43. Qualities of the Kingdom (Mt 13:24-43)

“In prayer I always find light and strength of spirit although there are moments so trying and hurtful, that it is sometimes difficult to imagine that these things can happen in a convent. Strangely, God sometimes allows them, but always in order to manifest or develop virtue in a soul. That is the reason for trials.”

- St Faustina Kowalska

Matthew 13:24-43

He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants went to him and said, Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from? Some enemy has done this he answered. And the servants said, Do you want us to go and weed it out? But he said, No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.’

He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’ He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through’. In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’. He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Christ the Lord

Jesus Christ knows why he has come: to establish a Kingdom. His confidence in this Kingdom is absolute: the Kingdom will endure and grow to fruition. Enemies will act against it, but they cannot stop it. To be with Christ is to be with the King who reigns forever; to follow him is to tread the surest path; to fight for his Kingdom is to win an eternal victory, no matter the vagaries of this or that battle.

His Kingdom, in its seminal form of the Church, has already outlasted empires, wars, invasions, heresies, disasters, and every imaginable happenstance and hiccup of history. Not only is it still intact after twenty centuries – still recognizable and identifiable by its enduring doctrine and structure – but it continues to play a major role in millions of lives and in world affairs, and it continues to pump into human society generation after generation of saints, men and women who renew what is best in humanity and purify what is worst. How many earthly kingdoms and empires and achievements has the Church witnessed come and go, like so many arrows whizzing through the air or so many pebbles tossed into the sea? They are innumerable. But Christ’s Kingdom remains and grows and spreads. This is the Kingdom we love and serve, because its King is the everlasting and loving Lord.

Christ the Teacher

The Kingdom that Jesus came to establish, the one we entered by our baptism, has certain characteristics that he wants us to recognize.

First, the Kingdom is always growing. It started small when Christ established it, and it starts small whenever it takes root anew, but it is always growing. This growth takes place on all levels: the individual soul, a particular community, and the Church as a whole. Critics of the Catholic Church often claim that its current appearance differs so much from its initial appearance of a small group of fishermen gathered around their rabbi that it simply couldn’t be the authentic Christian Church. They have not learned the lesson of this parable. When you plant a mustard seed you expect it to grow into a bush (mustard shrubs grow to about ten feet in height). This bush will not resemble the mustard seed at all, but even so it will produce more seeds, and more bushes, and even attract birds to come and nest in it (this detail is a reference to Daniel 4, one of a few Old Testament passages that compared kingdoms to trees, and conquered foreign peoples to birds nesting in the tree – an allusion, perhaps, to the eventual extension of the Church beyond the borders of the Holy Land). Christ’s Kingdom is alive; it’s always growing.

Second, opposition and contradiction will always beset the Kingdom. The weeds and the wheat grow up together, side by side. In our own souls, evil, sinful tendencies do not disappear as our Christian identity matures, and the Church itself never lacks for scandals within and assaults from without. Critics often point out sins committed by Catholics as a sign that it is not Christ’s true Church, but did Judas’ betrayal invalidate Peter’s repentant perseverance?

Third, the Kingdom’s impact will always be out of proportion to its dimensions. A little leaven makes the whole loaf rise; a little holiness sends ripples throughout the world. How odd, for instance, that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was as famous as the world’s great kings and queens (and business tycoons and movie stars); that she, a consecrated virgin from Albania, was guest speaker at Harvard’s graduation and at the United States’ National Prayer Breakfast. Similarly, the faithful mothers, lawyers, and teachers who fill their souls with Christ’s love are spreading the grace of God far and wide; their impact will only be known at the end of the age, when mere appearances give way to universal knowledge of the truth. In our own apostolic work, let us always sow with the hope of future fruits for the Kingdom of Christ.

Christ the Friend

Some people prefer to dodge the thought of hell. Jesus was not one of them. The two ultimate destinations – heaven and hell – were among the most common themes of his preaching: if you know that one road leads to bliss and the other to misery, you will do your best to inform your friends about which is which, so that they take the better road. Christ, our truest friend, informs us that rejecting him leads to torment and following him leads to glory. “Thrown into the fiery furnace… will shine like the sun in the kingdom…” Surely he spoke these words with eagerness for his listeners to opt more fully for him. He, at least, knows what is really at stake in the choices we make during this brief earthly journey. He wants us to know as well. Let’s listen, so that the blood he shed for us on the cross will not have been shed in vain.

Christ in My Life

Your wisdom, Lord, is total, life-giving, and beautiful, and you have given it to me in the teachings of your Church. And yet, I still see things and think of things from an earthly perspective. I want my priorities to be your priorities. I want to be a channel for your grace to reach into the hearts of those around me and spread, transforming them and taking deep root. Make me a channel of your peace…

You have taught me to expect weeds among the wheat. Why am I surprised and scandalized at evil? In your wisdom, you permit the wheat and the weeds to grow up together. Help me to accept your will, to seek and promote the good, and never to be discouraged, surprised, or thrown off track by the evil I encounter, wherever it may be. Jesus, I trust in you…

You are so patient. Mustard seeds, leaven, slow-growing crops – this is your Kingdom. I am a product of the fast-food culture that wants everything right away. Patience… teach me patience, Lord. Blessed are the patient, for they will inherit the earth. You are in control, and all I need to worry about is your will right now…

Yours in Christ, Father John Bartunek, LC

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