READINGS THE LINES BETWEEN

As I pointed out in last month’s article, during June some of our Gospel readings came from the Mission Discourse, the second of five lengthy speeches Jesus delivers in Matthew’s Gospel. Beginning on July 16, we have readings from Jesus’ Discourse in Parables (13:3-52) the third of the five discourses.

One of the parables which we will read from the Parable Discourse is that of “The Weeds and the Wheat” (Matthew 13:24-30, July 23). Found only in Matthew, this parable brings out some of the unique features of Matthew’s presentation of Jesus.

As is the case with the other parables in the Parable Discourse, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to the situation described in the parable. As he does in the parable of “The Sower” (13:38) Jesus uses an agricultural image, which would be familiar to his audience, to convey a truth about the kingdom of heaven.

As the action in the parable begins, a householder (see 13:27), that is, a farm-estate owner, sows “good” seed in his field. While people are sleeping, however, the householder’s enemy sows weeds among the wheat. The antagonist of the parable is presented as an “enemy,” that is, one who acts contrary to the planter’s purpose. This weed is darnel (Greek, zizania), a plant which looks very much like the wheat as it grows. By the time the darnel can be distinguished from the wheat the two plants’ roots are so entwined that to try to separate them while they are growing could prove to be dangerous to the wheat (J.P. Meier, Matthew, p. 147). The point of sowing the weeds, of course, is to threaten the produce of the wheat crop. The planter and his slaves do not become aware of the enemy’s wicked deed until both the wheat and weeds sprout together. The slaves are puzzled that weeds are appearing with the wheat if, as they presume, the planter sowed good seed. The householder knows he sowed good seed and so the only explanation is that an enemy, unbeknown to him and his slaves, sabotaged the crop. In 13:28, the slaves ask a critical question which leads to the central point to be made in the parable: Should the slaves uproot the weeds and gather them? The householder replies negatively, for to do so might likewise uproot the wheat before it is ripe and destroy the whole crop (13:29). The better solution, the householder decides, is to let the two grow together until harvest time, have the harvesters separate the weeds and wheat, bundle the weeds for burning and gather the wheat into the householder’s barn (13:30).

The parable is introduced in 13:24 as a comparison for the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom is like the entirety of the story. The kingdom is not a society which consists of only ethically pure people. Until the final judgment (the harvest depicted in the parable) the growing kingdom is a mix of good and evil. The parable serves as a warning to church members not to try to label members as good and evil and separate the two. Not only would doing so potentially cause harm to the church, but it usurps God’s role as end-time judge. The implication is that evil will not overcome the good in the church as it progresses toward the full establishment of the kingdom.

Matthew selects this parable, which appears in none of the other canonical Gospels, probably because it addresses a particular issue in the community for which Matthew writes. The members of Matthew’s community might well have been confused as to how to deal with the phenomenon of wickedness or unfaithfulness among the community’s members, and this parable provides wise advice as to how to address the issue. The message communicated by the “Weeds and Wheat” parable may seem to be in conflict with Matthew 18:15-18, wherein a three-step process, which can result in excommunication, is instituted for dealing with personal injury which becomes scandalous to the church. Matthew 18:15-18, however, depicts a reconciliation process, an attempt to restore wholeness in the injured relationship and within the church. The excommunication of an unrepentant church member is simply the declaration of that member’s decision to distance him- or herself from the community.

The church, especially regarding relations among its members, is a prime concern of Matthew’s Gospel. Chapter 18 (the fourth of the five discourses) deals exclusively with relations among church members. Matthew depicts the church as a renewed people of God consisting of those who believe in Jesus as its foundation stone (21:43). The “Weeds and Wheat” parable speaks to a particular issue within this community of believers. Yet the “Weeds and Wheat” parable provides wisdom for the church in every age. We might tend to think of the weeds and the wheat in the parable as referring to “bad people” and “good people” respectively. D.J. Harrington, S.J. (The Gospel of Matthew, p. 208) may give us a good way of referring to the point of the “Weeds and The Wheat” parable (along with the parable of the “Dragnet” (Matthew 13:47-50), which makes the same point) when he says that the problem in the two parables is the same: “how to deal with the mixed response accorded to the Gospel.”

Sometimes church members are scandalized by unjust or evil acts occurring within the church. Scandal can be so disturbing to individuals that they abandon one church community for another or disassociate themselves from religious communities altogether. The reality of the church is that it consists of human beings who, for the most part, may be dedicated to living lives of faith but are nonetheless sinners in need of repentance. The fact that sin is committed by individuals within the church, though, does not mean that the church is a sinful institution. For Matthew it is the people of God renewed and restored by Jesus Christ by means of his death and resurrection, and as such is capable of bearing the spiritual fruit God desires of it (21:43). Still, Matthew acknowledges, by means of parables such as “The Weeds and the Wheat” and the “Dragnet,” that sin can exist among its members. God will sort between those who