The Kingdom and the Temple
Jul. 27: Saturday of the Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time
The first reading and psalm relate to the temple, while in the Gospel, Jesus explains the Kingdom. Both are EArthly metaphors to help us understand what eternity will be like with God. Our limited senses of course can't fully comprehend, which is why we need multiple allegories and parables, to at least approach seeing it from different perspectives.
Reading 1
Jer 7:1-11
The following message came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Stand at the gate of the house of the LORD, and there proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD! Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Reform your ways and your deeds, so that I may remain with you in this place. Put not your trust in the deceitful words: "This is the temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD! The temple of the LORD!"
Only if you thoroughly reform your ways and your deeds; if each of you deals justly with his neighbor; if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow; if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place, or follow strange gods to your own harm, will I remain with you in this place, in the land I gave your fathers long ago and forever.
But here you are, putting your trust in deceitful words to your own loss! Are you to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, go after strange gods that you know not, and yet come to stand before me in this house which bears my name, and say: "We are safe; we can commit all these abominations again"? Has this house which bears my name become in your eyes a den of thieves? I too see what is being done, says the LORD.
Simply worshiping at the temple isn't enough for the God of Israel, as it might be for pagan gods. The Lord wants us to reform our hearts and actions, in addition to giving Him His rightful praise.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11
R. (2) How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
My soul yearns and pines
for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh
cry out for the living God.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest
in which she puts her young—
Your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my king and my God!
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
Blessed they who dwell in your house!
continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
I had rather one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R. How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God!
This is a psalm to be sung on the way to the temple. It's natural to want to sleep in our own home; our ultimate home is Heaven, where we'll get to be with God.
But as the first reading explains, it's not a matter of simple walking up to God's house. To be with God means to do and be good.
Alleluia
Jas 1:21bc
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you
and is able to save your souls.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
This is sort of the reverse of the metaphor the first reading and psalm gave us. Just as we wish to dwell in God, we also have to allow God to dwell in us.
Gospel
Mt 13:24-30
Jesus proposed a parable to the crowds. "The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.
“The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?'
“He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'
“He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
This can be a bit of a confusing parable. One might assume1 that the sower is God. But Jesus didn't say that; he said "the kingdom" is the whole situation.
What He's saying here is that it's not for us, the servants of God, to decide who is a weed and who is wheat. It's not up to us to exclude anyone from God's Kingdom, because we don't know what kind of fruit they will bear.
When the time is right, God will harvest the fruits of the kingdom.
At least, I did, at first.