Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28 He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matthew 13:24-30 – NRSV).
For the longer version, add the following:
31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. 35 This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!’” (Matthew 13:31-43 – NRSV).
Introductory notes
General
The parable of the wheat and the weeds is unique to Matthew.
“The parable of the wheat and weeds (13:24–30) follows upon the parable of the sower. The setting is agricultural, and the subject is the mixed reception accorded Jesus’ word of the kingdom. The problem faced in the parable is the fact that some Jews accept and others reject the gospel. The issue before the Christians is, How do we react to this reality? The parable, which surely has allegorical features (though not as many as Matt 13:36–43 supplies), counsels patience and tolerance in the present. The assumption behind this counsel is the confidence that at the final judgment there will be a separation between the just and the unjust along with appropriate rewards and punishments.” (Daniel J Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, Liturgical Press, 2007, 208.)
“This second parable addressed to the crowds intends to illuminate something of how things are with the kingdom of God. Jesus again uses sowing imagery, but this time he juxtaposed two very different acts of sowing. This parable too offers its own illumination as to why many remain unresponsive to the ministry of Jesus: though the people of God in name, they are not genuinely so. The explanation for this parable is kept back until vv. 36–43, so that the parable and the explanation can frame a subsection of the discourse.
“Matthew has already used Mk. 4:25 in 13:12, and has earlier used material related to the rest of the elements in the Markan block, 4:21–25, so he passes it over at this point. The distinctive Matthean parable at this point takes the place of Mk. 4:26–29. The origins of this parable remain obscure. Some have sought a more coherent original by identifying as expansion either the material about the role of the enemy (something like Mt. 13:25, 27bc, 28a) or the material related to the slaves’ question about whether the zizania should be removed immediately (something like vv. 28–30a), or both (the originality of v. 30 has also been questioned). It is striking that a large set of features of the parable at Mk. 4:26–29 are also found in this Matthean parable (vocabulary in common is ‘kingdom’, ‘person’, ‘sleep’, ‘came up’, ‘plants’, ‘wheat’, ‘fruit’, ‘harvest’; and both parables begin with an image of sowing). This has provoked the suggestion that Mt. 13:24–30 is a retelling of the tradition behind Mk. 4:26–29 against a fresh background. Though the story as we have it is considerably more coherent than is often supposed, a complex origin is likely, but little about this origin can be affirmed with any confidence. Some sort of merging is likely to have happened. The complex relationship between the parable and its interpretation (explored at Mt. 13:36–43) makes it likely that Matthew is not the originator of the parable. The story as we have it is much more immediately allegorical than most of the Gospel parables (see comments at Mt. 13:30), but, as I have already said, it has a more coherent story line than is often allowed” (J Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text, W.B. Eerdmans, 2005, 543-544).
Specific
The kingdom of heaven: Matthew’s way of speaking of “the kingdom”: “According to all three Synoptics, the kingdom of God was the central theme of the preaching and teaching of Jesus. The phrase occurs fourteen times in Mark, thirty-two times in Luke, but only four times in Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43). In its place, Matthew substitutes ‘the kingdom of heaven’ (lit ‘the kingdom of the heavens’, Gk. hē basileía tōn ouranōn). Although dispensational theology has customarily made a theological distinction between these two terms, the simple fact is that they are quite interchangeable (cf. Mt. 19:23 with v 24; Mk. 10:23). In Jewish rabbinic literature, the common phrase is ‘the kingdom of the heavens’ (Dalman, pp. 91ff). In Jewish idiom, ‘heaven’ or some similar term was often used in place of the holy name (see Lk. 15:18; Mk. 14:61)” (G E Ladd, “Kingdom Of God” in G. W. Bromiley (Ed.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Vol. 3) Wm. B. Eerdman, 1979-1988, 24).
while everybody was asleep: This suggests two contrasting interpretations. Firstly, nobody notices the bad thing that is happening in their own backyard. Secondly, the growth continues peaceably until the end. The first interpretation suggests something about being in the kingdom at this moment, while the second suggests something about the end time. This deepens the question, “What is happening here?” You cannot answer this question – you cannot judge – with any confidence until all is revealed at the close of the ages and the fullness of the kingdom.
Let both of them grow together: The idealist will rush to get rid of the weeds and the work of the “enemy” for it is spoiling the crop. In doing this, the idealist will probably also uproot the wheat as well, their roots being entwined with the weeds. The realist waits until the end, when the weeds and the wheat can both be removed. The weeds can then be separated out and thrown away. The wheat can be harvested. The “enemy” is thus defeated at the end. This parable is, among other things, a story of hope, affirming the conviction that good will triumph over evil in the end.
Waiting well
In today’s Gospel – Matthew 13:24-30 – we have a story of two sowers. The first has good intent in sowing wheat, the second, evil intent, sowing weeds. A terrible dilemma emerges for the farmer when the wheat and the weeds become entwined. He must let go and let be. He must wait. The story reminds us of the moral complexities of our daily lives, where we must let go and let be. In other words, sometimes reality demands that we wait.
The myth of the fall – see Genesis 3:1-13 – speaks of enduring and universal truths about human beings. One of those truths is that we all long to “be like gods” (3:5). That is, we want to be in control. This urge is a source of some of our most destructive behaviours, such as the selfishness that makes us incapable of being present to others in need, the greed that leads some to have much more than they need while others literally starve to death, the anger that leads to road rage, common bigotry, racism and domestic violence, the simplistic reduction of life to problems that have solutions, the narcissism that prompts national leaders to the violence of wars.
Reflect for a moment on your own experiences of impatience, frustration or annoyance at a particular person, event or thing. What is happening in these instances? Such experiences are reminders that we are not in control, that we are at our best when we cooperate rather than compete. Such experiences are also invitations to surrender to the truth of who and what we are, not “gods,” human beings.
Learning to wait well includes approaching daily existence as a conversation. In that conversation, we listen to what is happening, we want the truth to emerge and be in control, to shape us in the depths of our beings. Learning to wait well is built on and builds, hope. Hope is the conviction that truth will triumph in the end. Hope is more than mere optimism. Optimism is the conviction that things will turn out as we want them to and that might simply indicate that we are pretending that we are or should be in control. On the other hand, hope is able to let go of our felt need to be in control. Hope opens us to the strange truth that what we desire is not to “be like gods” but to be one with God.
Is there ever a moment when we are not waiting? Sometimes we are acutely aware of it. We wait for telephone calls, buses, doctor’s reports, news of loved ones and so on. But these daily experiences are just the tip of the iceberg. To live is to wait. To live well we must learn to wait well. To this end, we do well to remember: “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business” (T S Eliot, “East Coker”).