A: 16th Sun of OrdTime (23 July 2017) - LETTING THEM GROW TOGETHER - Mt 13:24-30

Our gospel today is the continuation of last Sunday’s when we heard of the parable of the seed. Today, the same imagery is used. However, growing side-by-side the seeds are weeds sown by the enemy. The proposal of the farmers is to remove them immediately. But because of a fear of pulling up the good seeds as well, the master decided to allow them to grow together (Mt 13:30; synauxano in Greek, appearing only here in the NT) and to delay the necessary separation at harvest time. However, the significant question we all have is: why is the sorting process done only at the last day when it could also be done from the time the weeds are detectible from the plants? Why do we have to wait for harvest-time when it could be done much earlier, say, a month after germination?

Though not clearly enumerated in the gospel, there are 3 obvious reasons why the master postpones the pulling up of the weeds. First is they have the same LOOKS. Both the plants and weeds are green-colored and are of the same physical features. It will be a tall order discerning which is a plant and which is not. Second is they have the same ROOTS. Even if the farmer has discerned that one is a weed, collecting it is not without complications. Roots are intertwined underneath; doing so may jeopardize the roots of the plants as well. And third they have the same SHOOTS. In Botany, shoots refer to the lateral part of a plant where stems, leaves, and flowers develop. Both the plants and the weeds produce lateral appendages except that the weeds would have thistles and thorns instead. When both are still young, these are not yet clearly recognizable as they appear merely as foliage. The master would wait a little longer when their shoots are fully fledged before acting on them. Hence, they must be allowed to grow first together. Surely, patience is a virtue!

With the master of the field as our model of leadership, we cannot help but evaluate leadership in the Philippines today. Is our present administration patient enough not to eliminate radically the weeds from the plants? We should remember that they have the same LOOKS: a drug-user/trafficker, a rebel and a terrorist may exactly look like an ordinary man on the streets. How many cases of mistaken identities, collateral damages or friendly fires occurring during police and military operations have been reported of late?

Also, we must bear into mind that they have the same ROOTS: the problem on drugs is rooted on the problem of poverty that is equally shared by almost everyone in the country; likewise, the problem of political insurgency is rooted on the colonial experience of the Filipino people from the 16th century onwards. These are deep-rooted issues that cannot be easily solved by a one-and-done war.

Lastly, we should be cognizant that they have the same SHOOTS. Both criminals and law-abiding citizens have Filipino off-springs, children and families whose future is dependent on what happens to their main breadwinners. Seeing present rebels and terrorists at their tender age of twenties and thirties, we wonder: Did Estrada’s destruction of MILF’s camp Abubakar in 2000 and Macapagal’s “state of emergency” in Maguindanao in 2009 bring peace to Mindanao or just brazen the young to stage their vengeance today? And so are all moves to annihilate the NPAs? Have all of these all-out-wars worked, or have they just continued to breed new forms of fury from the next generation against the government?

We are now at the verge of extending Martial Law in Mindanao until the end of this year. I bet that even after the deadline not all the “weeds” are lined up dead by 2018. It is because peace comes best in patience, in dialogue, and in fraternal conversations. We are all still learning how to grow up together at this point. Forego the sickle for the meantime . . . what we need is a patient and compassionate master of the land instead.

- Rex F. Fortes, CM