The Enemy among us

Today’s Gospel (Mt. 13:24-43) has the well-known parable of an enemy’s weeds being sown among the wheat of the Master.

This image resonates with the news of the past few weeks, as we have heard that the recent bombings in Britain were carried out by British citizens and as people in different places throughout the world have subsequently increased their worry about the potential enemy among us.

Certainly, we need to be careful and take appropriate actions, but we cannot let ourselves be defined by our worries and fears.

There are also people who worry about enemies among us within the Church: who worry about heretics, about wayward politicians, or about those who may otherwise undermine or water down the truth.

Again, we need to be prudent and discerning and take appropriate actions, but our prime focus cannot be on those among us who may be less than perfectly faithful.

If we are the wheat of the Lord, our primary focus should not be on weeds.

Rather our primary focus should be on sinking our own roots ever deeper into the solid and nurturing earth that is the deposit of our Christian faith and on reaching upward to the Son of God who calls us to follow him.

The other two parables in the longer form of today’s Gospel reinforce the importance and the power of remaining focused on our life with God rather than on our fear.

As people committed to the faith and striving to live out that faith, we may sometimes feel isolated and alone. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast remind us of what the power of God’s grace can do through us: the small seed becomes something much, much larger and the tiny bits of yeast leaven the entire dough.

We may feel small and insignificant in a big and scary world. We may also feel sinful and unworthy (I know I do), but God’s grace can enable us to grow larger than anything we may fear and to make a difference in the world in the name of Jesus .