7/20/2014 – 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Matthew 13:24-43

      In today’s Gospel from Matthew, Jesus tells a series of parables to the crowds.  Why would he speak to them in parables?  Why does he still speak to us in parables today?  Perhaps these parables were meant to get the people of his day to think: To get them to think about their faith, to get them to think about the kingdom of God.  These parables challenge us to critically think about our faith and about God, too.  Perhaps it is not proper to say that we interpret the parables, but rather we should say that the parables interpret us.  In Jesus’ parables, we’re able to see things a little differently; we do this through the paradoxes, contradictions, and multiple meanings contained therein.  The parables that we hear today get us to think about the Kingdom of God and the different meanings his Kingdom might have for us.

      We might ask: how can we describe something that is indescribable?  That is why Jesus’ parables give us little glimpses into what God’s Kingdom is all about.  We hear about a tiny mustard seed that grows into a plant large enough for the birds to nest there.  We certainly want the Kingdom of God to grow in our lives, don’t we? We want the Kingdom of God to grow in the world.  We might think about this in the context of our own parish here in Tupelo as we celebrate our 100^th year anniversary.   We’ve gone from a little parish where Benedictine priests from neighboring Alabama had to come to celebrate mass to one of the largest parishes in our diocese and a regional hub for ministry in Northeast Mississippi. We have people here in the pews each Sunday whose ancestors were founding members of this parish, who really had to endure so much in order to continue to practice their Catholic faith.  And we have others here each Sunday whose families came to Tupelo from other parts of the country for work.  We have parishioners who are first generation here in the United States, coming from places like the Philippines, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Columbia, Mexico, and Vietnam.  The diversity and richness we have in our parish community is something that often strikes visitors when they attend mass here with us.  So, in some ways, our very parish exemplifies the parable of the mustard seed.

      Yes, we probably think that the Kingdom of God growing as quickly as possible without any hindrances at all is a good thing – perhaps the best thing possible.  But life is not always so smooth and easy and uncomplicated, is it? Maybe there are other things to consider as well.  What if only one tiny little mustard seed blows into a garden where other plants are already growing, where there is already order and structure.   The mustard seed could grow into this huge plant, it could produce other little mustard seeds that grow into other mustard plants, and pretty soon the mustard plants have taken over the entire garden.  The reign of God can grow and grow.  And we want the reign of God to be a welcome addition in our lives, don’t we?   We want it to grow from this little tiny seed into a big, beautiful plant.  But the changes it brings can make us frustrated and insecure.  The power we see in the reign of God and the way it calls out to us can stir up a lot of fear in our hearts.

      Unfortunately, we may want to help the Kingdom of God grow and grow, but there are weeds that sprout up as well.  And through the parable of the weeds and the wheat that we hear today, we know that God understands that the weeds are going to sprout up in his Kingdom.  Yet the master is afraid of doing damage to the wheat, of destroying those parts of God’s kingdom that are growing alongside the weeds, so he lets the weeds remain until harvest time.  God is forgiving and merciful.  He forgives our weeds.  He lets us grow and develop without uprooting us or casting us off.

       When we see the reality of the world around us today, we cannot just assume that the Kingdom of God is going to continue to grow and grow.  We cannot just assume that the Church is going to be around when we need her if we do not do our part today.   I see so many people committed to our parish, committed to help the Kingdom of God grow.  It has been a tough road these past few months since the tornado hit, hasn’t it?   Some of our parishioners lost their homes.  Part of God’s Kingdom is about dealing with the ups and downs of life. When we think about the wonderful volunteers from the Eight Days of Hope who helped us so much this past week here in Tupelo, who have done so much to help our parish recover, it reminds us of what building the Kingdom of God is all about.  In the midst of tragedy and destruction, in the midst of weeds, there is God’s mercy and love, there are the fruits of God’s harvest.

      When we hear these parables in the Gospels – and there are certainly a lot of them – maybe we should try to go beyond the surface meanings that they have.   Maybe we need to see the paradoxes and the multiple meanings and contradictions that Jesus challenges us with.  And just maybe this will help us in our understanding of what the Kingdom of God is all about.