You’ll Never Believe

Not judging others but letting God decide

07/23/2023

Mt 13:24-30 Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying: “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."'"

I want to begin this homily by telling you a story. It’s about a guy that goes to his rabbi, and says, “Rabbi! You’ll never believe what happened to me. My son left the house and became a Christian!” The rabbi said, “Shhh! You’ll never believe what happened to me. My son left the house, too, and became a Christian! So, what are we going to do? We pray to God!” They prayed to God. And God said, “You’ll never believe what happened to me!”

Actually, that conversation happens at lot more than you might think, especially around August as we begin our RCIA classes. What do I mean? Well, those classes are for men and women who leave their spiritual homes (as Presbyterians, Methodists, Church of Christ) and decide to become Catholic Christians. Their parents say in dismay, “You’ll never believe what happened to me! My son left the house and became a Catholic!”

And to be honest, I am in awe of these people who are drawn to Catholicism, especially today when our faith in under fire from all sides. Secular society takes potshots at us, many Protestants see us as a sect or a cult, even Catholics who have been hurt by the Church, or are divorced and remarried and cannot get an annulment, feel the Church has abandoned them. Who would want to join a Church that is ostracized, marginalized, misunderstood, and facing enemies from outside and inside? That kind of sounds like Jesus, though, doesn’t it?

But unbelievably people are still able to peer through the eyes of faith and perceive that Catholicism is the Church Jesus established in Mt 16:18 on St. Peter the rock, and he promised that the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. But Jesus did not say that Hades would not try. So, please pray for all the brave people who are dipping their toes in the ocean of Catholicism this fall. They have left their parents spiritual house and want to become Catholic Christians.

But of course not everyone who leaves their parents’ home becomes a Christian, some become quite the opposite. Some young people choose a path that is both sad and even shocking to their parents, and sometimes very unchristian. I was on the phone last Friday talking with a mother who was deeply concerned about her son, who had no desire to go to the Catholic Church anymore, or attend any church for that matter. Why?

Well, she was worried he was becoming depressed and absorbed into the digital world of gaming and online entertainment. Her greatest fear was that the line between the real world and the virtual world were being blurred in his mind, and he could no longer tell the difference. She could tragically repeat the words of that joke I began this homily with, “You’ll never believe what happened to me! My son left the house and doesn’t believe in God or religion!”

Folks, this is the messy modern context in which we have to try to apply Jesus’ parable of the weeds and the wheat. How so? Well, each person’s story is replete with change, growth, and maturity. At the same time, our lives are also marked by trials and temptations, failures and setbacks. In other words, we have all left our parents’ house and their upbringing and teaching. And sometimes our adult actions make them very proud of us, while at other times, they smack their palms on their foreheads and say with a Yiddish accent, “You’ll never believe what happened to me!”

Now, the parable also presents two ways of reacting to other people’s unexpected behavior. First, we may react like the slaves of the householder, who wanted to immediately pull the weeds and spare the wheat. That is, some of us may want to pass judgment too soon on others. We believe we know who is good and who is bad, who is holy and who is sinful, who deserves heaven and who deserves hell.

But do we? Do we even know what we deserve? I love the line in Eucharistic Prayer One which states humbly: “Do not consider what we truly deserve but grant us your forgiveness.” That is, if we got what we truly deserved (as all the commercials say we should), we would all be in trouble.

But the householder gives us a second perspective, and there I believe we find true wisdom. He says, “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 other words, none of us is a finished product the moment we leave our father’s house and become a Christian. That is not the end of our story, but in a sense, only the beginning.

Any one of us can fall from grace, and any one of us can climb to new heights of holiness. I love that old saying: “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” The householder had the wisdom, and more importantly the patience, to let both weeds and wheat grow to see what each would eventually become at the end of their lives, at the harvest. We, too, should reserve judgment on one another. Only God knows who is who.

St. Paul made the same point as Jesus’ parable in 1 Co 13:12, “At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.” Our job, therefore, is to pray for all the weeds to finally become wheat, and for all the wheat to stay that way until the harvest. The real reason not to pull the weeds or the wheat until the harvest is because it is not easy to tell which is which. God alone knowns, let God alone decide. He even knew his son would leave the house and become a Christian.

Praised be Jesus Christ!