Category Archives: Scripture

Our Impatience with the Weed

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The landowner (God) is quite patient and accepts that there will be “weeds” among the harvest – it is the lot of the human enterprises. Some people do not/will not/cannot hear the Word sown in their lives. The laborers in the parable are quick to want to eradicate the poison. I think history has shown that we reach beyond our calling – not to simply point out error – but to extinguish the source and root of that error. In the first centuries of the Church, when some of the epic battles over theological orthodoxy and heresy were waged, executions were not part of the Church’s response. There might be condemnation, banishment and loss of position, but people were not put to death. Yet a millennia later the island nation of England has its book of Protestant and Catholic martyrs as witness to our human reaction to “weeds” among us, despite the Gospel message.

Patricia Datchuck Sánchez nicely summarizes this point:

In marked contrast to the forbearance and patience of God, there is a tendency among his creatures to distinguish, discriminate and, all too often, to disparage and even to dispose of one another. Differences which are perceived as a measure of weakness or a diminishment of personal worth have unfortunately proven to be sufficient impetus for provoking some of the darkest periods in the history of humankind.

In an effort to separate “good” from “bad”, or the law-abiding from the insurgents, Claudius forced a separation and commanded all Jews to leave Rome (ca. 49-50 C.E.). Centuries later, Jews would be similarly expelled from Spain (1492). Later yet, and in an act of unique horror, Adolf Hitler attempted to definitively separate and annihilate every Jewish person in order to construct what he perceived to be a superior race. When he was finally stopped in 1945, only 3,000,000 out of a population of 9,000,000 Jews in Europe remained alive. Millions of non-Jews were also killed during the third Reich, their only crime being the fact that they were judged as different and therefore lesser than their persecutors.

During the Middle Ages (ca. 1150 C.E.), formal investigative tribunals were established with an eye to safeguarding the integrity and authenticity of the faith. But when Pope Innocent III declared heresy a capital time in 1199 C.E. and when the Fourth Lateran Council (1215 C.E.) provided secular punishment for heretics, all manner of cruelty and injustice ensued. Inquisitors were ruthless in their prosecution of those whose ideas ranged anywhere from the truly heretical to the merely diverse. Those alleged to be heretics had no rights; they were forced to prove their own innocence without benefit of counsel.

Similar attempts at separating those judged to be orthodox from those who were not resulted in the infamous witch trials which swept Europe from the thirteenth to the early eighteenth century and crossed the Atlantic to take hold in the Americas in the seventeenth century. Religious intolerance perpetrated the torture and deaths of actual practitioners of black magic, necromancy, etc. as well as others who were accused simply because they happened to have red hair, or who, because of nervousness may have stumbled through the Lord’s Prayer.

Segregation and separation of peoples because of their different ideas, or social mores, has been a blight on the visage of humanity for centuries.

Image credit: Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, attributed to Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, 1590 – 1610, Public Domain

Two Sowings

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  One should note that this parable of the “Weeds among the Wheat” is explained in Mt 13, outside our gospel, but closely placed:

36 Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, 38 the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 Just as weeds are collected and burned (up) with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. 42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear. 

The identification of the allegorical characters is not hidden, but what is the intention of the parable as a whole, especially as it pertains to the decision by the Master to leave the wheat and the darnel untouched until the harvest? I would suggest that the meaning may well be connected to the unique element of this parable: there are two sowings.

In the parable of the “Sower and the Seed” (vv.3-9) There is one sowing with seed, a symbol of the good and potent word of God, which generates believers, and the issue is “What kind of soil are you?”  But in the parable of the “Weeds Among the Wheat” there are two sowings, and the question is “Are the good seeds sown by the householder/Jesus? Or are you the toxic seed sown by the enemy/Satan.  This is an expression of a Matthean view of two kingdoms: of heaven and of the world.

The parable of the “Weeds Among the Wheat” points out the presence of the kingdom in the world: children of the kingdom must coexist with children of the evil one in this world until the end. As mentioned above, this reinforces the themes of on-going conversion (understanding, action, joy, perseverance in suffering brought about by tribulation or persecution, and ultimately bearing fruit superabundantly “in the world,” that place where anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit (v.22).

There are scholars who hold that Matthew’s unique use of the parable speaks primarily to the idea of a community of believers in which true and false disciples coexist – a theme not unknown to Matthew’s gospel. As R.T. France [2007, 532]  notes: “See for instance the recruitment of “bad as well as good” guests to the wedding feast…with the result that one of the new invitees had subsequently to be thrown out (22:11–13). The wicked will be picked out “from among the righteous” (13:49). There are false prophets who are wolves dressed up as sheep (7:15–20); there are those who call Jesus “Lord, Lord” with apparent sincerity, but who do not belong to him (7:21–23); there are foolish as well as wise bridesmaids, waiting and sleeping together until the bridegroom arrives (25:1–12); there is a son who sounds more loyal than his brother, but who ultimately fails to deliver (21:28–32). All these passages are peculiar to Matthew, and more could be added.”

As interesting as that might be, here the field is identified as the “world” which indicates that the concern is wider than just what happens inside the Church. Within the “world” believers and unbelievers continue to exist side by side even after the proclamation of the kingdom of heaven and Jesus’ assault on the kingdom of Satan. Then and now some disciples find this a bit unsettling and a little baffling. Where is the kingdom and a new order promised by Jesus? It does not seem to be much of a kingdom when opposition continues unabated? The parable answers that question by a call to patience, directing attention away from the current situation to the coming judgment, when it will be made plain who are the true people of God and who are the “children of the Evil One.” God is not in a hurry, and we must be prepared to wait for his time.

Image credit: Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, attributed to Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, 1590 – 1610, Public Domain 

Weeds Among the Wheat

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. This parable is unique to Matthew and unlike the other evangelists who also tell a pericope of the “Sower and the Seed,” Matthew’s use and placement of this unique parable seems to serve as a reinforcement of the themes of on-going conversion “in the world” that place where anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit (Mt 13:22).

The passage opens: “He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” (13:24).  What we translate as “proposed” is more literally translated from paratithēmi meaning “to set before.” While the word is sometimes used to mean presenting or teaching laws (in the Greek language OT, Septuagint LXX), it is more typically used in the LXX and NT for serving a meal. R.T. France [2007, 525] suggests that it might mean the more straightforward “propose” but given its use in a parable, the idea of “serving a meal” may be more appropriate in that the listener will not be “spoon fed.” If they want to garner the fuller, deeper meaning from the parable, they are going to have to “chew on it a while.”

The opening of the parable might lead some readers astray: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man.” It is a standard means of comparison (cf. 7:24; 13:31, 33; 18:23; 22:2; 25:1; 11:16) and reflects a standard Jewish idiom for “It is this way with the kingdom.” In other words, the “way” is the entire parable, not simply a man who sowed good seed in his field (13:24).  Yet the man is not unimportant in the story.  Unlike the person in the “Sower and the Seed” who may be a worker, a farmer, a hired hand, or the land owner; here in this parable, the  man who sowed good seed in his field is clearly the householder (v.27) who is the Master (v.27) and who has his enemy (v.25). The man’s authority suits him as an analogy for God. Both rabbis and Greek philosophers employ a householder as an analogy for God.

Given the agrarian character of much of ancient life, it should not surprise us that fields and harvests figure prominently as settings in parables. How the images are used is not standard but garner meaning from their use in context. In Matthew’s use, context is provided by the earlier parable’s use of the soil in vv.3-9 (The Sower and the Seed). In an apparent re-emphasizing of those earlier themes, it may be that the land represents the “soil” of the people of God for whom Jesus came to bring salvation.  In other words, the kingdom of heaven.

Two key figures in the parable are the enemy and the weeds. The weeds are probably darnel, a poisonous plant related to wheat and virtually indistinguishable from it until the ears form. To sow darnel among wheat as an act of revenge was punishable in Roman law, which suggests that the parable depicts a real-life situation. Who would do such a thing?  Only an enemy or rival.

With early signs of the infestation, it was perhaps possible to uproot the weeds before their roots were entangled with those of the wheat – something the servants seem willing to propose (v.28). A light infestation of darnel could be tackled by careful weeding, but mistakes would easily be made (v.29). In the case of a heavy infestation the stronger roots of the darnel would be tangled with those of the wheat, making selective weeding impossible.

After the wheat and darnel were grown, they were easily distinguished and reapers could gather the darnel, which did have one use: given the scarcity of fuel, it would be burned.

Image credit: Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, attributed to Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, 1590 – 1610, Public Domain

Why do people not believe

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time. As we covered in the previous post we have moved from the missionary commissioning of the Twelve with the warning that things will not always go well for them. This is part of the message in Matthew 10 and 11. While Matthew 12 is not part of the Sunday cycle of readings, it is covered extensively in the weekday readings – as we covered previously.

Chapter 12 tells how widespread is the opposition (or resistance) to Jesus’ saving message: Pharisees, the people, and perhaps even those closest to Jesus – his disciples and family.  Signs of power and healing only lead to requests for more signs. Why do people not believe? Is there any explanation for the condition of things we have arrived at by the end of Matthew 12? Indeed there is; the explanation begins with simple words: “A sower went out to sow” (13:3)

Matthew 13 is a “day of parables.” The parable of the sower is spoken in public to great crowds (vv. 1–3), but its explanation and the teaching about parables are spoken only to the disciples (vv. 10–11). More parables are then spoken to ‘the crowds’ (v. 34), but the crowds are again left behind (v. 36), and the second explanation and further parables are spoken to the disciples in ‘the house’ (which Jesus had left in v. 1). The unresponsive crowds are thus clearly distinguished from the disciples to whom alone explanation is given, and this distinction is spelt out in vv. 11–17.

This short section of the Gospel according to Matthew presents a quick succession of parables:

  • Weeds among the Wheat (vv.24-30)
  • Mustard Seed (vv.31-32)
  • Yeast (v.33) – At this point Jesus leaves the crowd and speaks only to the disciples when he explains the parable of the weeds in the field (vv.36-43)
  • The Treasure, the Pearl, and the Net thrown into the Sea (vv.44-50) – 17th Sunday reading.

Last week’s gospel, the parable of the “Sower and the Seed,” began Jesus’ explanation of why people would resist or refuse the word of the Kingdom of heaven (13:19). This “word” is an expression that encapsulates all the proclamations, deeds and miracles given to the people that they might believe (Mt 8-9).

Although our gospel text does not seem to indicate the audience, v.34 (All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables) does make it clear that the hearers are not the disciples alone, but that the crowd is again an active participant. Given the disciples’ question: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” (v.10) and the fact that Jesus is again speaking in parables, it is clear that a larger audience is present.

Image credit: Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, attributed to Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg, 1590 – 1610, Public Domain

In the flow of Sunday Gospels

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle A. In the flow of the Sunday gospels since the 11th Sunday there was a strong theme of mission. In those five gospel readings we have witnessed Jesus commissioning the Twelve, encouraging them to proclaim the message of Good News from the rooftops, while warning them that all this will come at a cost. On the 13th Sunday gospel Jesus makes clear they will face opposition and pushback from all quarters of life, including their families – and they may well have to choose between family and Jesus. In the course of those three gospels, in a previous post I noted that Mt 10:9-25 was not a Sunday reading but it only emphasizes the opposition, trials, and suffering that they may well face on this mission.

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Why the varied responses?

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the context of Jesus’ ministry the parable serves to explain why it is that the good news of the kingdom meets with such a varied response as we have seen in chapters 11–12, from enthusiastic acceptance to outright rejection. The fault lies not in the message, but in those who receive it.

People are both inadequate in themselves to respond as the word of the kingdom requires (compacted and shallow soil), and also exposed to competing pressures from outside (tribulation and persecution, anxieties and lures, and behind them all the evil one himself). The wonder is not that some do not produce fruit, but that any do. But here lies the parable’s encouragement both to Jesus’ followers then and to all who since then have preached this same gospel; not all will respond, but there will be  some who do, and the harvest will be rich.

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain

Sower, seed or ground?

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time and we have been considering Jesus’ parable of the sower who went out to sow. In the parable there are three primary images: sower, seed, and ground. While there may be some differences in emphasis or specific details, the general understanding of the three images and their interconnection can be summarized as follows:

The sower draws from the OT prophetic tradition of God sowing his seed in the chosen people in the form of the Covenant Law with the purpose of having that fruit multiply. Fulfilling that prophetic role, now the sower represents Jesus or any person who spreads the message of the Gospel, proclaiming the word of God.

As mentioned above, the seed represents the word of God, in the OT given through the Law and Prophets and now given through Jesus, the fulfillment of the Law and Prophets and the Living Word of God. For Christians this means the message of the Gospel. It refers to the teachings and truths found in Scripture and Tradition that have the potential to take root in people’s hearts and transform their lives. The seed symbolizes the divine truth and the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

The ground represents the condition of the human heart or the receptivity of the hearers to the message of the Gospel.

In the context of Matthew’s gospel, much of the chapters previous to Mt 13 have, in one way or another, dealt with the people’s reception or rejection of the mission. In this light, while all three elements—the sower, the seed, and the ground—are important to the parable’s message, the primary focus is on the varying responses of the different types of soil to the sower’s scattering of the seed.

As Christians we are responsible to sow the seeds of faith and proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven – in our place and time and circumstance. We have to “equip” ourselves with “seed,” that is the Word of God and our own relationship with Jesus. We are responsible to “check our feet” to ensure we are planted in fertile, rich soil.  And this also means to examine our own heart and consider how we are responding to the Word of God in our lives. Have allowed that Word to take deep root in our life? Are we bearing fruit? Then our example can shine before others!

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain

What did they hear?

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What did they hear?

This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Matthew 13 is a “day of parables.” The parable of the sower is spoken in public to great crowds (vv. 1–3), but its explanation and the teaching about parables are spoken only to the disciples (vv. 10–11). More parables are then spoken to ‘the crowds’ (v. 34), but the crowds are again left behind (v. 36), and the second explanation and further parables are spoken to the disciples in ‘the house’ (which Jesus had left in v. 1). The unresponsive crowds are thus clearly distinguished from the disciples to whom alone explanation is given, and this distinction is spelt out in vv. 11–17.

The structure of our gospel reading is a bit odd:

  • the parable of the sower and the seed (vv.1–9)
  • a passage explaining parables and the need for their explanation (vv.10–17), and
  • lastly an explanation of the parable of the sower and seed (18–23).

Despite the traditional title of the parable, “The Sower and the See,” the real focus is on the seed and their yields.  More important than the fate of the four different plantings is the contrast between the three unsuccessful planting and the fourth superabundantly successful one.

The parables focus on the seeds is an allegory for those who hear the word of the kingdom proclaimed. The parables describe the varying receptiveness to what they hear; all hear the same word. Yet each type of person is identified as what was sown in a certain place (v.19). This might strike us as odd since we are biased to understand the “seed” as the Word of God proclaimed, but understanding of the parable rests on the interaction of the unvarying seed with the various types of ground. It is interesting to note that the traditional German title is, Gleichnis vom viererlei Acker, “Parable of the four types of ground.” [France 2007, 503]

  • seed sown on the path… without understanding: To understand is more than an intellectual grasp of the message; cf. the contrast in 7:24ff. between hearing and ‘doing’ the word. The word which is only heard is easy prey for the evil one. It is a non-starter.
  • seed sown on rocky ground …receives it with joy: But to start is not necessarily to finish. Here the word is received (not ‘understood’) with joy, but joy without understanding and commitment cannot last: lasts only for a time is literally ‘is temporary’. Tribulation is a general term for suffering which comes from outside; persecution is deliberately inflicted, and usually implies a religious motive. Falls away is literally ‘is tripped up’ (cf. 5:29–30); it is not a gradual loss of interest, but a collapse under pressure. This scenario would be familiar to those who farmed the rocky land of Galilee, where the bedrock is often close to the surface.
  • seed sown among thorns …  This time the soil is good, but it is already taken up. The world (as opposed to the kingdom of God) offers both anxiety and lures (the normal meaning of this word, apatē, is ‘deceit’), each occupying the attention and energy in a way that prevents even good soil from bearing fruit
  • seed sown on rich soil: Hearing is matched with understanding, and the consequences are a superabundant yield.

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain

A sower went out to sow

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. “A sower went out to sow.” As France [2007, 504] notes, in a primarily agrarian society the choice of agricultural imagery for parables needs no special explanation; three of the parables in this chapter are set on the farm. It is estimated that 90% of Israelites worked in some aspect of agriculture. There was also already a tradition in the prophetic books of using agricultural imagery, primarily in judgment narratives (e.g., Is 32, 35 and 44; Jer 31 and 51; Joel 3; and Amos 8).

“And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path,and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” (Mt 13:4-9)

The seed falling on the beaten earth beside the path, where it could not penetrate, may be the few grains which inevitably go beyond the intended range in broadcast sowing, though it is also possible that the technique envisaged is of sowing before plowing in which case the birds got to the seed before the path could be plowed up and the grain buried. This seed is totally wasted.

The second scenario would be familiar to those who farmed the rocky land of Galilee, where the bedrock is often close to the surface. While there is promising initial growth, the point of the parable focuses on the inability of the growing plants to sustain themselves when the heat is on and the shallow soil is quickly parched.

In the third scenario the danger comes not from the inadequate resources in the soil, but from competition. The luxuriant growth of the thorns shows that there is nothing wrong with the soil here; the problem is that it is already occupied and there is no room for a new type of vegetation. The plants do not necessarily die, but they cannot produce grain because of the competition for light and nourishment. There has thus been a progression in the first three scenes: the first seed never started; the second started well but did not survive; the third may even have survived, but produced nothing. But none of them are of any use to the farmer.

In contrast to the first three scenarios, the seed that lands in rich soil produces a bountiful harvest.

What is Jesus implying with his parable? Maybe a better question is what did the people hear?

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain

Before the sower goes out

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This coming Sunday is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the previous post we considered the definition of a parable. In this post we’ll consider the context leading up to this gospel. Last Sunday’s gospel was composed on the final pericope in Matthew 11; today our gospel begins with Mt 13:1.  One can rightly ask, “What happened to chapter 12?”  As it happens, Matthew 12 is not used on any Sunday or Solemnity in the church’s celebrations – and with respect to bible study, that is a critical omission because Mt 13:1-23, the Parable of the Sower along with its explanation, is Jesus’ response to the events of chapter 12.

In the New American Bible (NAB) translation used by the Church for its proclamation of the gospel, Mt 12 “headers” include the following:

  • Picking Grain on the Sabbath – Jesus’ status as the authoritative interpreter of the law is exemplified in the incident of the disciples’ plucking and eating grain on the sabbath.  The account ends with the clear message: “… the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.” (v.8)
  • The Man with a Withered Hand – The question of sabbath observance continues as Jesus initiated a challenge to the Pharisees rooted in his earlier question to them: “If you knew what this meant, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice” (v.7). This account ends with the Pharisee plotting to put Jesus to death.
  • The Chosen Servant – In the midst of the rising opposition to Jesus from the Pharisees, Matthew pauses and places Jesus’ response in the context of the OT Servant of the Lord. Jesus was fully aware of the rising opposition (v. 15) but continued his healing activity (vv. 15–16). His modesty and gentleness in the face of hostility are viewed as the fulfillment of Isa 42:1–4.
  • Jesus and Beelezebul – The healing of a possessed man who was blind and mute provides the occasion for exploring the source of Jesus’ power. The healing (v. 22) produces two reactions: wonder on the part of the crowds whether Jesus is the Son of David or Messiah (v. 23), and hostility from the Pharisees, who are convinced that he is the instrument of Satan (v. 24).
  • A Tree and its Fruits – Jesus takes the offensive with three warnings: (1) Closeness to Jesus is absolutely essential, and the Pharisees must recognize it or run the risk of being on the wrong side when God’s kingdom comes (v. 30). (2) The only unforgivable sin is attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to an evil spirit, as the Pharisees were doing in the case of Jesus. Failure to recognize the Son of Man for what he is may be understandable and even pardonable, but failure to recognize the source of his power is inexcusable (vv. 31–32). (3) The Pharisees’ opposition to Jesus stems from their wickedness, and in the final judgment they will be judged with regard to their willingness or unwillingness to confess that Jesus is empowered by the Holy Spirit (vv. 33–37).
  • The Demand for a Sign – Despite all the miracles that Jesus had already worked, the scribes and Pharisees ask for more signs.  The basic meaning of the sign of Jonah seems to involve the preaching of repentance to non-Jews and its acceptance by them. In verse 40, Matthew has given a second interpretation of the sign of Jonah: the three days spent by the prophet inside the fish (see Jonah 2) were a type or a foreshadowing of the three days between Jesus’ death and his resurrection.
  • The Return of the Unclean Spirit – The passage about the evil spirit’s return is joined to the sign of Jonah by its reference to “this evil generation” (vv. 39, 45), and to the entire section beginning at 12:22 by its concern with evil spirits.
  • The True Family of Jesus – The long treatment of unbelief and rejection that began in the missionary discourse of chapter 10 and continued in the incidents of chapters 11–12 concludes with the definition of the true family of Jesus as those who do God’s will.

Chapter 12 tells how widespread is the opposition (or resistance) to Jesus’ saving message: Pharisees, the people, and perhaps even those closest to Jesus – his disciples and family.  Signs of power and healing only lead to requests for more signs. Why do people not believe? Is there any explanation for the condition of things we have arrived at by the end of Matthew 12? Indeed there is; the explanation begins with simple words: “A sower went out to sow” (13:3)

Image credit: “The Sower” Vincent van Gogh (June 1888), Van Gogh Museum, Public Domain