Be Tolerant

“Be tolerant”
 
Every day we practice tolerance, some days better than others, because to do so is to follow Jesus’ word, since we are all in this together.
 
The fact that you continue to invite me to lead a worship for you today  is because you have an attitude of tolerance.

I don’t speak like you do.

Sometimes, I may say some words, and your reaction is like, humm, I am not sure what he means.
When people started gathering at St John’s Parish in Bridgeport, the beginning of the post Covid, while I preached, a choir member sat beside my wife (she didn’t know if she was my wife), and said to her, hey do you get that idea, I don’t get it. Another choir member said to her, hey she is the priest’s wife. And she covered her mouth with her right hand, and said, oh, I am sorry.

My famous teacher at the University of Montreal Quebec, Canada, when you have nothing positive to say in public, just keep silent, this is the first step of an attitude of tolerance.


It is a blessing to be here to worship with you and for you to accept me for the way I speak.

I believe that my presence here at St John’s Waterbury is a living example of an attitude of tolerance.
Let’s talk about it.
Jesus uses a parable in which the servants ask the landowner if they should pull out the weeds, but the owner or the master says no, it’s better to wait until the wheat is ripe and then gather both of them at the same time.- and only then separate them.
Wait until the wheat is ripe.- This is where the attitude of tolerance emerged.

Now, how can we define such an attitude?
The attitude of tolerance is defined as a personality allowing us to live and let live;
to go and let go,

to speak and let speak.

It is a personality allowing us to be patient with everyone around us, and able to listen carefully and treat anyone with dignity and respect even though you disagree.


Did the Master not try to explain it to us today?

When the workers said to the Master:
Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?
Where did these weeds come from?…-
Then do you want us to go and gather them?.-
The Master said a big NO- NO for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.

Let both of them (the wheats and the weeds) grow together until the harvest.
The attitude of tolerance is well explained in today’s parable in which Jesus described two groups of people:

Those who have compassion, love, wisdom, kindness, gentleness and tolerance symbolized by the wheat in the field,

and those who don’t, represented by the weeds.
What does Jesus want to tell us through this description?

He wants to tell us that we all are called to live together in this section of the universe.

That can happen by living with respect and dignity to one another, regardless of our ethnicity, our culture, our background, regardless of our position: high versus low, rich versus poor, educated versus uneducated, old people versus young people, white versus black and color.
It seems that Jesus challenges each of us to constantly tolerate one another by clothing ourselves with compassion, love, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

This is the personality of the Master of the field who represents God, our Father, the fountain of all wisdom.
When we think about God’s personality, think about those values:  wisdom, compassion, love, kindness, patience, gentleness and tolerance.
What would the world be like, if all human beings were wise, compassionate and lovely to one another?
What would the world be like, if all human beings were kind, patient, and gentle to one another?

What would the world be like if all human beings tolerated one another?
Would we be having 104.8 million people across the globe who were obliged to leave their home?


I don’t think so.
104.8 million people across the globe were obliged to leave their homes because of a lack of wisdom, a lack of compassion, love, kindness, patience, gentleness and, more importantly, a lack of tolerance.
Paul in his letters to the Colossians, said this, “tolerate one another, to seek restoration and reconciliation to live and let live.
The best way to tolerate one another as God does is for each of us to not be judgmental.
A great author who beautifully developed the subjects of human character, Earl Nightingale, said this, “When you judge others, you don’t define them, you define yourself.”
Again, be tolerant, wise, kind and patient.
Before we judge others for wrongdoing, ask yourself this question, check your behavior and see if you too have committed an act similar and even worse than the act that the person has done.
In being so, you won’t be in a position to judge. Paul said in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and all are short to the glory of God.”
If we are going to be saved it will be only by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8).
Jesus, through the parable today, wants to tell us that tolerance is the personality we need to adopt so that we may be able to live and let live; to go and let go, to speak and let speak; treating anyone with respect and dignity regardless of our differences based on culture and ethnicity, race or class.
We may discover in today’s gospel, tolerance is clearly the personality of the master of the field.
He rebuked the workers saying NO: for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together in the same field until the harvest.
I heard a parishioner say to a Warden one day: “I don’t like the accent of this foreign priest, why don’t you select a native English speaker priest?
The Warden replied that it’s ok if you don’t like his accent, but at least you carefully listen to him, and treat him with respect and dignity even though you are not one hundred percent comfortable with his accent.
The essence of this gospel is that we all are called to live together, or die. Listen again to what the Master of the field said to the workers, “Let both of them, the weeds and the wheats, grow together in the same field until the harvest. Let’s keep being a living example by showing all around us how we tolerate one another.
This is what Jesus wants us to be.
Go now, to make a difference in the world by being more compassionate and more tolerant.
 May it be so. Amen.