Homily for July 28, 2018.
_“The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest...’” *(Matthew 13:28-30)*_
There is the story of a farmer who found an eagle’s egg and placed it among the chicken’s newly laid eggs. Eventually, the little eagle developed in the midst of the chicks not knowing it was different. One day, the eagle looked up at the sky and saw the giant Eagle soaring above and he said to its fellow chicks: “how I wish I can go up there” but in response, they said: “no, you can’t, you are not meant to fly.”
Dear friends, the constant challenge before us Christians is being able to realize our true potentials as wheat and distinguish ourselves from the weeds. It is not everyone who goes to the church that deserves the name “Christian.” And just as the wheat and the weeds look familiar, it is not so easy to distinguish between the genuine Christian from the nominal Christian.
It is not what we profess with our lips that matter but what we believe in our hearts. You are not what you say you are, you are not what you think you are, you are what you do! Actions speak louder than words, actions define our true character. This is the point Jeremiah clearly emphasizes in today’s first reading.
In those days, there were many persons who felt secure based on the fact that the temple was standing. They felt confident that with God’s temple, they are safe just like there are many Christians today who base their security on mere church membership. Jeremiah warns:
“Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ -- only to go on doing all these abominations?” Jeremiah 7:9-10.
Never base your relationship with God on human standard. Do not say, “so and so is doing it and they come to church, why shouldn’t I also do it.” Do not be like the eaglet accidentally placed in the midst of little chicks and grows up to believe it cannot rise above their level. Be careful about who you follow on the mere basis of ‘my church member, my church member’, you can never really tell the wheat from weeds.
Another lesson we must learn from this parable, as well as the parable of the sower, is that in the body of Christ, people are not all the same. It is very wrong to just use one blanket to cover everyone. It is very wrong to call everyone in church a weed just because all those you have met so far are weeds. Just as some are seeds among thorns, some are seeds on rocky ground, some are seeds on very good soil. And even among those on good soil, their outputs are different; some produce hundred, others sixty and some others thirty.
By the way, what is the basis for judging whether one is a weed or a wheat? Isn’t it the case that we are sometimes weed and sometimes wheat? Within us lies the power to either be true Christians or to be such as Jeremiah describes above. We have two elephants fighting seriously inside of us constantly and the one that wins is the one we feed.
Happy weekend, please as you rest today, find a few minutes to do a short act of meditation. Try to do a mental review of every activity you did throughout this week. Find out areas where you failed God and areas where you were actually a wheat. Right them down. If possible, go for confession. Set new spiritual goals for yourself and come back next week to check your list. Be a wheat, never assume you can never rise above the weeds you see all around.
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, make me realize my security is not based on church or denomination but on sincere worship. Amen.
May the soul of Monsignor Paul Emonyon and the souls of all the faithful departed priests rest in peace. Amen.
*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday of the 16th week in ordinary time. Bible Study: Jeremiah 7:1-11, Psalm 84:3-11, Matthew 13:24-30).*
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