Matthew 13:24-30

Jeremiah 7:1-11

Psalm 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds.

“The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man

who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?’

He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’

His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

He replied, ‘No, 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.”’”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I do not want to meet the fate of the weeds in the Gospel. Rather, I want to be gathered like wheat into your heavenly barn. I am your child and I will heed your Word and obey your commandments.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Parable of the Weeds: Jesus has faced resistance and uses parables to both hide and reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. His parables hide the mystery from the prideful and reveal it to the humble. The Kingdom of Heaven, of which the Church is the beginning, has both wheat and weeds, saints and sinners. The owner of the field, God the Father, knows that an enemy sowed the weeds. He mysteriously permits the enemy to sow the weeds. The weeds are probably darnel, “a slightly poisonous plant resembling wheat in the early stages of growth. Only when it fully matures can it be distinguished and separated from wheat” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 31). It is difficult for us to accept that God permits evil to grow in the Kingdom of Heaven. In the world and in the Kingdom, it is hard to tell who’s who. We struggle to know who is truly righteous and who only gives the appearance of being righteous but is truly unrighteous. The parable itself emphasizes the need for patient waiting; its explanation, which we will hear on Tuesday, focuses on the demonic genesis and terrible end of the wicked (see Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word, vol. 2, 270).

2. The Work of the Enemy: The parable first teaches us about the goodness of God. God created a good world and sows good seed. God is not the cause of evil. God’s plan is to engender us as his children through the redemptive work of his Son. In response to God’s good work, the Devil tries to thwart this eternal plan by bringing sin into the world. “When God’s plan to bestow life finally takes the form of his coming in the vulnerable person of his Son, the Devil’s strategy consists in his sowing the seeds of hatred of the light” (Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word, vol. 2, 270). The Devil cannot attack God directly and so he tries to wound God through what God most loves: his Incarnate Son and the human race, called to become his children through his only-begotten Son (see Leiva-Merikakis, Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word, vol. 2, 270). The Devil can only find an entry into God’s field, the world, when God’s creatures are sleeping and fail to keep watch. Just as Adam failed to protect the garden from the ancient serpent, we can fail to protect the field we have been entrusted with. 

3. Jeremiah’s Temple Sermon: The First Reading is taken from the first section of Jeremiah’s “Temple sermon” given in 609 B.C. He warns the people that their worship in the Temple will not save them from the Babylonians if they continue to abuse the poor and vulnerable of society, violate the Ten Commandments, and worship other gods (see Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 788).“The prophet urges the sinful people of Judah to realign their lives with the covenant or they will be cast forth into exile (Jeremiah 7:15) and the Temple will become a ‘desolation’ (22:5). In particular, he debunks the popular belief that the presence of the Lord’s Temple guarantees the city’s protection from conquest (7:4). Proof that this belief is naïve and unfounded is the former destruction of God’s sanctuary at Shiloh (7:12)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 31). Jeremiah launches into a lament and dialogue with God. He expresses his grief and articulates God’s sorrow for being compelled to punish his people (Jeremiah 8:18-9:3).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, like Jeremiah, you denounced the sins of the people in your Father’s House. At times I act like a wayward child and need to be corrected and disciplined. I need to hear your words and be called out so that I can be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Living the Word of God: How am I defending the garden paradise and field of my heart? Have I let my guard down and let the enemy in to tempt me? How can I do a better job defending the spiritual health of my family? How can I best prepare them for spiritual battle?