Keegan Lenker

Dr. George Lyons

Parables of Jesus

 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.  “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.  “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.  “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?  How then does it have tares?’  “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’  The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’  “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.  ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”  (Matthew 13:24-30 NASB)

  Discovering the Righteous with Time

            The parables found within the gospels are noteworthy for their attempts in showing either believers or non-believers the way in which they ought to live and for leaving an expectation that the listeners of these stories will figure out what the storyteller is trying to say.  An interesting way to go about understanding a parable is a cultural understanding and an awareness of what the context of the time period is saying.  A direct look at what precedes the Parable of the Weeds will better help the reader in understanding the reasoning for the need of such a story.

            Prior to the telling of the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus has come into conflict with with the Pharisees.  His healing of a man who was demon-possessed leads the Pharisees to confront him with the claim that he is a part of a Satanic conspiracy.  He counters their accusation by explaining the importance of being either for him or against him.  The Pharisees are obviously not in tune with what Jesus is saying and tells them that they want to see a miraculous sign.  Jesus again talks to them about the future of his life that they do not understand. 

              After the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus goes to the edge of a lake.  While he is there, he is surrounded by a large crowd, so he gets into a boat and goes out a little ways, while the people stay on the shore.  He then tells them the Parable of the Sower. 

            The scripture does not actually say whether the Pharisees went to the shore where Jesus was or not.  Scholars debate whether  they were there or not. Craig Blomberg's Interpreting the Parables claims, “A common view of the original setting of this story imagines Jesus denouncing the exclusiveness of the various Jewish sects, in keeping with the decidedly nonseparatist nature of his teaching and practice” (200).  Although Scripture does not say whether they were there or not, Blomberg suggests, “No particular Pharisaic opposition appears here, the parable is spoken to the crowds who generally approved of Christ, and the interpretation is given only to the disciples" (200).  Blomberg seems to think that Jesus was specifically speaking at this point to those who supported his ministry and believed Jesus was the Messiah. 

            This parable is found only in Matthew's Gospel. Arland Hultgren's Parables of Jesus notes that “Various interpreters have suggested that the parable was composed either by the evangelist Matthew (or perhaps a predecessor or predecessors in the Matthean community) on the basis of the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly in Mark 4:26-29” (294). Though the two parables are similar in nature, Hultgren goes on to say, “The most likely explanation of the similarities and differences is that Matthew edited an existing parable, making use of Mark’s location and elements from his parable” (294-295).  Although there are many details in this parable that raise questions, the basic idea that leads up to this parable tells us that we can learn something from the telling of a good story. 

            Towards the latter part of the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus explains the meaning of this parable to the disciples at their request.  This is only one of a few parables that Jesus actually explains. My explanation does not appeal to this explanation, but is my own interpretation to this parable.

Analysis

            The opening portion of this parable has Jesus immediately comparing his story to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus says the kingdom is like the situation of a farmer who planted a good crop in his field.  But no sooner had this farmer planted a good crop when some enemy of the farmer or his crop sows weed seeds in his field while he is sleeping. 

            The farmer planted wheat.  His enemy sowed a weed that somewhat resembled wheat -- in the Greek, “tares” or “darnel.”  This particular plant is called “the lolium temulentum, a troublesome plant for the farmer.  It is similar in appearance to wheat and can be identified easily only when it is ripe.  Then if it is harvested with the wheat, and the two are milled together, the flour will be spoiled” (Hultgren 296).  We discover here the damage that the farmer’s enemy has the potential to do to this man’s wheat crop and financial status. 

            The farmer does not realize anything is wrong with his crop until the wheat has sprouted and formed heads, revealing the weeds in his crop.  At this point the farmer realizes he has a problem and needs to go about figuring out what to do. 

            The farmer’s workers question the farmer about his crop and why he acted as he did.  David Hill comments on their question:,

“The question -- although quite natural in this context, from the agricultural point of view – may also indicate the application of the parable to the situation of the Matthean church: it was probably experiencing concern at the apparent lack of triumph and progress in the world of the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus” (231-232). 

             We are seeing the correlation between how Jesus was using the cultural aspects of the time and relating it to a deeper understanding for the people in whom he was telling the story.  The farmer informs the workers that an enemy of his has done this to his crop.   At this point, the difference in knowledge between the farmer and his workers is revealed.  The workers ask if the farmer wants them to go and begin pulling the weeds out of his crop, so as to make his crop right.  The farmer, revealing his knowledge of agriculture and his financial status says that it is too late to do that because the roots of both plants have established themselves together.  “Furthermore, the weeds look very much like the wheat plants, so a person cannot always distinguish between them” (Hultgren 296).  The potential lies that his crop could be hurt because both plants would be pulled up, thus damaging some of his crop and ultimately his pocketbook. (Allowing the weeds to grow to maturity will surely assure that the field itself will be irreparably damaged by the weed seeds that will almost certainly sow themselves, ruining future crops as well. What kind of irresponsible farmer is this?)

            The farmer also reveals the plan that he has to see to it that his crop is still a success.  He informs the workers that he wants them to allow both to grow together until it is time to harvest them.  He will inform the harvesters at that time that he would like the weeds gathered up and tied into bundles so that the weeds are burned. After that he wants the wheat gathered and taken into his barn.  The farmer obviously possesses knowledge of the particular weed that he is dealing with and that he is aware that there will be a way to distinguish them from each other since they do look so alike.  He is in the business of salvaging every bit of his crop. (But what about the field?)

Personal Reflection

            This specific parable comes equipped with an explanation from Jesus himself.  Holding to the fact that I do not question anything that Jesus says, I accept the claim of what he explained. Nevertheless, I understand that what Jesus said most likely was not written down verbatim as he spoke. His parables were written down after his time.  Still, I do not call into question what has been copied, but will try to explain this parable how I have come to understand it. 

            I see within this parable that the farmer represents God and how he has done his job in his distribution of people on this earth.  The evil man represents the devil and how he is doing his job as best he can to mess up what God has done.  God knows exactly what he has done and created and he has a plan for each one of us.  Just as I stated above, God is in the business of salvaging every person he can.  God is aware that everyone is not going to serve him and in order for him to salvage his people, he has to let them be together and leave them the option to serve Him.  When the time comes for His return to this earth, it will be easy to weed out those who do not know him.  Those who do not know him will be gathered and burned, but those to have chosen Christ and His teaching will be gathered unto him and taken to heaven to serve Him forever. 

            This life has taught us so much about what it means to be selfish and to take everything for ourselves.  It has shown us how to be a disturbance in a creation that was meant for good.  The choice to serve Christ is just that, a choice.  As we intertwine with those around us who do not desire to serve Christ, it should be obvious to us that many around us are seeking to hide themselves and maintain that they can have the mentality that they are good people and blend in.  But as time goes on and people grow and establish their lives, the end will yield a result that some may not want to hear.