Reflection for Saturday July 28, Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 13:24-30

Gospel: Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from? He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

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Reflection:

Do you sometimes contradict the will of God for your life? For example, a married man and woman who choose to engage in a sinful and adulterous relationship. It's no-brainer that the will of God for both of them is not to engage in that immoral relationship. But, they disregarded God’s will to satisfy their lustful, shameless, wicked and bestial will.

Perhaps we wonder, why there are people who choose to go against the will of God. Instead of living  life attuned to the desire of God they live it according to what they want even if what they want is sinful. Therefore, in pursuing what they want they immerse themselves into hedonism and sin. Thus, they become the sales representatives or the walking advertisements of the devil in this world.

However, why does Jesus allow sin? Why does He allow it to exist and in the process temp or even destroy us, when He can easily eliminate even exterminate it from our environment?

God has a purpose for allowing sin to exist. For us to avoid, confront and eventually kill it. We must remember that by virtue of our baptism we became Jesus’ extension in this world. Hence, Jesus expects us not only to avoid, not only to confront but to kill sin immediately the moment it rears its devious head.  

What if they will not or we will not stop sinning? We must prepare for its many consequences including death. In the Bible Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Nevertheless, why go to the extent of experiencing the very painful wages of sin when we can avoid or walk away from it? – Marino J. Dasmarinas