Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father Ben Riley

If I asked you this morning what you are thankful for, I imagine you could name many things.

We are thankful for our families, our health, our friendships, our parish, the gift of our faith, our lives.

But I doubt many of us would say, “l am thankful for my temptations.”

Most of us pray for exactly the opposite.

“Lord, take this temptation away.”

“Lord, remove this struggle.”

“Lord, make this difficult person easier to deal with.”

“Lord, pull up these weeds.”

And yet, I want to suggest that one of the signs of spiritual maturity is learning to be thankful that God permits temptations—not because temptation itself is good, but because temptation can become an opportunity to grow in holiness.

That, I think, is one of the deepest lessons of today’s Gospel.

We sometimes might be tempted to look at the parables and say, “Well, those are nice little stories that show a moral lesson?”

But that notion is dismissing the power of Christ’s parables. These nice little stories actually do very serious work. Often, some of the deepest theology and spirituality in the Gospels is conveyed through parables.

The parable today is especially rich, and we know the story well.

A man sows good seed in his field. But while everyone is asleep, an enemy comes and sows weeds among the wheat. When the crop begins to grow, the wheat and the weeds appear together.

The servants come to the master and say, “Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?”

That seems like the obvious solution.

If there are weeds, pull them.

If something is causing difficulty, remove it.

If something is making us suffer, let’s get rid of it.

But the master says, “No. If you pull up the weeds, you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until the harvest.”

Now, you might say, “That does not make any sense.” Any good gardener knows, you pull up the weeds. But keep in mind, Jesus is not giving us a lesson in gardening.

What he is getting at is something very deep.

Who is the one who sows the good seed?

It is the Son of Man. It is our good God, the Creator of the universe, who does nothing but good.

And, who is the one who sows the weeds?

Jesus Himself tells us: it is the enemy, the devil.

We look out at the world, and what do we see?

We see a great deal of good. Beauty, kindness, generosity, self-sacrifice, love. The whole of God’s creation is very good.

But, we also see evil, wickedness, temptation, disease, struggle, suffering, and death.

We see wheat, but we also see weeds growing among it.

This raises one of the oldest questions in theology.

If God is perfectly good and loving, then why is there evil at all?

If the all-good God created the world, why is the world not simply wheat?

Why are there weeds?

This parable gives us an important answer.

God is not the sower of the weeds. There is an enemy.

God created both angels and human beings good, but He also gave His creatures freedonm Freedom to choose. Some of the angels, abused that freedom and rebelled against God. We, human beings have also abused our freedom, producing enormous suffering in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Evil does not come from God. Evil comes from the abuse of the freedom God has given to His creatures.

But here we have to make an important distinction.

The devil is not God’s equal.

It’s not like we are not living in a Star Wars universe, where reality is divided between two equal and opposing forces—the light side and the dark side—and no one is quite sure which side will win in the end.

That is not the biblical vision.

Christianity does not teach that good and evil are two eternal powers locked in an endless struggle.

God alone is eternal.

God alone is Creator.

God alone is Lord of the universe.

The devil and his fallen angels may be powerful, but they are still only creatures. Demons cannot overthrow the purposes of God. They cannot act outside the limits of God’s providence.

Yes, an enemy has sown the weeds. But even the enemy remains under the sovereignty of the Lord of the harvest.

And that brings us to the most astonishing part of the parable.

The master does not say that the weeds are good.

He does not pretend they are harmless.

He simply says, “Leave them for now.”

Why?

Because if the weeds are removed too soon, some of the wheat may be damaged as well.

Perhaps God, who remains Lord of all things, is using even the presence of the weeds to strengthen and cultivate the wheat.

Perhaps some of the wheat is growing because the weeds are there.

Now, Jesus is clear that the weeds will not remain forever.

At the end of time, there will be a harvest. Evil will be judged. The righteous will be gathered into the kingdom of heaven, and those who persistently reject God will face the consequences of that rejection.

Heaven is real.

And, hell is real.

But until the harvest, the master permits the wheat and the weeds to grow together.

And the question at the heart of this parable is: Why?

Why does God not simply remove every temptation, every struggle, and every obstacle from our lives?

Think about temptation.

Without temptation, how would we grow in self-control?

Without the temptation to impurity, how would we grow in chastity?

Without the temptation to selfishness, how would we learn generosity?

Without the temptation to anger, how would we grow in gentleness?

Without fear, how would we become courageous?

Without something testing our patience, how would we ever become patient?

Virtue is not something God simply gives to us if we ask for it, it is something we have to actually practice if we want it to increase.

Virtue grows as we repeatedly choose what is good, especial]u when choosing what is good is difficult.

Then, every temptation, becomes an opportunity.

It is an opportunity to choose Christ.

It is an opportunity to grow in virtue.

It is an opportunity to admit our weakness and depend more completely upon God’s grace.

God does not tempt us.

But when God permits us to be tempted, we can trust that He also provides the grace necessary to resist it.

And when we resist temptation, the very thing the devil intended to use against us becomes the means by which we grow closer to God. Its incredible.

Think of St. Paul.

Paul tells us that he was given a thorn in the flesh.

We do not know exactly what that thorn was. Perhaps it was a physical illness. Perhaps it was some emotional or spiritual suffering. Perhaps it was a persistent weakness or temptation.

Whatever it was, it caused him so much pain that he begged the Lord three times to remove it.

But the Lord answered him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”

God did not tell Paul that the thorn was good.

He told Paul that His grace was greater than the thorn,

That thorn kept Paul humble. It reminded him that he was not sufficient on his own. It forced him to depend upon God rather than upon his own intelligence, strength, or accomplishments. The weed strengthened the wheat.

That does not mean every temptation or trial will make us automatically holy.

The weeds can still choke the wheat if we surrender to them.

Temptation only becomes an opportunity for virtue when we respond with grace.

But the opportunity is there.

That is why we can learn to become thankful even for the temptations God permits.

So perhaps we need to change the way we pray when temptation comes.

Certainly, we should pray for freedom.

Avoid occasions of sin.

Use every practical means available to resist evil.

But perhaps we can also pray:

“Lord, thank You for another opportunity to choose You.

Thank You for another opportunity to grow in virtue.

Thank You for reminding me how desperately I need Your grace.”

Do not let this temptation be wasted.

Being tempted is not the same as sinning.

What matters is what we do when the temptation comes.

Let it drive you toward Christ.