16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. By Tobe Eze

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A.

FIRST READING
Wisdom 12:13, 16—19

SECOND READING
Romans 8:26—27

GOSPEL
Matthew 13:24—43

THEME: GIVE THEM CHANCE.

The last statement of the first reading is, “And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” It is on this ground with the first parable in the Gospel that I wish to start with a story.

Two girls were living in the same room in the university. One was too promiscuous and the other was too pious. The one that was too pious was seeing her roommate as a candidate for hell fire. She does not for her, hardly does she talks to her. She sees fault in everything she does. The other, whenever she wants to do anything good, she does it for the two. One day the canal one called the pious one to narrate her story of life to her so that she will help her but she said no, that she has nothing to do with someone like you. One who sleeps with any man that passes around her. When they graduated, they went to their various homes. The pious one did not get job immediately. Her father and mother died through fire outbreak. She was left with nothing material to start life and she had three siblings to take care of. To cut the story short. After suffering for years, she succumbed to what almost every man that comes to her rescue tells her. Your body in exchange of help. She succumbed to that and was even worst than his roommate. After many years if experience and every other things, the two roommates met again. That was when she accepted to listen to her roommate. Her roommate told her that was born and brought up in the community of prostitutes. Her mother died as a prostitute. She told her that she was making effort to stop that type of life when they were in school but she did not give her chance to explain herself to her. Continue Reading......................................

You maybe condemning one from a far but you may not even know the root cause of the problem. The first reading offers us the knowledge of accommodating others for they may repent one day. The second reading is telling us that sometimes we do not know how to pray but the Spirit if God prays for us in that type of situation. Sometimes we do not know how to judge but the problem is that we do not even give the chance to judge. In the gospel Jesus stressed about that same giving people chance to avoid painful conclusion at last.

Jesus has many reasons for allowing the two to grow. 1. We are humans, our ways are not his way, see we will uproot with human eyes and destroy also the good ones. 2. Some may appear to us as the maize but they are not, so when they grow beyond hiding, we will see them clearly. 3. Some bad ones may change along the line and the other way round about the good ones.

Accommodate people with their weaknesses for you yourself have your own weakness. Where we have series of problems is in the area of accepting that we also have weaknesses. The earlier we accept that the better for us. Everyone is just managing his/her neighbours. Onye obula akwo n' azuu, ike ya ghere oghe. Onwwghi onye uwa zuru oke. Onweghi onye dizu ora mma. Ka anyi nabata onwe anyi etu anyi siri hu onwe anyi. Oliver De Coque in one of his songs said that mmadu abuo n' udo bu elecha aghara. Overlook some certain things for peace and harmony to exist. Where two or more are there must be offender and the one offended but overlooking will solve everything. Let us today learn how to give people chance to prove themselves to and for us. THANKS AND HAPPY SUNDAY.