Wheat or Weeds?

Our parable today compares the Kingdom of God with a wheat field. The meaning of it is not difficult to see. So why did Jesus have to explain it to his disciples? Many scholars today believe that Matthew composed and added the explanations to these parables. He did so to expand its meaning and to emphasize the final judgment. When Jesus talked about what would happen at the time of harvest his emphasis was the righteous ignoring the evil ones (see Matthew 24:31). We also note that Matthew’s explanation of this does not appear with this parable in the Gospel of Thomas.* So we have two different emphases for this parable, the one Jesus meant and the other that Matthew gave it. 

Matthew wrote after the Jewish uprising had been quelled and the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans. Christians, an offspring of the Jewish faith, were being persecuted. Now the evil weeds were not just growing with the wheat but were actively destroying the wheat. Matthew wanted his community to know that God, while allowing evil, has a plan for them as well as for the faithful Christians. One to the fire of hell and the other to the glory of heaven. So be encouraged, do note give up hope, and live in faith.

When Jesus told the parable he was emphasizing the generousness of God. That God will allow all people to live together the wheat and the weeds. This was because God did not want to take the chance of harming one faithful person by removing the evil ones. That means we grow together. You know what that means. You have experienced the weeds growing among us and maybe have been influenced by them in your lives. Remember this is just a parable – it does not say once a weed always a weed. It says that good and evil will live together until the final harvest. You still have a chance. A chance to repent and change your ways and a chance to show God’s love to others. 

For today this parable and explanation has been coupled with the reading from Isaiah. That reading is from second Isaiah. Written during the Babylonian captivity our text speaks to a downcast people. The Israelites have been defeated, their temple and city destroyed and they were living in a foreign land. They were questioning their very existence as a people and their God. Maybe they were wrong all along. Were the Babylonian gods more powerful than theirs? Should they abandon God and give up all hope of ever returning to the promised land? Second Isaiah gives them God’s answer. Their God is the one and only God – the redeemer, the Lord of host, the first and the last. Therefor do not fear or be afraid for God is the solid ground upon which they stand. 

God is your strong rock, your redeemer, and Lord of host. God, the first and the last is your whole life. While living in the weeds of turmoil, trouble, and uncertainty God is your anchor. Do not fret or worry. God sent Jesus to you and while he was standing among the weeds he died for you so that you may become wheat and bear fruit. The fruit of faith and love. Fruit that you are called to share so that all who grow in God’s creation may see Jesus through you and live in the blessed hope of life with Jesus. 

*Remember the Gospel of Thomas used some of the same sources as Matthew but the book was rejected as scripture by the early church because of its heretical views.