Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Has it ever dawned on you what a fast food society we live in? We have our Keurig coffeepots; we have instant breakfast; we want instant relief from our headache; we have instant money from the ATM; we have instant messaging; and we want instant responses from our texts and emails. We have come to expect that most things will happen with little delay.

Then we pick up a gospel reading like we have today, a reading that urges patience and waiting. The vineyard owner who sowed good seed discovers weeds among the healthy crop. The workers want to pull the weed immediately and throw them away; but the owner says "no wait until the harvest before you separate the wheat from the chaff."

Then Jesus talks about the mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds, that takes time to germinate bu then grows into the largest6 of plants that the birds of the air dwell in its branches.

Finally Jesus uses the image of yeast that the woman mixes with flour. We all know that it takes time for the dough to rise and be ready to be baked.

Jesus is reminding us that God is not an instant God of the fast food generation; God's time is so much different than our own; That God continually forms and reforms us throughout the course of our lives. That it is only at the harvest, at the end of time, that we will shone like the sun in the kingdom of our Father.

As we listen to this message today, we are reminded that it is God who is always in charge and God has a sent time for everything under the heavens. After all, how many years elapsed before the world was ready for Him to send a Savior into our midst?

So let us pray for patience and trust, in the midst of our instant everything!