A reflection on the Gospel for 16th Sunday of the year, the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13: 24-43), by Fr Gerry O'Shaughnessy SDB.

In the Gospel today, Jesus tells a tale that would upset the many farmers in his audience; an enemy creeps into the field and deliberately plants weeds in the good wheat field—an action that could destroy their livelihood and income Good and bad are mixed together, rather like the reality that ail of us are invited to live The constant critics of Jesus' message of inclusivity were the Pharisees, who saw themselves as the 'separate ones', a cut above everyone else;, They cannot cope with the 'field' of Jesus that is open to good and bad alike, from the young and caring apostle John, to the most public of public sinners. While Jesus' will always reject their sin and evil, he will never give up on the individual. He had all sorts of people around him, a rainbow coalition of people: the learned, the ignorant, the good-living, the bad-living, tax-collectors, prostitutes; the lot. What in God's name is he doing, they said. Why doesn't he get down to business? Why doesn't he weed them out?

As any gardener knows, , weeding can be the greatest threat of all to the life of the young seedling (just ask Fr Bob Gardner SDB). At first, the problem-is identifying which is which: the weeds must be left until the seedling can be clearly recognised. Even then, removing the weeds may pose an even greater threat. It may sever the seedling's root system. Often, the weed brings the seedling away with it.

We see Jesus treating the 'field' of his ministry with great respect and care. He does not want to join those, all too obvious in the world today, who wish to weed people out because they are seen as the 'wrong' colour or belong to the 'wrong' faith. As a society, we can even weed people out before birth or deny them essential care at the end of life. We can all be quick to judge another's motives, or prefer to be like the Pharisee at prayer Jesus spoke about , who condemns everyone - except himself. In the words of the old country song, 'Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way'!

We're all tempted to try our hand at it at the game of judgement. We can spot the ones we judge as 'the undesirables, the troublemakers and the misfits'. One shudders to think of the people who might have been weeded out if God had not chosen to intervene, especially in the wonder that is the sacrament of Reconciliation. Peter, after his triple denial in the crucifixion crisis, should have been weeded out for failing the leadership test, but Jesus just wanted him to live more. It is strange that Christ never weeded out Judas!

Sadly down through history, Mother Church did not always show her master's tolerance—Galileo could testify to that; We can be so quick to condemn; Pray for those modern Pharisees in your community that seem to take delight in judging these around them and excluding ethers. P1ease, remind them that God's love is never exclusive.

The parable of the weeds is such a simple story that we have forgotten its power. As we emerge slowly from the trauma and the joy of lockdown, the danger is that is that we want someone to blame and to be our scapegoat. If anything, the experience of lockdown 2020 should have told us that we have SHARED a common pain and healing can only be achieved if we work on it TOGETHER.

To the question: "Do you want us to go and weed it out?" the answer of Jesus is categorical. 'No!' And the reason is self-evident. Only God has eyes sufficiently discerning and fingers sufficiently gentle for this job. Weeding out is God's job, no matter how much we think we could do a better job. Life would be so much better for everybody, if only we could leave it to the Lord, the Lord of compassion and care.

Fr Gerry SDB

May I live this day
Compassionate of heart
Clear in word
Gracious in awareness
Courageous in thought
Generous in love.

John O'Donohue