Our Holy Father Andrew the Jerusalemite, Archbishop of Crete (740); Venerable Martha, Mother of the Holy Simeon of the ‘Mountain of Wonders’
1 Corinthians 1:1-9; Matthew 13:24-30.
Read Matthew 13:24-30.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
This parable has several possible meanings. One has to do with the Church: people often ask how we expect them to take Christianity seriously when it is so obvious that the Church is filled with sinful people. This parable contains part of the answer: the presence of evil within the Church, even the presence of evil people who, at the final judgment, will be shown to be unworthy of the name Christian, is not willed by God. In fact, it may be the work, at least in part, of the evil one. The short answer is that God does not will for the Church to be evil, but He allows evil to enter the Church because to purge the Church would be so traumatic, especially to its weakest members.
Another possible meaning, however, has to do with our personal lives. It’s also possible that the field in this parable is an image of our own souls, planted by God and then corrupted by the evil one. Because of His great mercy, God does not destroy us. Instead, He waits for what is good in us to mature, and only then, at the end of the age, will He purge of from evil definitively, once and for all.
Evil exists in the church, not according to the will of God, but according to his permission. In the same way evil exists in our own hearts. The question is not whether God permits this, so much as how we live in this reality. Are we cultivating the wheat, or the weeds? Will there be any good crop when the judgment comes?