Ordinary Time, 16th Sunday (A) You come to Mass most Sundays, and even Holy Days of Obligation. You try not to swear or drink too much or gossip. You are learning to pray and you want to follow Jesus as faithfully as you can.

Meanwhile you know many people--friends, coworkers, your children, siblings, even a spouse--who don't seem to care. They spend every Sunday working, sleeping, or doing basically everything but coming to church. Maybe they drink, gossip, and swear as much as they like. Jesus doesn't seem to care.

If that's the situation you find yourself in, than this parable is for you. Good seed and bad weeds are growing side-by-side. The Master isn't doing anything about it. But he has a plan: "Let them grow until harvest time. Then we will save the wheat and burn up the weeds."

This parable is taken from daily life in Palestine. The people relied heavily on wheat. A clever local weed called darnel looks just like wheat. But when the heads form, you can easily tell the difference.

What is the big difference between weeds and good crops?

The wheat, or any other crop for that matter, produces something that is useful to others. They have a gift to give. The crops are givers.

The weeds have nothing to give away to anyone. They are in it for themselves. The weeds are takers.

To God, the world looks like a field full of weeds and wheat. The world is full of givers and takers. At the moment, it may appear that following Jesus and living for others makes no difference. God seems to be indifferent to this situation. But there will be a reckoning, a final judgement, a harvest. When Jesus tells us, "Do not judge," he is not saying there will be no judgement. He is saying that we are sitting in his seat. He is the judge, and he knows the truth of every human heart. We need to trust in God's final judgement.

So why is he waiting? God is waiting for the fruits to appear. He is giving us time to weed our hearts so we can start producing good fruit. It's not just those other people that need time to produce; God is waiting for us. He made us good seed. We are meant to bear good fruit. But the enemy has sown weeds in our hearts. If we don't weed our hearts, we will bear bad fruit. And we will face the fire at harvest time

(19 July 2026)

Going Deeper: Focus on cultivating your own heart and don't worry about the other people.

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