Parables of Jesus: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. Weeds and wheat, can you tell the difference?

James Jeffery is a computer "whiz kid" who broke into the website of Britain's biggest abortion provider. He has been jailed for two years and eight months. He targeted the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) because he "disagreed" with the decisions of two women he knew to terminate their pregnancies, London's Southwark Crown Court was told. He stole about 10,000 database records containing the personal details of women which he later intended to publish.

 

James Jeffrey had various issues in his life but his reaction to seeing something he didn’t like is understandable – he was impatient to get on and do something about it in his own way.

 

One of the questions I get asked most often is “why is there evil and suffering in the world? Why doesn’t God just sort it out? Why doesn’t he do it now?” We look around us and see all sorts of terrible things going on, particularly man’s inhumanity to man. And we ask why? What’s going on? When is it going to get sorted? Why this illness, this pain, this injustice?

 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

 

Jesus told this parable as an extended allegory in the typical style of a Jewish rabbi of the time. Today he might have mimicked the storytelling style of Michael Macintyre. In his interpretation he even identifies the different players in the parable.

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v.24

The field - the world in which we all live (not the church).
The owner - not a peasant but a landowner, symbolises Jesus himself.
The seed - sons of the kingdom, interesting phrase describing those who follow Jesus and whose lives change as a result.

v.25

The enemy - the evil one, the devil, Jesus’ enemy. Neighbouring farmer.
Weeds - tares, false wheat, (lolium temulentum), a poisonous weed which looked very much like wheat. Roman law made it a crime to plant this weed because it was so difficult to spot until too late. It would be indistinguishable from wheat until the ears appeared. But its roots would get tangled with the roots of the wheat. So to pull it out early would endanger the rest of the good wheat.

v.27

Servants - all of us.
Where? Who? - this is our cry, God, where is all this trouble coming from? How can you let it happen? Jesus’ answer is that an enemy has come and caused this.

v.28

Pull them up - or, “gather them up”. Gather together for destruction (repeats throughout the parable) – has an apocalyptic feel to it with anger and revenge mixed in. No says Jesus, you might do as much damage as good. Wait, be patient.

v.30

Harvest  - often language symbolising the apocalypse, the end of the world, final judgement.
Harvesters  - the angels (not you) will be able to tell the difference then and will gather them up, weed them out. Good for fuel.
Barn - the kingdom of the Father, heaven.

v.37

Son of Man - Cf Daniel, popular understanding of the time as to what the Messiah would look like. Matthew often reminds his hearers of the imagery in Daniel.
End of the age - judgement day when this world finally ceases. At last, the point at which wrongs will be put right.

v.43

Shine like the sun - the middle east sun is too bright to stand in when it rises. You have to take to the shade. In the new heaven, which we will one day inhabit, instead of being destroyed by the brightness of God we will be given new lives that shine too. The essence that is you will one day be freed to shine like the sun.

 

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This parable can easily be applied to our situations today. We look around us (just as James Jeffreys did) and don’t like what we see and want to do something about it now. Or at least want God to do something about it now.

 

Who has done it?

The bible teaches us that there is a loving God who created us and is seeking a personal relationship with each one of us. But there is also an enemy who has rebelled against God and who is destroying the world and trying to destroy us too.

When things go wrong we need to understand clearly who is at fault here and where the source of evil lies.

 

What are you, God, going to do about it?

We want him to rush in and swing the scythe and destroy all the weeds, now. God, just confront the appalling dictators and the bad people and root them out. All of them, now.

But God has another plan. A more thorough, comprehensive plan. One that requires huge cost and sacrifice and which causes him the pain that we would inflict on others.

He has given Jesus to die for all of us, to take our sins, to open the way to follow him and walk a different path. Grow as a different plant – changing from weed to wheat. It takes a miracle of transformation and that is what is on offer through Jesus.

Perhaps, you say, yes but these people are obviously really bad, just get rid of them and be done with it. But who are they? And where do we draw the line? Hopefully, the line is drawn before it comes too close to us.
No, we are all, men and women of evil and you and I, we are all offered redemption. Will we choose it?

Can you tell the difference?

In our puritan enthusiasm do we damage what is good? We may rush in to pull out what we think are weeds and find that we are pulling up perfectly good wheat. Let’s think about this a while. Can we tell the difference?

1. What are we? Wheat or weeds. OK, so I don’t think we have any mass murderers in the congregation today, but do we have anyone who is perfect? In the course of gathering up the weeds might we find that there are some things in us which need pulling out too? If I ever thought that we didn’t all have something bad in us that myth was dispelled in the raising of two boys. Like me, most parents, at some point, have looked in wonder at a young child and thought, how can they be so naughty? Didn’t get it from me. Must have been their mother. 
2. When we look at another person, can we really tell what they are? Who gave you the discernment to say this person is a weed and this person is wheat? In the early days of growth the weed and the wheat are hard to tell apart, what happens if you pull out the wrong ones, or in pulling out evil you destroy some good? That is why we say, come as you are.
3. Each person you meet is a very special person, created and loved by God, no matter how damaged they are now. Dostoevsky wrote, “to love a person means to see him as God intended him to be.” We are called to see people not as they are but as God intended them to be. Really see them.
4. The gospel is about nothing if it is not about grace. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” We should be patient too. Don’t rush to judge & condemn someone just because you don’t like what they do.

The trajectory of growth

There is a sense in this that the weeds can change, they can become wheat. And that you can’t tell the difference to start with. Our life and spiritual direction is made up of many small choices. Each choice we make moves us a step further away from or toward the God who loves us and redeems us in Jesus. By the time there is a harvest, a judgement, the weeds are clear to see and can more easily be gathered up.

We can choose not to respond to God’s call of grace. And step by step we walk a path that drifts further and further away from glory until the time comes when we can’t see him at all and turn away for ever.

Or we choose to follow Jesus and allow his power to change our lives - decision by decision, choice by choice, we become more and more like the person we are meant to be. And when the harvest comes, when we finally face judgement, our steps have set us on a path to the feet of his throne and into his presence.

The harvest and judgement

This concept faces us with some philosophical dilemmas in our post-enlightenment, individualistic, tolerant age. What do we want for the really bad guys – mercy or judgement? Everyone wants the mass murderer and the paedophile to go to hell – don’t they? But do we want to believe that there is a hell at all? Because if there is, how do we avoid it? And what happens to all the people who don’t avoid it whom we rather liked?

The good news is that: 

1. There will be a judgement, a harvest, when all wrongs will be acknowledged and put right. If you have been on the receiving end of wrong then this is important. You may not want vengeance but you do want wrong to be recognised and dealt with.
   
   That could be because you have lost a loved one when you shouldn’t have. Or your spouse has cheated on you. Or you have been mugged. Or you grow up under an oppressive regime. Or you are struck down with disease. Or you have been badly treated at work, bullied at school.
   
   The enemy is at work sowing weed, but the day will come when the Jesus will make a judgement and deal with it.
   
2. That someone wiser than you or me will do the judging.
   “God is more merciful than we, more strict than we and more knowing than we. And in every case God is greater than our hearts.” Helmut Theilicke.
   

Summary

1. We live in a fallen world where the enemy comes in the night and sows poisonous weeds alongside the good seed sown by Jesus. Let us recognise the work of the enemy and trust God. No pain is felt which Jesus does not feel. No tear falls which Jesus does not weep. But he has done what is necessary to put things right, one day.
   
2. We are called not to make judgement but to leave it to the one who will and who can judge. The day will come when he will swing the scythe and the false crowns of those who have chosen the path of evil will fall. We are called to be patient, to trust in the one who loves us the most.
   
3. We are called to see the glory of God in each person around us and to work and pray for their salvation and the transformation of their souls. It will not be easy but we ask the Holy Spirit of Jesus to give us his eyes so that we may see the beauty of his creation in all. So we may see past the weeds to the kernel of hope and the glimpse of heaven in every soul.
   
4. And finally, we are called to follow after him with everything in us, to seek to grow as good wheat not as weeds, to invite him to transform us and make us whole. Decision by decisions, choice by choice to listen to his voice, invite his wonderful grace and mercy into our lives so that we may one day face him, as we all will, and shine like the sun in the kingdom of heaven.