Homily: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 19, 2026
My dear brothers and sisters, in the gospel reading of today, we continue the journey that we started last Sunday which is examining some of the parables taught by Jesus. We see three parables in the gospel reading of today: the parable of the weeds, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast. Each has a deep moral lesson that it conveys for our spiritual journey.
In the first parable of the weeds, Jesus uses this parable to remind us that there is always a hostile power working in the world, seeking and waiting to destroy the good seed. The picture of the weed among the wheat was very familiar to the Jews of Palestine. Weeds were one of the curses against which the farmer had to labor. Every stage of the growth of the weed in the life of the farmer poses a very substantial challenge. In the early stages of growth, the weeds would so closely resemble the wheat that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other, so uprooting them would be practically impossible. Then, when the weed and the wheat have grown that the two can be distinguished, by then the roots of the weed would have become so intertwined with the root of the wheat that uprooting them risks uprooting the wheat. Even after harvesting, separation of the seed of the wheat from the seed of the weed is another chapter in the very hard labor because the farmer has to sit and pick the whole grain one after the other. Then, the separation must be done because the seeds of the wheat were slightly poisonous. They caused dizziness and sickness and were narcotic in their effects and even a small amount of it had a bitter and unpleasant taste.
The way the weed is a thorn in the life of the farmer seeking at every stage to jeopardize his farming endeavors, that is the way the influence of evil in the world can be a clog in the wheel of our spiritual progress. However, like the hardworking farmer who must struggle not to allow the weed to ruin his entire business enterprise, we must not allow evil in the world to cause our spiritual ruin. The parable says: “while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.” We have to be awake to see that the evil one does not sneak in to sow weeds in our heart, in our family, in our society, in our parish. We have to prevent bad influences, bad characters, bad books from getting into our lives and our families. We have to be vigilant with regard to the conduct of our children, we have to know what movies, what TV programs they watch, what sites they surf on the internet. We remember the words of St Peter (1 Pet 5: 8-9), “discipline yourselves, be on alert. Like a roaring lion your enemy the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, steadfast in your faith.” In the parable, the farmer allowed the weed and the wheat to grow together, the weed might even look fresher than the wheat. This is the situation in our world, bad people and effort making people would always cohabit side by side. Sometimes, it may seem bad people flourish. Let us not be carried away by that, Jesus is clear on this, on the day of reckoning, some will enter everlasting life while others into everlasting damnation.
Jesus also teaches with the parable of the mustard seed; a seed that is the smallest of all seeds but grows to be the biggest of all shrub. This parable teaches us that we must not be discouraged by the humble beginnings of our work. Great achievers, leaders, giants were not born great, they built gradually and labored assiduously for many years. Pope Leo XIV was not born a pope, he began as a Robert Prevost in the kindergarten, elementary, seminary, deacon, priest, bishop, cardinal etc. We should not be discouraged to build gradually, once we are with God, our good work will last and flourish. A similar message is contained in the parable of the yeast. This parable calls our attention to the interior work of grace in a committed soul, the great change the Gospel produces in souls and in the society at large. In summary form, both the parable of weeds, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of yeast all together tell us that we are like a seed planted in the vineyard of God, our ultimate maturity is in the kingdom of God, the influence of the evil one in the world, the weed can sometimes be overwhelming, it may last all through life till the time of harvest. However, we should not be discouraged in continually making efforts in our spiritual growth, they may seem small but they will one day mature to be the biggest of all shrub. The grace of God is sufficient for us, the grace of God will be like a yeast that will make us a leavened bread of eternal life.
