On Weeds and Wheat

Sunday we read a parable of Jesus. Parables are intended to open our minds to a deeper reality through an illustration of something with which we are familiar. Jesus liked farm related stories, He told several parable related to seeds, growth and the problems of reaching the harvest.

Matthew 13 has several parables in it. There are also explanations of two parables. Scholars generally think that because the explanations are allegorical, they must be the work of Matthew (or the comunity). I have always been a bit unsure of this conclusion. I do not find it difficult to believe that there were times when the disciples asked Jesus questions. I also think it possible that Jesus did some explaining in private on more than one occassion. Perhaps I am projecting my own experience here, but I have certainly found myself doing the same thing from time to time.

On the other hand, years of study have made it clear that the Gospel authors are authors. There are numerous places where one can see their input in the process. Each one has shaped the story as it arrived to him (whether in written form or oral tradition). Each one had been shaped by the telling and re-telling of the Jesus story in their own life situation. Each one also listened to the story and emphasized aspects based, in part, on that experience. Of course, there is also the Holy Spirit and Divine Inspiration to factor in as well.

The parable of the weeds and wheat is rather straight forward. A man sows good seed. An enemy mixes in weeds. Servants take note and report it to the master, asking if they should pull up the weeds. His answer is wait, we might pull up wheat as well. At the harvest we will take care of it.

Most of us wonder about the wisdom of waiting. Why not take care of the weeds immediately. Daniel Harrington's Commentary (in the Sacra Pagina series) tell us that the particular word, zizanion comes from Hebrew and Aramaic. The root of the term znh means to commit fornication. The weeds are related to excesses in the plant world prior to the flood! The actual plant is called a "bastard wheat" because it looks like wheat except the kernal is black. Hence, the servants would not  have easily been able to differentiate the two early on.

I am not sure what reaction Jesus' original audience had to this story. One thinks, like us, that they heard an explanation, of sorts, about the state of the world. This is another place where Jesus seems to talk about the world we live in in a way which says that there is another force at work, opposed to God. Obviously, Jesus makes clear, in the end God will have His way (at the Final Judgement). Even so, one could say that in the mean time, as we wait, it appears God waits as well. What the parable does not say is that the Master sowed both good seed and bad. It does not imply that the Master intended to create a field with both, but that He deals with the result of an enemies hand.

The other thing that comes through is the idea of judgment. In the final harvest all the causes of sin and all evildoers will be cast into fire while the righteous will shine like the sun. Sun, of course, is fire, too. One wonders if the process which incinerates some purifies others?  At any rate, we live in the field now. Weeds abound, but so does the wheat. Wheat is used to make bread, which is eucharist. You and I are called to be that kind of wheat. Bread made into the Body of Christ. It is tempting to complain about the weeds. At times we might even be tempted to act like weeds. But our task is to bear fruit. In Jesus that is possible. While we wait for the havest, we are called to grow and produce.