When Ezra the priest led his people in confession of their sins as a nation, the resulting list of wrongdoing was extensive: idolatry, rebellion, disobedience, pride, ingratitude, stubbornness, murder, injustice, and more.  Again and again, God extended them mercy; again and again, they slide back into sin.  If God hadn’t been long-suffering, the people would have perished many times over (see Neh 9:1-37).

Today, God’s people receive bountiful graces through our Lord Jesus Christ that weren’t available in Ezra’s time.  Most importantly, we have the sacraments of the Church to make us holy.  Yet even though such sacraments as Baptism and Reconciliation cleanse us of sin, we are still left with “concupiscence” — a certain weakness of the soul that inclines us to sin, so that the road to holiness is a continual struggle (see also “What is Original Sin?”).

Consequently, Scripture confirms, the Church is composed not just of saints in the making, but also sinners.  We see this reality most indisputably in certain parables of Jesus about the kingdom of heaven (the Church).  In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, for example, Jesus teaches that both will grow together until harvest time, the final judgment (see Mt 13:24-30; compare Mt 3:12).  He also compares the Church to a fishnet that draws good and bad fish, which must be separated, but not until the end (see Mt 13:47-50).  From the very beginning, the Church has been a mixed bag: Even the thief and traitor Judas was one of the apostles, chosen by Jesus himself (see Mt 10:1, 4; Mk 3:14; Jn 6:70-71; Acts 1:17).

Since we too are sinners, we must not let the presence of other sinners in the Church scandalize us.  The good news is that God’s mercy in Christ is extended to us all.  For that reason, we should maintain a lively hope for the salvation even of those whose sins disturb us most (see Rom 2:1-8; 5:8, 19-21).  In the meantime, only God knows who will finally end up as “wheat” and who as “weeds.”  We must leave it to him to sort us out (see Mt 13:28-30).

Related Scripture:

Texts Cited: Neh 9:1-37  •  Mt 3:12, 10:1, 4; 13:24-30, 47-50  •  Mk 3:14  •  Jn 6:70-71  •  Acts 1:17  •  Rom 2:1-8; 5:8, 19-21
General: Mt 7:14, 21-13; 9:38; 24:10  •  Lk 13:23-24  •  Acts 20:17, 28, 30  •  Rom 14:10-12  •  1 Cor 3:1-4; 5:1-2; 11:21 (compare 1:2)  •  2 Cor 11:2-4; 12:20-21 (compare 1:1)  •  Gal 3:1-4; 4:9-20; 5:1-7  •  2 Tm 2:15-20  •  Rv 2:4-3:8
Catechism of the Catholic Church: 671-672  •  769  •  823-829  •  867  •  2030