Introduction
I don’t know if you have realised this but by following the current lectionary gospel readings we are doing a mini series on parables from Matthew. One of the wonderful things about Jesus’ parables is that they can be read in so many different ways. Like a precious stone reflecting and refracting light they give us glimpses of glory. At the simplest level these are mini stories – a man sowing seed with variable results, a woman losing a coin, a shepherd with his sheep and so on. At their most profound these stories teach us about fundamental truths of the faith.
In today’s parable, that of the wheat and the weeds, there is a simple story. Again this involves a sower and seed. He sows good seed in his field but when it sprouts weeds come up alongside the wheat. What to do? Should he pull up the weeds? – to do so risks damaging the crop. No, leave them to grow together until harvest, then separate them out. You can imagine this on Gardener’s World:
“I have a question from Mr.Giles in Somerset”
“I have a field sown to wheat but this year for some reason a whole load of vetch (tr. Of Tare) has grown up alongside it. Should I try spraying it with something, hoe it or what?”
“Probably best to leave it as is then separate it out at harvest time”.
So much for the simple story, what are the deeper lessons for us. Taking a leaf from my curate’s book I have three words beginning with “W” – not world wide web! Wheat, weeds and wake-up.
What the farmer sowed in his field was good seed – he didn’t have a mixture, the seed he sowed was pure, 100% wheat. We need to constantly remind ourselves that God made a good world. At every stage in creation God looked at what he had made and said “That’s good”. In his interpretation of the parable Jesus explains that this good seed represents the “sons of the kingdom” – people who acknowledge the lordship of God. If we put together this weeks parable with last week’s one of the sower the seed there was the word or Word. It is through hearing and receiving the living Word of God that we become sons and daughters of the kingdom.
The Son of Man sows sons of the kingdom but lo and behold someone else has been busy sowing too. The world which God made was intrinsically good but it is not long before the enemy is at work. He sows seeds too and these grow up as weeds. There is much debate as to what constitutes a weed. Perhaps the simplest definition is a “plant growing in the wrong place”. This is certainly true of the “sons of the evil one” – they are in the wrong place when growing in God’s kingdom. Again referencing back to last weeks parable the characteristic of weeds is that they choke the good plants and prevent them from being fruitful – isn’t that true of evil and evil-doers in God’s kingdom? Stifling spiritual growth and stunting fruitfulness. Sometimes weeds are obviously destructive – described here as being thorns. At other times weeds can be deceptively attractive – Bind weed. If you want the difference between wheat and weeds spelled out then look at contrasting lists in eg.Eph4:29-5:21
When did the weeds get sown? Matt.13:25 “While every one was sleeping”. I take this parable to be a huge wake up call for the church. It is while everyone was asleep that the enemy came along and planted seeds of destruction. Now the message of this parable is clear, until the day of judgement good and evil will co-exist at every level of society. In the world around us – we need no reminding of this, in the church and in our own lives. All of us are a mixture of good and bad, no-one can pretend otherwise. In the light of this and the reality that there will be a great sifting out at harvest time, what are we doing? Do we simply shrug our shoulders and say “It will always be thus and there is nothing I can do about it?” A bit like Jesus saying we will always have the poor among us as an excuse not to even try to “Make Poverty History”.