Posted by The WORD in other words (2010) by Fr Gerry Donato SVD – Christ the King Seminary, Quezon City
Saturday 16th Week in Ordinary Time
People often asked the question, “Why does God allow evil to exist?” Today’s parable gives us an answer, and that is, God deals evil with patience, understanding, and tolerance.
The parable begins with a story about a landlord whose field has been sabotaged by an enemy who sowed weeds in the field after the landlord had planted good seed of wheat. The helpers of the landlords wanted to remove them. But the landlord said that they should be left alone to grow and exist with the good wheat. However, time will come when they will be easily removed and destroyed in the future.
What does the gospel mean to us? We simply have to admit as a fact of life that evil exists, and that it comes from people who have preferred to do things quite apart from God, and from what God intended them to be.
Why doesn’t God simply pull them up and destroy all of evil’s weeds from the face of the earth so that there will be no more evil people in the world today. That is a lot easier said than done. Suppose God did, what would happen? Who knows that we might be the first ones to be pulled out and be thrown into the fire? We are not that good enough all the times.
We are all a mixture of good and evil. We all remember those people who wanted to kill the adulterous woman by stoning her in front of Jesus. And the Lord said to them, “Let him cast the first stone who has no sin at all.”
God has his own reasons why he doesn’t pull out and destroys us immediately. He knows that we, as sinners and evil as times, can still do something to change ourselves. He gives us a chance to improve and to repent. He gives us a chance to redeem ourselves. If God doesn’t condemn and judge us immediately, then, let us do the same manner to people around us, most especially, people with imperfections, weaknesses and bad vices.
God wants us to live side by side with them. We should be patient, forgiving, and understanding with the hope we can change and improve their lives too. God has been patient with us, and he is full of compassion and forgiveness, especially when we hurt him with our sins and evil acts. If God reveals himself as a “giver of second chance” in today’s gospel, so, let it be with each one of us too – a giver of second chance to every person who happens to be imperfect, weak, sinful and evil at times.
