COMMENT ON THE LITURGY OF THE FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
Collect
O Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy Church and household continually in thy true religion; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings
Col 3:12-17; Mt 13:24-30
Chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew presents Jesus teaching the crowds, speaking simply, through parables. The parables are metaphorical stories, of moral content, which draw their images from things of everyday life, in order to communicate theological reflection through familiar concepts and contexts.
After so many centuries, however, our familiarity with some of the images used in the parables has faded. This is the case of the darnel, which in a post-agricultural civilization like ours is a plant known only to a few. It is a weed, which when it is still green is almost impossible to distinguish from wheat, but when it reaches maturity it produces dark and elongated grains. The disciples are very impressed by the parable but struggle to immediately understand its meaning. In fact, returning home, they ask Jesus to explain it to them (Mt 13:36-43).
Through the parable of the darnel, Jesus offers an answer on the origins of evil and on why God allows its proliferation in the world. The manifestation of this evil grass in the same field where the good wheat grows represents almost a negative epiphany, mirroring the manifestation of the good work of the Lord. The Word of God, which Paul in the letter to the Colossians invites us to make to dwell among us abundantly (Col 3:16) produces fruit where it is welcomed by the good earth (Mt 13:8.23). However, there is an enemy who not only tries to take away the good seed before it can germinate, but while men sleep (Mt 13:25) he throws a bad seed into the ground. The enemy's intent is clear: to put the owner of the field in a bad light and hinder the growth of good wheat. When the weeds appear, the servants, in fact, ask the master: "Lord, didn't you sow good seed in your field?" (Mt 13:27), and propose the solution of uprooting the weeds.
But the owner of the field has decided to let the wheat and the weeds grow together, because the uprooting of the evil grass could lead to the destruction of even the good wheat plants. Why doesn't God eliminate evil? Why does God allow the wicked to prosper? This question challenges every believer, and even the author of Psalm 73 asks it: "My foot almost tripped, seeing the prosperity of the wicked. In vain, therefore, have I purified my heart. So I tried to understand this, but it seemed very difficult to me. Until I entered the sanctuary of God and considered the end of them. Like a dream when you wake up, so you, O Lord, when you wake up, you will despise their vain appearance ”.
While in the parable of the weeds sleep had overtaken men, and just as they slept the enemy had gone to put the bad seed in the ground, in the psalm we find the curious image of God who "sleeps" and when he awakens he restores justice. This "sleep of God" is also a captivating metaphor, to describe the time of the Lord's mercy, which separates us from the time of his judgment. Because God, who appears in all the Scriptures, "slow to anger, abounding in love" (Ps 103:8), does not want the death of the wicked, but that he is converted and lives (Ez 33:2); he has set a time for repentance and conversion.
Every single man runs the risk that the bad seed will thrive along with the good one in his life. Even if we know how to make ourselves docile to the word of God, we must guard against falling asleep by allowing the enemy to plant the seed of evil in us: thoughts, words, actions that infest our life and that of those around us, draining energy to ourselves and to the others.
Let us entrust ourselves to Christ, the good farmer, and respect the times of God, for whom a thousand years are like one day (2 Pt 3:8), in the certainty that we will be able to reap an abundant harvest.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
