16th Sunday Year A - Homily 6

 Homily 6 - 2020

Parables, at their best, are intended, not so much to teach, as to stimulate our wondering. They seek to challenge us, by sparking an insight that motivates and energises a practical response.

How might today’s parable work? What stirs may depend on what is going on in our lives at the moment. What gets me wondering may be different from what stirs in you. Even what I hear today may not be the same as what I heard last year when other things were on my mind.

I have been wrestling with this parable over the past few days. I shall share what is there in my head and heart, just to give you some idea of what I am talking about. My current pondering seems to be inviting me to accept the inevitability of dealing with both good and evil in life, and warning me of the danger of thinking that I can easily sort out which is which.

Indeed, what I pride myself on as my virtues can often be a cover for my vices, and what I see as my vices may be precisely the points of entry of God’s Grace.

Given that it is hard enough to sort out my own heart, what chance do I have of sorting out others? I know whether I agree or disagree with their attitudes and actions — but I have no idea of what is going on in their hearts. I can oppose what they are doing, and at times I should. Yet Jesus made it quite clear that it is perfectly possible and often necessary to both disagree with persons and to do so respectfully at the same time.

I have a particular problem with politicians — but the more I withhold respect from them, even in my mind, the more I am part of a deeper problem.