God provides me with all that I need to choose Him and to make that choice concrete in my life rather than just a vague wish or orientation, and I must make that one central choice of my life in terms of the small daily choices that inch me closer to God or away from Him.

Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 7:1-11

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

M atthew 13:24-30 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; (25) but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. (26) So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. (27) And the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?' (28) He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?' (29) But he said, `No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. (30) Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

Meditation

T he point of this parable, I believe, is the landowner's allowing the wheat and the weeds to grow together to maturity, which is just what God does for us.

In the four Gospels Jesus tells us in many ways that I have to choose between living joyfully with God forever and being forever separated from Him, in great pain over my loss.  That aspect of this message is not new.

The special spin that Jesus puts on this question of my choice here is that I have a whole lifetime to make it in.  God provides me with all that I need to choose Him and to make that choice concrete in my life rather than just a vague wish or orientation, and I must make that one central choice of my life in terms of the small daily choices that inch me closer to God or away from Him.

One other aspect here is that while the "harvesters" are able to tell the difference between the weeds and the wheat, I myself must ordinarily remain in some uncertainly about whether I truly have chosen God enough, whether I have loved Him enough. Any certainty about whether I am "saved" or not can be a form of self-delusion and lead to pride, laziness, and a fatal assumption that I am "good enough." That sort of thing can be deadly in my human relationships, and it is no different in my relationship with God. 

I simply do not know whether I am weed or wheat while I am alive, and the fact is that I am both – but which is the dominant side of who I am?  While I myself am responsible for the choice, it is up to God to decide what I have actually chosen.  And that is where the virtue of hope comes in.

Supplementary Reading

TILLING TIME

But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. – Matthew 13:23

T he Savannah series by Christian author Denise Hildreth are among my favorite books. It’s a story about a Southern girl, Savannah, named after her hometown in Georgia, who comes back to her hometown after thinking her mother was still trying to control her life from where she was, even if she was already 27-years old. The three books contain a series of crazy anecdotes about Savannah’s new life back in her hometown with her wacky family, her best friend, potential love interest and the ever challenging work as a writer.

In the three books, there was always a common thing that the author never failed to mention: Savannah’s “tilling time.” Savannah is a jogger and she uses her early morning runs to pray and till the soil of her heart: to make sure she’s ready to receive God’s Word so it will actually take root.

I know it’s fiction but it’s inspiring to read about someone who is this devoted. May we find the same devotion as Savannah in making our hearts ready. (Tina Matanguihan)

“Unless we [spend] time preparing the soil of our hearts through prayer and actually dusting off the coffee table Bible, no seed will ever take root.” (Denise Hildreth)

GOD BLESS US ALL!

O Theos Na Mas Evlogisi!
PRAY as if everything depended on HIM. ACT as if everything depended on YOU.

For past gospel meditations, you may visit the following:

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http://his-ways-better-than-our-ways.blogspot.com