Ordinary 16

The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19; Psalm 86; Romans 8:26-27; Matthew 13:24-43

Thomas More, Lord High Chancellor of England under Henry VIII, suggests to his young friend and protégé Richard Rich that he pursue a job as a humble teacher, but Rich, ambitious for glory at the king’s court, balks. The wise More says, “You’d be a fine teacher, perhaps a great one.” His protégé retorts angrily, “If I were, who would know it?” More patiently responds, “you, your pupils, your friends, God, not a bad public, that.” [A Man for All Seasons, film, 1992.]

The exchange opens the door for us to reflect on what kind of person we ought to be and why. Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? Do we strive to do the good because that is the right thing to do? Or do we seek our own advantage?

Spoiler Alert. Richard Rich will eventually testify against his friend Thomas, perjure himself and practically guarantee More will receive the death penalty. Rich’s subsequent political rise is swift. Within thirteen years he rose from becoming the King’s Solicitor, to the chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, Speaker of the House of Commons and as Baron Rich of Leez, Lord Chancellor of England.

Rich’s story like the parable of the weeds sown among the wheat raise problematic and demanding questions that humans have grappled with for millennia. They are the questions of evil and good. Most of us have wondered why bad people are successful. Why do good people suffer? The Book of Job struggles with these questions. The image of the crucified Jesus confronts us. Why does God seemingly do nothing about this inequality? Where is justice? Why does God wait so long to set things right? We may, in the dark corners of our souls, even have wondered, why bother being good? What is the payoff?

My experience has been that most people are doing the best they can with and even despite the cards life has dealt them. Most people strive to do the right thing, lead a moral life, keep the rules, and participate positively in the life of society and the church, even when it is difficult. However, what about the people around us, who like Richard Rich, are nominally Catholic, have rejected Christianity for their own privatized form of faith or claim no spiritual tradition; yet they are prospering and their lives are quite good. Have you ever felt a tinge of jealousy of those people? Why impose on ourselves the restraints of the Christian moral life in relationships, finances, sexual mores, business, and spirituality?

The question may not be, what kind of person ought we be but what kind of a person do we want to be? And that may lead us to some understanding of why Jesus suggests that rooting out evil could be harmful to the good. Is not the value of goodness found within goodness itself? Might it be that we worry more about the evil we see around us than seeking the opportunities of the good we could be accomplishing?

If we are interested, like Rich, in the payoff, “If I were a great teacher, who would know it?” then haven’t we turned the Christian life into a kind of job, a series of chores, a burden? Then we may not really be doing good at all but like Rich seeking a sense of self-interest.

Saint Thomas Aquinas said that if we want to live a happy life, we should love what Jesus loved on the cross and despise what he despised on the cross.

What did Jesus despise?

Wealth. On the cross he is utterly poor, stripped naked. Pleasure. On the cross he is at the limit of human suffering. Power. On the cross Jesus was nailed in place, unable to move. Honour. On the cross he was the object of scorn and ridicule.

What did Jesus love on the cross?

Jesus loved doing the will of the Father.

Do we love doing the will of the Father simply because it is the will of the Father?

“If I were a great teacher, who would know it?” More responds, “you, your pupils, your friends, God, not a bad public, that”.