Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

Snapshots of the Kingdom

1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52

You know, sometimes writing a homily is very easy. After reading the texts several times and meditating on them day-to-day for a week or more, all of a sudden the words come to me in a flash and the homily practically writes itself. I LOVE when that happens! But this week wasn't one of those times. I think that's mainly because today’s gospel is just so rich. There are so many possibilities to contemplate, it's hard to focus on what to emphasize and what to leave for another day. Well, I gave it my best shot, so here we go.

In today's gospel, we’re presented with a series of parables that continue from last week which invite us to see the holy in the human, the miraculous in the mundane, the extraordinary in the ordinary. In the past two weeks, Jesus talks about seeds and wheat, treasures and pearls. He takes his listeners to the kitchen and to the garden, to the wheat field and to the seashore. And there, in the most ordinary places of their lives, he shows them God. He invites them, and he invites us, to discover what the kingdom of heaven is like. 

What is the kingdom of heaven like? Well, Jesus seems to have a lot of different answers to that question. Last week, if you recall, he said it is like a mustard seed and wheat. Both describe how, from small, almost invisible beginnings, great things will come. And in today’s gospel, Jesus tells us it is like finding a treasure hidden in a field, something that brings about life-changing joy when it is discovered and when we are prepared to sell everything we own to obtain it. It’s like a pearl of great price, a thing of great beauty, for which the merchant will give up all other pearls so he or she may purchase it. And like a great net that catches all kinds of fish which are then sorted out according to their quality, with the good ones being kept safe for the use of the Master and the bad ones being tossed away. 

We might well ask, “Okay Lord, which is it?” But all of these descriptions are just metaphors because human language is inadequate to describe the kingdom of heaven, in the same way our various concepts of God can never really describe God. We think of God as a loving father, as a shepherd, as the Creator. All of those things are true, but they all, both individually and collectively, still fail to describe God. That’s because God is infinite, and we’re not. And if that’s true about God, then the same can be said about his Kingdom. 

So what does Jesus mean by the Kingdom of God? It’s obvious that he’s not referring to the place where we all hope to go after we die. One author I read described it this way: The kingdom of God is what the world would look like if God were in charge! To me, it is anywhere that Love triumphs, where Grace abounds, where Justice is done, where Peace is experienced, where the Well-being of all of humanity is seen and the Dignity of every man, woman and child is being respected and achieved. Anywhere that those things are happening, through the efforts and prayers of many people, we see the Kingdom of God. Here and there, and now and then, we see this new creation. As another theologian said, "The kingdom of God comes in inches, and we must learn to celebrate every small glimpse we can find."

So, according to this definition, then, the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God is not a place, but a way of life, the way we ought to be living our lives in the here and now. God's rule or God's reign may not seem so obvious to us in a world terrorized by suicide bombers, filled with wars, and divided along racial and political lines, but it’s there. And today’s parables challenge us into a daily awareness of the kingdom of heaven breaking in all around us. We are called to live out our relationship with God and demonstrate that God rules in our life in all that we say and do. If we truly value God's reign above all else, it will have an impact on the way we live. It will affect the way we spend our time. It will influence what we do with our talents. It will show in how we spend our money. It will be reflected in the way we relate to people around us.

Jesus tells us that the reign of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. Some lucky fieldhand working that field finds it and goes and sells all that he has in order to obtain the field with its treasure. He just stumbled into a fortune. He wasn't looking for it. He didn't expect it. He just was in the right place at the right time.

He also says that the reign of God is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, and on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. In contrast to the fieldhand who found the treasure in the field, this merchant has been pursuing the pearl of great price forever. He has been doing everything he could to obtain something this valuable.

I don’t know which experience is closer to what has happened in your life. But I want you to realize that it doesn’t matter how you find the treasure, it is that you lay hold of that treasure once you find it. It doesn’t matter whether you searched for the God or whether you just bumped into Him one day. It doesn’t matter if you had a dramatic conversion experience or whether you came gradually to faith. What matters is realizing that developing your relationship with God, living in His Kingdom, and possessing eternal life, is the greatest treasure you will ever find. 

God's rule and a relationship with God are like a found treasure and like a pearl of great price. God wants to be number one in our life. God wants our relationship with him to be so important that we would gladly, joyfully give up anything and everything we have for that relationship.

How much are you willing to give up for the sake of the kingdom of God? I have asked myself this question off and on most of my life, and I always end up with something like, “Well, I hope... that I would... if the chips were down... be willing to give up everything.” But when I think seriously about it and go through the list of things -- and that includes people, friends, relatives, my students, you -- I get a little shaken up. Am I willing to give up what God has blessed me so much with here for the sake of the kingdom? Would I be willing to give my home and all that I’ve worked so hard for all my life if God called for it?

These are important questions that we all need to spend some time reflecting on. But along with those, there are two more that that we must come to grips with: What do I have that I have not been given? Nothing. What am I that God has not made? Nothing. 

Our treasure, our pearl, our riches, can be found right here [gesture to Altar]. 

Here we receive the Bread of Eternal Life, Jesus Christ himself! 

Here we receive the Blood of the New and Everlasting Covenant, Jesus Christ himself! 

HE is the pearl of great price! 

HE is our treasure, his words, his instructions, his example.

HE is the treasure just waiting there for us!

Do you doubt that he is a loving King?

Do you doubt that he can give you a treasure beyond measure?

(Gesture to Crucifix) Just look - - there is the proof of His love for you! There is the sacrifice he made to redeem us, because WE are HIS pearls of great price!

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A)

The Wheat and the Weeds

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

This week, as I was preparing my homily, one of my high school teachers came to mind. His name is Fr. Arthur Anderson. Now although I went to high school on Long Island, Fr. Anderson grew up on a farm here in New Jersey, in Allamoooochy, as he liked to exaggerate it. Never could I imagine sitting in that classroom so many years ago that someday I would be living in Allamoooochy, in Panther Valley, part of which is actually located on some of the very land that was part of the Anderson Family farm. Fr. Anderson was my favorite teacher; he was everybody’s favorite teacher, for he taught with wisdom, yet humor . . . with passion, yet gentleness. He was indeed beloved, and I guess subconsciously, I tried to model my own teaching style after his. Of course some of his repertoire of antidotes came from his experience growing up on that farm in Allamoooochy. Like this one:

One day, a man purchased an old, run-down, abandoned farm adjacent to his with plans to turn it into a thriving enterprise. The fields were grown over with weeds, the farmhouse falling apart, and the fences collapsing all around.

During the first day of work, Fr. Anderson stopped by to bless the man’s work, saying, “May you and God work together to make this the farm of your dreams.”

A few months later, he stopped by again to call on the farmer. Low and behold! It’s like a completely different place – the farmhouse was completely rebuilt and in excellent condition, there was plenty of cattle and other livestock happily munching on the feed in well-fenced pens, and the fields were filled with crops planted in neat rows. “Amazing!” Fr. Anderson said. “Look what God and you have accomplished together!”

“Yes, Father,” replied the farmer, “but remember what the farm was like when God was working it alone? Glad I could help him out!”

Seems like we all sometimes want to help God out, don’t we, just like the farmhands wanted to help their master in the parable Jesus told about the wheat and the weeds. There Jesus tells about a man who plants wheat in his field. In the course of the night, an enemy sows weeds among the wheat. When the plants begin to grow and the weeds appear, the master's slaves are anxious to go and start tearing out the weeds. But the master orders his workers to let all the plants grow, good and bad alike. At the end of the growing season the master will separate the wheat from the weeds, and then the weeds will be destroyed. 

You know, I read somewhere that there are over sixty definitions of what a weed is. Here’s my favorite: A weed is a plant, not only in the wrong place, but intends to stay. That’s also a pretty good description of the evil in our world. We have the good and the evil side by side. God is like the master in that parable. He lets good and bad exist side by side in the world and even in the Church. It’s shocking to consider that God lets evil people damage our world and damage our Church. And what’s more, God seems to do nothing to stop the actions of murderers, rapists, robbers, abusers, liars, cheats, embezzlers, adulterers, racists, bigots and criminals of every sort. They often prosper and frequently avoid human punishment. God doesn’t purify the Church of its sinful members. Hypocrites, corrupt politicians, pro- choice legislators, child abusers, the divorced and remarried, unfaithful clergy and religious, the morally challenged, and those who make money, fame, pleasure and power the goals of their life, are numbered among the members of the Catholic Church. The names of good men and women and the names of notorious sinners appear next to one another in the baptismal registers of our Church.

To us there’s no room for the weeds; there’s no room for those whose sexual conduct is embarrassing or whose ethics are questionable; there’s no room for those who treat people unkindly or who have committed shameful sins. How often do people, like you and me, cry out when confronted with horrible situations and horrible people, "God why don't you do something?" But no matter how much we plead, the Master has a different idea and he doesn’t budge from his position. He tells us that this is not the time for such a radical response—he wants to wait until the harvest, and then, and only then, he, and only he, will do the separating. “But there are so many weeds in the world today, right here, right now—can’t we do anything; can’t we do something?” Today’s parable gives us our answer. God lets the good and the bad grow together. Despite all of our dedicated hard work, there won’t be a perfect yield—it will include both the good and the bad. But eventually, God will judge and punish . . . in His time, not ours; in His way, not ours. Until that judgment occurs, good and evil will exist side by side.

Today’s gospel addresses some of the harsh realities of life. It teaches us that we live in an imperfect world where evil is present as an unavoidable part of life. There are evil persons and evil situations which we cannot change. There is an evil force in the world which is beyond our power to fix. We might want our gardens, and our world and our Church to be free of weeds. But that has not been the case since the Garden of Paradise described in the Book of Genesis. It didn’t take long for the weeds to appear in that Garden and they have been appearing ever since. However, the parable also reassures us that unsolvable problems will be properly handled in the end by God who alone has the wisdom, the power, and the right to judge. The time will come when the sorting of the weeds from the wheat will be absolute and final, harsh and decisive. And make no mistake about it—we will all be judged. 

Should we take Jesus at his word, or is he just using scare tactics? We live in a world that justifies everything. We live in a world where many believe there are no moral absolutes and we have no right to impose our moral standards on anyone else. We live in a world that has diminished the person of Jesus to a one-dimensional easy-going surfer dude. We live in a world where no one takes responsibility for their own actions, that likes to point fingers and make excuses. Should we take Jesus seriously? Well, let me answer this way: The parable that we heard last week and the one we’re presented with today are the only ones that come with Jesus’ personal explanation. It seems to me that maybe he did this to make sure we got it right, so there’s no chance for misinterpretation. Those two parables are also the only ones that come with Jesus’ personal commentary: “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” In other words, Jesus is saying. “If it applies to you, take heed. You’ve been forewarned!”

But we also live in a world where we’re not used to waiting. We live in a world of fast food, instant communication, and immediate gratification. We want it now. And yes, we’re made in the image and likeness of God . . . but His ways are not our ways. And thank God for that. Jesus is telling us that if sinners are pulled-up and torn out now, we could easily destroy what is good. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between a good plant and a bad one, especially when it can act both ways. There will be a time for separation, judgment, and punishment, but that time is not now. Unlike God, we cannot know people’s hearts; where their lives might take them, or their potential for good. We are sinners living among sinners and we cannot judge too harshly and condemn too quickly. All the evidence isn’t in and the game is far from over. How many of us have left Yankee Stadium or CitiField in the 6th or 7th inning in frustration, convinced that the Yanks or Mets would lose, only to miss the walk-off home run, the game winner, in the bottom of the 9th?

That’s the good news for us in this Gospel; really good news. No strike of lightning is sent earthward the moment we sin. God’s response unfolds slowly. We want a God whose vengeance is swift. But aren’t we glad we have a God who is patient? Aren’t we grateful when we look back on our mistakes that we have the time to change and the time to make amends, that He gives us time to work things out and make things right? Most of us here today, to be sure, were weeds, and some of us are still weeds. We try to hide our secrets because we’re ashamed of what we’ve done; we sometimes struggle to trust another’s integrity because we’ve compromised our own; and we still play games with the truth and separate our words from our actions. And there are days when we still slip back into our weed-like behavior. Yeah, if you look carefully, you can still find the weeds in each of us.

In the final analysis, today's message to us is about trusting God to be God: a God of justice . . . but also a God who isn’t measured in retribution, but in mercy; a God who is eager to forgive, long after we’ve given up on it; and God who is willing to wait, until the very last moment, for us to turn things around and make things right. 

“Not so fast; all the evidence isn’t in yet. And the game is not over.” And thank God for that.