for us, but a parable is a story and one of the ways we learn is through stories. We may not fully understand them, but the memory of the story often stays with us, allowing us to revisit it as we gain additional understanding.

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (ICSB) notes that a parable is, “A spoken or literary ‘comparison’ between two things for illustration.” The three synoptic gospels relate the parables Jesus told, the most complete collection being in Matthew. The ICSB goes on to note that, “In Matthew, Jesus shifts from straightforward teaching (chaps. 5-7) to parables (chap. 13) immediately following his rejection by the Pharisees (12:14). Like the OT prophets ... Jesus speaks parables for the benefit of the faithful and the judgment of unbelievers.”

We begin, however, with a reading from the Book of Wisdom. Wisdom is one of the books attributed to a follower of Solomon, David’s son and king after him and is sometimes referred to as the Wisdom of Solomon. The ICSB notes: “the writer’s allusions to details from other parts of the Bible indicate that he writes as if he were King Solomon, the quintessential wise man of ancient Israel.”

The thrust of today’s selection is the sovereignty of the Lord as Creator. In his classic, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis describes the contention between God and the devil and God’s claim on us humans, “At present the Enemy [God] says ‘Mine’ of everything on the pedantic, legalistic ground that He made it: Our Father [the devil] hopes in the end to say ‘Mine’ of all things on the more realistic and dynamic ground of conquest, ...” We live in a broken world. God did not invent sin. And evil cannot stand on its own. Evil is a corruption of what is good, what God created. Referring again to Screwtape who said, “Everything has to be twisted before it’s any use to us.” And Fr. Mitch Pacwa of EWTN tells us, “Evil becomes possible when human beings decide to use the good things that God created in ways that are not truly part of their purpose.”

In today’s reading, however, we learn that God “gave [His] children good ground for hope that [He] would permit repentance for their sins.” Thus we all have hope for our future.

The responsorial continues this thread, “You, O LORD, are good and forgiving.” When we call on the Lord and pray to Him, He will hear our prayer and respond with grace. And when we respond to His grace, we get closer to Him. As we often hear, the psalmist tells us that God is “slow to anger, abounding in kindness and fidelity.” We should be thankful for that, for if God’s wrath were to come down on us as soon as we transgress, the earthly population would be very slim. But St. Peter reminds us that God is giving us time to repent and come back to Him. “The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)

The very brief selection from St. Paul’s letter to the Romans can also be connected with this theme in that it talks about prayer. Prayer is communion and communication with God. Here Paul reminds us, as the apostles noted to Jesus, that we don’t truly know how to pray as we ought. But here God intercedes as well with the Holy Spirit stepping in on our behalf. Recall that Jesus told us that God knows our needs before we even express them or understand them ourselves. Here our intent to ask God for help moves the Spirit on our behalf.

In today’s gospel reading we continue with the thirteenth chapter of Matthew which contains many of the parables Jesus used to teach His disciples and the people of Galilee. A parable is an allegory, a story that makes a point. The parable of the Sower and the Weeds is exclusive to Matthew. As with last week’s selection, the shorter version limits the lessons of these parables so hopefully your parish will read the full version.

Jesus begins all three of today’s parables with “the kingdom of heaven is like ...” And yet they seem to deal with different themes; wheat and weeds, a tree from a tiny seed, and yeast for leavening dough. Nevertheless, there is a common theme that weaves its way through them.

As in last week’s gospel, the seed is the Word of God. Again, the enemy (the devil) creeps in and sows bad seed among the good. As the crop grows, it’s noticed that there are weeds among them. The servants (angels) ask the landowner (God) if they should immediately pull up the weeds and dispose of them. However, the landowner tells them to wait: “... 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.’”

In the parable of the mustard seed we also have the theme of growth. This tiny seed, similar to the seeds in other parables (the Word of God), although very small, grows into a large tree. The ICSB relates this to the small group of disciples, given the Word of God, growing into a worldwide Church. And, in a similar vein, the yeast, which represents the grace of God (working through us), when worked into the dough, leavens the entire batch (the world).

As in last week’s gospel reading, Jesus explains one of the parables in detail. In this case, the wheat and the weeds represent good and evil. At the final judgment good and evil will be separated permanently, but until then they will coexist. In a way this is good news as the first reading implied, that we have hope (time) for repentance from our sins and can thus avoid being thrown into the furnace of fire.

One can easily see the reference to the four last things in these readings, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Jesus is not mincing words. Hell is real. He spoke more of hell than of heaven and here he contrasts the two. The righteous will shine like the sun while the evildoers and those who cause others to sin will suffer the fiery furnace “where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”

I remember teaching a confirmation class for teenagers (one of my first catechesis experiences). I had already been a Navy instructor so that aspect (teaching) wasn’t new. But watching the kids you didn’t always get the same sense of understanding that I got with adults and technical courses. However, while I was training them for confirmation I realized that my job was also mainly planting seeds (the Word of God).

Take a moment to reflect on these readings and see how your life fits into them. Are you, small though you are, like the mustard seed that is fostering growth in the Church, or the leaven which spreads the Good News or are you a weed that resembles something good at first but as it matures falls into corruption?