3rd Sunday of Easter B

As soon as I saw those readings last week, I thought of Jesus’ parable about the man who sowed good seed in his field only to discover that, during the night, an enemy had planted darnel in it. By the time he discovered this, of course, the wheat and the darnel were so intertwined that there was nothing he could do about it. It was impossible to separate them, and so they had to be left to grow together until harvest time when they could be separated and the darnel thrown away. So what was it about those readings which made me think about this parable?

Well, for me, today’s gospel is about the good seed. In it, we see the Christian Church in its purest and simplest form. It is about men and women who have met the Risen Jesus, have had their lives changed by the experience and are then sent out into the world to be witnesses to what they have seen and heard. As St John wrote at the beginning of the letter from which the second reading was taken, “What we have seen with our eyes, what we have touched with our hands, that is our subject, the Word of Life.” And Life with a capital L is what the Church has always been about. It is what the Church was in the beginning. It’s what the Church is now. And it’s what the Church is forever called to be until, in the fullness of the kingdom, all things are finally brought together in Christ. And what a wonderful Church it is in its purest form! A people travelling through history, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, making real in the lives of people the teaching of Jesus: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless; a light shining in the darkness, a light drawing all men and women to God, teaching all nations and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Except, of course, that it is not always like that. It would be wonderful if it were, but the truth we have to live with is that someone has planted darnel in the field which is the Church. And there’s a thinly disguised example of this in the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The chapter begins with an account of how Peter and John, on their way into the Temple, heal a man who has been a cripple from birth. And as the Jews come running round to see what has happened, Peter addresses them. He speaks to them of Jesus and reminds them that it was they who had demanded his death before Pilate; it was they who had disowned him; it was they who had killed the prince of life whom God had raised up. Now, of course, Peter, himself a Jew. would be horrified at the way people later interpreted his words, but in phrases like “It was you who killed the prince of life” – and there are others similar ones in the NT - we can see the beginnings of one of the great tragedies of history. I am referring, of course, to christianity’s long tradition of prejudice against the Jews, a prejudice which has often led to persecution based on the notion that they were responsible for the death of Jesus. Terrible things have been done on the basis of this idea and those of you who read the Tablet may have noticed last week how the extreme right wing Society of Pius X , founded by the late Archbishop Levebre, himself a supporter of Hitler, insists on using on Good Friday a prayer which goes back to the late fourth century and which speaks of the ‘perfidious Jews.’

This homily, however, is not about anti-semitism. What it’s about is inviting you to recognize how, very early in the story of the Church, darnel begins to appear among the wheat of pure, authentic Christianity. Peter’s speech, after all, comes in chapter three of Acts. And from then on, just as in the parable, we are stuck with it and will remain stuck with it as long as history lasts. This, in fact, was the main purpose of the Church History Course, the fifth part of which was this weekend; to help us come to terms with our darnel in a way which robs it of its power to do what it has done in the lives of so many people in recent years, which is to undermine their confidence and their faith. The darnel planted in the field which is the Church has taken many forms over the centuries and there’s no shortage in history of things done by the Church and in the name of the Church which have been deeply scandalous and had nothing whatsoever to do with God. And so, in an age where every weakness, not only in the Church, but in every other walk of life too, is exposed for all to see in a way which was not possible before, it is vitally important that we develop a faith adult and robust enough to withstand this. The man in the parable just had to live with the darnel in his field. In the short-term, there was nothing he could do about it. And in terms of the Church we belong to, a Church which is capable of great good and considerable evil too, we are the same. We simply have to learn to live with the darnel in our field and not allow it to blind us to the presence of God in the midst of it
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And yet a good deal of harm has already been done. Brought up to think of the Church as some kind of perfect institution, many in recent years have not been able to cope with big issues like the sex-abuse scandal on the one hand or the simple fact that the priests they once had on pedestals are flawed human beings like everyone else, on the other. So pray today for people who have been affected in this way. Pray, too, for all those who, while they have not given up on the Church yet, may be be on the verge of doing so. But above all, ask God to give every person in this parish a faith which is strong, robust, adult, mature, open to the truth in all its forms, persevering, committed and utterly unshockable. Human beings and human institutions alone will always let us down if we expect too much of them. And yet, as people of the Resurrection, we are called to show the world that, through grace, we are capable of much more.

In a word, we are called to be wheat in the midst of darnel.


BIDDING PRAYERS


We begin this week by holding up before God all those people who have struggled in recent years to come to terms with unpleasant truths about the Church. In common with other groups in society - politicians, the police, doctors. lawyers and others - the flaws and weaknesses of both the Church as an institution and those who work in it have been exposed for all to see, leaving many hurt and confused. And so we ask God to give us all the maturity we need..................Lord hear us

The enemy who has planted the darnel in our field is both clever and subtle. One of his principle techniques is to work on our unrealistic ideals and expectations, setting us up for disappointment and the disillusionment and loss of faith which often come with it. And so we pray for the insight we need to recognize the ways in which we have unrealistic expectations of the Church or those in it so that we can prevent this well-known trick succeeding in what it sets out to do in us...........Lord hear us

The initial reaction of the people in the Gospel who met the Risen Jesus after his resurrection was one of doubt and disbelief. Mary of Magdala thought he was the gardener. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus walked with him but failed to recognize him. The disciples by the lake were afraid to ask him who he was. But whether we realise it or not, every one of us here has met the Risen Jesus many times in our lives and we pray today for the grace to see this........ Lord hear us

One of the main reasons we keep meeting the Risen Jesus but fail to recognize him is that he comes to us in such ordinary ways and in such ordinary things. There is nothing spectacular about the resurrection. There were no great public manifestations, no great shows of power. Jesus ate grilled fish with his disciples and showed them his hands and his feet. Above all, they recognized him in the breaking of bread. And so we pray for the grace to do the same here each week...........Lord hear us

Darnel affects every aspect of our existence. The evidence of it is spread all over the world and no corner of the world is free from its influence. But it is also at work in ourselves and in the people around us. Every human being is a mixture of wheat and darnel. None of us is perfect and we all make mistakes, sometimes serious ones. And so we pray for the grace we need to live with this fact and be tolerant and understanding of our own faults and the faults of others.....Lord hear us

Despite our weaknesses, we are sent out into the world to be witnesses to the resurrection and share with others the joy of Easter. Left to ourselves, this is an impossible task. But through the power of the Spirit the impossible becomes possible. And so we pray that this parish will be more and more willing to take up this challenge and show the community around us what it is to be a deeply joyful, compassionate, generous and hope-filled Easter people........ Lord hear us