The World Needs Patience
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Tony’s Overview Video
How to Use
Preparing to teach
- Read the Bible Lesson by Tony Cartledge in this month’s issue of the Nurturing Faith Journal
- Watch Tony’s Video for this session
- Select either the Adult or Youth teaching guide and follow the directions
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Key Text: Matthew 13:43 –
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Darn that Darnel – he goes out drinking every Saturday night and then shows up for church just in time to sing in the choir. Should such a weedy character be rooted out?
And what about Dannie? Everything can be going okay and then she pops up like a dandelion in a fescue lawn and starts some gossipy conversation that just ruins everything.
And don’t get me started on Charlie. He kind of looks at everybody in a creepy sort of way that makes people uncomfortable. Wouldn’t worship be better without him around?
Have you ever thought about such things? We dig weeds out of our gardens and flower beds. Should we do the same in our churches?
That’s not a new question.
A practical question (vv. 24-30)
The “parable of the wheat and the tares” is the second in a series of parables found in Matthew 13, and it appears only there among the biblical gospels. A shorter version of it appears in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, which adapted it from Matthew. [DD]
Matthew portrays parables as containing coded knowledge that would not be accessible to everyone. Thus, Jesus tells the story in public but explains it only in private conversation with his disciples.
The story is straightforward. Like the parables of the sower before it and the mustard seed that follows, it grows from the common experience of Galilean farmers.
A certain farmer planted a field of wheat, using good seed, but a subversive enemy came behind and sowed weeds in the same field. As the plants neared maturity, the farmer’s servants recognized weeds among the wheat and asked what should be done. The farmer understood that removing the weeds would damage the wheat, so he decided to let both grow until harvest time, when the two could be separated and used for different purposes.
A bit of background may help us understand this agrarian tale more clearly. Farmers in the ancient Middle East generally broadcast seed rather than planting in rows, and then plowed to turn the seed under.
The weed in question, called “tares” in the KJV, is designated by the Greek term zizania. It could refer to noxious weeds in general, but typically described a plant known as “darnel,” a plague of ancient farmers. The grassy weed, also known as “bearded darnel” or “false wheat,” is virtually indistinguishable from regular wheat when the plants are young. Only when heads of grain begin to form do their differences become apparent (see “The Hardest Question” online for more).
While growing, the tough roots of the hardy darnel plant grow deep and intertwined with the wheat. By the time the plants become distinguishable, the roots are so enmeshed that it’s impossible to pull up one without the other.
The two have to be separated, though, because darnel seeds are poisonous. Ingesting them can cause dizziness, nausea, and hallucinations: in sufficient quantities, even death.
So, despite the added labor, darnel had to be identified and separated from wheat as it was being harvested. Then it could be bundled up and used to fuel cooking fires or pottery kilns.
A cautionary answer (vv. 36-43)
Everything makes good sense so far, though we might wonder what kind of enemy would be motivated to raise or find enough darnel seeds to sabotage someone’s fields with harmful weeds.
The disciples wondered, too. The author has them wait while Jesus added the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven (vv. 31-33, which we will consider next week).
In vv. 34-35, Matthew returns to the idea that Jesus told parables that were intentionally obscure in keeping with divine instructions to Old Testament prophets that they should prophesy even though many would not understand them or accept their words (vv. 11-15).
Jesus’ teaching fulfilled “what had been spoken through the prophet,” the author wrote, citing: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
The citation is not from a prophetic book, but is adapted from Psalm 78:2: “I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old.” The psalm was attributed to Asaph, who “prophesied under the direction of the king” (David), according to 1 Chr. 25:2. Jesus was regarded as a descendant of David, and Psalm 78 was largely a recital of God’s saving acts in history, so early believers came to consider Jesus as the one who fulfilled God’s ultimate work of salvation. Psalm 78:1-2 was seen as a prophecy of Jesus’ teaching in parables, revealing hidden mysteries of God’s work among humans.
After Jesus retreated from the crowds and entered a house – unidentified, but often thought of as Peter’s home in Capernaum – the disciples asked him to explain “the parable of the weeds of the field.”
What follows is a strongly allegorical interpretation. Scholars are divided as to whether the interpretation goes back to Jesus, or to the author of Matthew’s special source, or if it was the author’s own interpretation of Jesus’ words for his setting.
The allegory goes like this: the one who sowed the good seed is “the Son of Man” (Jesus), while the enemy who sowed weeds is the devil (diabolos). The field is the world, the good seed are “the children of the kingdom,” and the weeds are “the children of the evil one.”
The time of harvest represents the final judgment at the end of the age, when angels would separate the children of the kingdom from the children of the evil one. The latter would be thrown “into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” while the righteous would “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (vv. 37-43). [DD] [DD]
The allegory makes use of stock phrases and images common to apocalyptic writings in the first century, including the concept of a supernatural evil power who opposed God and a burning hell for his followers. While some readers remain comfortable with such eschatological imagery, we may also recognize the metaphorical nature of some ancient concepts. We don’t have to believe in a personal devil or that the loving God we worship will consign non-believers to eternal flaming torment in order to understand the parable.
The primary point of the parable is not that there will be a judgment and an ultimate separation between good and evil: that was assumed. The intent of the parable is to answer the question of why such judgment was delayed, and to remind believers that judgment is God’s business, not ours.
“The field is the world,” Jesus is reported to have said. The most casual observance makes it clear that the world includes positive and productive people on the one hand, along with “bad seed” seed who muck things up on the other.
Sadly, the same is true of the church, which is within the world. As some have observed, the church is not “solely holy.” Some members take Jesus seriously. They seek to live by his teachings, centering their worldviews and their lives around loving God and loving others as Jesus instructed us to do. They are generous with their time and their talents and their resources. They build community, keep the wheels turning, and point the church in the direction of ministry.
We also know, as harsh as it sounds, that the church includes people who are more like weeds than wheat. Some may draw on the church’s resources without giving anything in return. Others may hinder the church’s mission by clinging tightly to narrow or racist attitudes that would cut off the church from its wider community. Others may bring embarrassment or harm to the church through their public behavior.
Sometimes, when we look inside our own minds and motivations, we may recognize elements of both weeds and wheat. Which will win out?
What do we do with weeds among the wheat? Should we practice the kind of church discipline that publicly rebukes wayward members or revokes their standing on the church roll? If so, where should we draw the lines? There may come a time for a certain measure of discernment: a later story in Matthew suggests that when someone persists in harmful or toxic behavior and resists all efforts at reconciliation, they should be treated “as a Gentile or a tax collector” (18:15-17).
But Jesus’ parable suggests that we can never know about weeds, and sometimes we can’t even be sure about wheat. Wheat and darnel were so similar that some ancient people thought the darnel weeds were just good wheat gone bad. Could bad weeds become good wheat?
Let them both grow, Jesus said. Take care of them both while they grow, wait until the harvest, and let the reapers sort things out. Judgment is God’s business, not ours – and aren’t we glad? It’s so easy for us to judge prematurely, or wrongly, or incompletely. We rarely know the whole story. We don’t know others’ hearts. [DD]
We may recognize members of the Christian community who seem to be on a different track and maybe even holding the church back, but our calling is to be patient with them and to love them no less.
As Jesus said, we who have ears to hear had better listen. We can never tell about weeds.
Adult Teaching Resources
Download the PDF of teaching resources for this lesson.
This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Youth Teaching Resources
Social Media Challenge
Post pictures of people that have helped you grow as a person across your social media accounts. Use the hashtag #kingdompeople across your social media platforms as you make your posts. Go back and search the hashtag and see who other people have called out for helping them grow.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
Encourage youth to check out this video ahead of the lesson.
“Growing Suspicious” from The Truman Show
Via www.youtube.com
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