16th Sunday of Ordinary Time
For there isn't any God beside you that cares for all, That you might show that you didn't judge unrighteously.
For your strength is the source of righteousness, And your sovereignty over all makes you to forbear all. For when men don't believe that you are perfect in power, you show your strength, And in dealing with those who think this, you confuse their boldness. But you, being sovereign in strength, judge in gentleness, And with great forbearance you govern us; For the power is yours whenever you desire it. But you taught your people by such works as these, How the righteous must be kind. You made your sons to have good hope, Because you give repentance when men have sinned.
For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, Abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you. Hear, Lord, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.
All nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord. They shall glorify your name. For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, Slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth. Turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give your strength to your servant. Save the son of your servant.
In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don't know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can't be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit's mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, But while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and produced grain, then the darnel weeds appeared also. The servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?'
"He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.'
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?'
"But he said, 'No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, "First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took, and sowed in his field, Which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches."
He spoke another parable to them. "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened."
Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn't speak to them, That it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."
Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field."
He answered them, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, The field is the world, the good seeds are the children of the Kingdom, and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and those who do iniquity, And will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
There's a kind of patience in these readings that feels almost uncomfortable — the patience of a God who could act with force, but chooses not to.
The parable of the wheat and the weeds sits with us in a tension most of us know well. We look at the world — or honestly, at ourselves — and we see the mixture. Good intentions tangled up with selfishness. Moments of genuine generosity right alongside pettiness. The disciples want to pull the weeds immediately. That impulse makes sense. Clean it up. Sort it out. But the householder says: not yet. Let them grow together.
This isn't indifference. The Book of Wisdom makes that clear. God's restraint comes from *strength*, not weakness. The one who holds all power chooses forbearance — and that choice becomes a kind of teaching. Notice how the text puts it: *you taught your people by such works as these, how the righteous must be kind.* God's patience isn't passive. It's instructive. It shapes us.
And then Paul adds something quietly stunning. Even our prayer is mixed — wheat and weeds, clarity and confusion. We don't always know what to ask for. But the Spirit intercedes in those groanings we can't even articulate — the wordless ache on an ordinary Tuesday when something feels off and we can't name it. God meets us there too.
What emerges across all three readings is a portrait of a God who is sovereign but not coercive, powerful but not impatient, and deeply present in the messy in-between of human life.
Consider carrying these questions through the day:
Where in your life are you being called to practice the kind of patient forbearance God models — with someone else, or with yourself? What does it feel like to trust that God is present even in your most inarticulate prayers? And what might it mean that the harvest, not the weeding, is God's work to complete?