SUNDAY 16 ORDINARY TIME. CYCLE A
Matthew summarizes the crisis that his community went through at the end of the first century in five questions to which he responds with seven parables. Last Sunday we saw the first one (why doesn’t everyone accept Jesus’ message?), to which the parable of the sower responded. This Sunday, two other questions are posed (what attitude should be adopted toward those who do not accept the message? and does this small thing have a future?), to which three parables respond. The first of them (the wheat and the weeds) Matthew must have considered difficult to understand, and that is why he offers his explanation. However, he does not do it immediately. He tells three consecutive parables and later, when the disciples arrive at the house, they question Jesus and he clarifies its meaning. In contrast, the third parable (the mustard seed) and the fourth (the leaven) lack an explanation in the Gospel.
The liturgy allows, for pastoral reasons, to limit itself to the parable of the wheat and the weeds, omitting its explanation and the other two.
What attitude should be adopted toward those who do not live out the message?
The parable can be read from various perspectives, depending on whether we think the field is the people of Israel, the Christian community, or the whole world. Since Matthew only tells this parable, let’s first look at it from the point of view of his community, seriously confronted with the Jews.
1st hypothesis: The field is the people of Israel
In it, the Lord has sown good seed (the Christians). But the enemy has also sown weeds (the Pharisees and other enemies of the community). The temptation for either group is to decide on their own risk who is wheat and who is weed. Paul, for example, before his conversion, asked permission from the authorities in Jerusalem to persecute the Christians. The Christian community also runs the risk of trying to get rid of those who are not part of it or who do not treat it as they consider just. This happened when a village in Samaria did not welcome Jesus and two disciples, John and James; they proposed that he call down lightning from heaven to destroy them all (Lc 9,51-56). With this parable, Matthew makes an exhortation to calm, to leave the decision in the final moment to God.
2nd hypothesis: The field is the Christian community
The parable could also be understood within the Christian community (this would be the field), where there are people who respond to the Gospel (wheat) and people who do not seem to live according to it (weeds). The message is the same in this case. Although things may seem clear, it is easy that when pulling out the weeds, the wheat gets pulled out too. Because any of us, no matter how theologically and morally prepared we consider ourselves, can make a mistake. There are not rare cases of people condemned by the Church who ended up not only rehabilitated but also canonized.
3rd hypothesis: the field is the world
Finally, the parable can be interpreted in a more general context, where the field is the world, the good seed are the citizens of the Kingdom, and the weeds are the followers of Evil. In this line, the explanation of verses 36-43 is oriented, which can be omitted for pastoral reasons.
In any of these three hypotheses (all valid), Jesus warns against the danger of paying just people for sinners. It is preferable to have patience and leave justice to God, the only one who can issue an exact verdict, without fear of making a mistake.
God’s attitude, model of moderation and indulgence
The first reading, taken from the Book of Wisdom, moves in this line of goodness and tolerance, placing God as our model. A God whom power drives not to punish but to forgive, who governs with moderation and indulgence, and who always gives a vote of confidence to the sinner, hoping that he will convert.
[What follows can be omitted]
Does this small thing have any future?
This is the other theme treated by today’s parables. Matthew’s community is small. Other communities are too. Fifty years have passed since Jesus’ death; although Christianity is spreading throughout the Roman Empire, its members represent a minority. What future does this small group have? What future does the current church have, which lacks the influence and power of a few years ago? Matthew responds with two parables: that of the mustard seed and that of the leaven. Both coincide in being something small, but more important than it may seem at first glance.
The mustard seed
This parable is better understood when one knows a parable from the prophet Ezekiel which Jesus uses as a model. At the beginning of the 6th century BC, when the people of Israel were deported to Babylon, to express that their luck would change and be splendid, Ezekiel tells the following:
I will take a shoot from the bud of the tall and lofty cedar;
from the crowning branch I will pluck a cutting
and I will plant it on a high and prominent mountain,
I will plant it on the lofty mountain of Israel.
It will branch out, it will become lush
and it will become a magnificent cedar;
all the birds will nest in it,
under the shade of its branches all the birds will nest. (Ez 17,22-23).
Jesus accepts the image of the tree and the idea that it serves to shelter all the birds of heaven. But he introduces a radical change: he does not choose the tall and lofty cedar as his model, but the modest mustard bush, which, when grown, “rises above the vegetables.” It is an attack full of humor and irony against triumphalism. The important thing is not that the tree is grand, but that it can fulfill its function of sheltering the birds. For Matthew’s community, it was an excellent lesson, and it must also be for our temptations of ecclesial triumphalism.
The leaven
Something similar happens with the parable of the leaven. It is used in a small amount, but it fulfills its function; it makes the dough ferment. The temptation of the Christian community is to want to take up much space, to be mass, to attract attention by volume, by the number of members. Jesus says that the important thing is the function of fermenting the dough.
Summary
Matthew offers an explanation of reality (the sower) and a call to serenity (wheat and weeds) and to trust in something that has such modest beginnings (mustard and leaven). Next Sunday, three other parables will complete this teaching.