July 31, 2023
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year A) on July 30, 2023 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA. The homily is based on the day’s readings: 1 Kings 3: 5, 7-12; Psalm 119; Romans 8:28-30; and Matthew 13:44-52.
Just as God grants Solomon wisdom in our first reading today, Jesus has given us a vast array of wise teachings about the reign of God over the past three weeks. Today, we’ll look at what the combination of all these parables tell us about God’s reign.
The reign of God is like a treasure, a merchant, a net, a field of wheat, a mustard seed, a bit of yeast, and a sower sowing seed. The reign of God is filled with abundance and surprises, including the surprise of God’s abundant mercy, a mercy we do not deserve but receive anyway. Let’s take a moment to celebrate that!
These are some of the questions that people most frequently ask me as a priest:
- My children no longer go to Church. What did I do wrong?
- Will my atheist boyfriend go to heaven?
- I struggle with some of the Church’s teachings. Am I still allowed to receive communion?
- My best friend became a Buddhist. How do I get her to come back to Church?
- Can I vote for a politician who opposes Church teaching?
The short answer to each of these questions is the same: there are no short answers. The answers depend on specific circumstances not encapsulated in how the questions were asked. If you’re struggling with any of these questions, please consider making an appointment with Rick, Susan, Norm, Patty, or me. Each of us would be glad to talk with you…
…but the seven parables we’ve heard over the past three weekends give us an idea about where to start the discussion. There are at least three applicable lessons from the parables we’ve heard this month.
The first lesson was addressed most clearly in last weekend’s parables, so we’ll keep this one brief. The reign of God is powerful and surprising. It takes only the slightest bit of faith to produce something magnificent. Mustard plants can quickly overtake an entire hillside. Three quarters of a teaspoon of yeast is sufficient to make fifty loaves of bread.
The second lesson: The reign of God is patient and pragmatic. Even when the surrounding environment looks less than hospitable, faith can flourish. God sows faith in everyone’s heart, as indiscriminately as a sower sowing seeds across the land. I’ve said this before, but it’s important to repeat: Matthew is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who are rejected both by Christians who aren’t Jewish and by Jews who aren’t Christian. It is not the job of the Jewish Christians – nor is it our job – to condemn other people. Just like it makes no sense to try to keep bad fish from being caught in a net, and just like it damages the wheat to uproot the weeds, Matthew’s community would only suffer if it spent its energy and resources keeping people out.
We can’t reasonably know who is excluded from whom Paul today calls “those who love God” or those who are “predestined to be conformed” to Jesus Christ. God destines us all for heaven. Granted, the Church teaches that someone could possibly reject God’s invitation. But while the Church has named thousands of saints whom we have the sure and certain hope are in heaven, the Church has never named any individual whom we are sure is suffering the pains of hell. At the end of the age, the righteous will receive their reward, and if we’re among that saintly crew, we might be surprised to discover who else God has included among the righteous.
When I talk with people considering joining the Church, I share a reflection by Fr. Ron Rolheiser. Near the end of that reflection, he writes:
To be connected with the church is to be associated with scoundrels, warmongers, fakes, child-molesters, murderers, adulterers, and hypocrites of every description. It also, at the same time, identifies you with saints and the finest persons of heroic soul within every time, country, race, and gender. To be a member of the church is to carry the mantle of both the worst sin and the finest heroism of soul. (The Holy Longing)
The Church is filled with imperfect people, so the Church itself will not be perfect on this side of heaven. The former pastor of my home parish used to say to people accusing the Church of being hypocritical, “We always have room another hypocrite! Come join us!” As I said earlier, our second lesson from the parables is that the reign of God is patient and pragmatic.
The third lesson requires us to explore the two little parables we heard at the beginning of the gospel today. Jesus says that the reign of God is like a treasure in a field worth selling everything to obtain, but he also says that the kingdom is like a merchant who sells everything to obtain a pearl. Those parables sound the same, but they are very different. The first says that a person should give up all else to have a relationship with God; the other – which is the first passage I cite when explaining the nature of God – says that God will give up everything to have a relationship with each and every one of us! The lesson here: The reign of God is single-minded in its love. Each and every one of us is worthy of God’s love and God’s effort.
When we interact with other people, may we not be obsessed with whether they are wheat or weeds, good fish or bad fish. Let us recognize their deepest identity: they are beloved children of God. And maybe, if we live our lives as if the reign of God were a field holding a treasure, then other people will come to recognize that God sees them as the pearl of great price. And in that recognition, the Holy Spirit can be like mustard seed on a hillside, like yeast in three measures of flour, or like grain that produces fruit a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. May we be surprised, and even overwhelmed, at just how far the reign of God can spread here upon the earth!