WHEAT AND TARES - A REFLECTION

Delivered at Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, S.D. on Sunday, July 19, 2020.

THE LESSON

Matthew 13:24--43 - Parable of the Wheat and Tares

+In the Name of our ever-loving God+

Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and Tares is one of his most fascinating; in that, it is a parable about the kingdom of God and a parable about judgement wedged between two other parables on the kingdom of God: the parable of the sower and the parable of sower sowing mustard seed which were the topic of last Sunday’s reflection. Jesus’ in depth explanation of this parable sheds light on all three of these seedy parables, which are all about messaging.  

Jesus’ choice of wheat and tares growing in the same field references a common problem that farmers of the time would have understood.  While wheat and tares can be differentiated to the discerning eye once both mature, at their early stages of growth, tares (a form of rye grass that Jesus is talking about) looks identical to wheat and is almost impossible to get rid of during the growing season without running the risk of ruining the entire crop.  At a time when there were no herbicides, an infestation of tares in a wheat field would have necessitated them being separated at harvest time.  In fact, the audience of Jesus’ day would have immediately understood how ridiculous it would be for a servant or hired hand to suggest pulling up the tares from the wheat before the harvest.  

An important piece of information that provides insight into this parable comes immediately before Jesus’ explanation of it. Matthew has Jesus quoting Psalm 78:2 where it says, “I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”  The intent of this verse appears to point us in the direction of of the creation story itself in order to find within this parable what has been hidden since the creation of the world.  I would suggest what the Psalmist says has become hidden so well, like all the best hiding places, remains in plain sight and is recorded in the last verse of the first chapter of Genesis, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”  In this simple statement, the writers of Genesis assert a profound truth upon which the rest of scripture unfolds and upon which our history continues to unfold.   

The “Someone” who went out to sow “good seed” Jesus says is the Son of Man who spreads the good word of God’s good creation.  In turn, the “field” is the world in which it is revealed that both good and evil message have been planted.  In the creation story of Genesis this is represented by the Tree of Knowledge of Good an Evil.  

I have found it useful to hold on to God’s eternal assessment that all of creation is good as best as I can while reading scripture because, within two short chapters of this assessment, we find our biblical parents, Adam and Eve, veering off course  in the pursuit to be as knowledgeable as God by knowing good and evil. 

And what they desired they received and more.  In opting for knowing good and evil, the certainty of innocence they possessed died and they found themselves with a new ability; the ability to judge each other.  

Suddenly they couldn’t be certain about anything because they were receiving mixed messages. They couldn’t even be certain about themselves because differences appeared that were not important or obvious before. They had to hide from themselves and hide from God, and ever since then, we’ve been hiding from each other and trying to hide from God. 

The surface story presented in this parable seems to be talking about people in terms of being either good seed or bad seed.  In fact, the notion of referring to a perpetual troublemaker as “bad seed” find its roots in this parable.  But beneath the surface story, in Jesus’ explanation of this parable, Jesus explicitly talks about the causes of evil in a personified way.  He talks about the children of evil who are sown by the devil and he says (in the original Greek text and in reference to the prophecy of Daniel) that at the end of time, the Son of Man and the angels will gather together all the causes of evil and all the unlawfulness that results to be cast into the fire like the tares, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth for these shadowy minions of evil.

“Son of the devil” was a pejorative idiom used in Jesus’s day.  [See John 8:48]  Remember he once called  Peter “Satan” [ See Matthew 16:23] and on occasion implied that the religious leaders of his day were children of the devil. [John 8:48]   In his use of these pejoratives, did Jesus really see people as the offspring of Satan or the devil?    It’s highly doubtful.  

The portrayal of evil as the evil one or the devil is description of an affective phantom that does not have the ability to create living beings only the ability to have an influence on human behavior.  The only children of the devil is the evil that is brought about by devil’s deceptions and lies.  In fact, scripture describes the devil as a liar and the father of lies [John 8:44].   Jesus’ use of this pejorative term, “Children of evil” was to awaken his audience and religious leaders to the fact that, in in their certainty about their personal righteousness, they were blind to the righteousness that was standing before them.

Jesus’ explanation of this parable, underscores what we discussed last Sunday, that you cannot tell the condition of the another person’s worthiness simply by what one sees or hears.  In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns us not to judge; not to fall into the trap of seeing everything in terms of good and evil as our biblical parents did.  [See Matthew 7:1]

Human history is a tragic story of judging one another as to who’s good and bad.  We have fought wars based on such judgements.   Christians have engaged in persecutions and genocide based on a sense of another person’s value or worthiness by the virtue of their culture or appearances.  We have destroyed much of creation based on deception that considers only the short-term benefit without considering the long-term evil that can result.

The question this parable raises is why do we persist in the ridiculous behavior of tearing up each other and our world based on mixed messaging that casts evil as good and good as evil?  Jesus once asked, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? [Matthew 7:3]  Why do we seek the mercy of God, but so often arrogantly refrain from showing mercy to others?

Yet, underneath the surface story of our tragic history resides this hidden truth that in eyes of God, in the judgement of our merciful God, all is good, including us.  The good news is that, in the end, all the causes of evil will come to an end and what is hidden from our eyes today will once again be revealed in the fullness of the ever-evolving Kingdom  of God that we are a part of.

* * * * * * * * * * 

Ever-loving God, open our eyes to see beyond the surface reality we created in our pursuit to judge each other as good or evil. Protect us from the mixed messages that bombarde us daily, and help us to maintain by faith, through hope, and in love, the goodness you see in us and all of creation.

Amen.

Until next time, stay faithful.

Norm