There is always so much more to a Jesus parable than the surface meaning. The story of the weeds and the wheat is classic. It forces us all to think about much larger social issues than the farmer’s plantings. A few queries:
- The writers of Matthew’s gospel consistently over-explain Jesus’s meaning. Beware and simplify to get the point. Is it God’s point?
-Check to see whether this parable is reported by other gospel writers. It is NOT. It is unique to Matthew. This is significant, largely because Matthew is the gospel with the strongest agenda about “selling” Jesus’ ideas to Jews.
-Focus on the primary words attributed to Jesus—the basics, not the explanatory elaborations directed to the disciples alone in private. This story is told as an image of the Kingdom of Heaven—God’s territory and charge, that is not the “heaven” we speak of after death. It is NOW.
-Think economics: farm workers (laborers) who work for a “Boss” aka God who is in charge of this kingdom. They naturally worry about the wellbeing of the seeds they plant, the crops that represent their livelihood (Business)
-Heroes of story = farmers (suppliers/supply) and good wheat (product in demand) Think Ukrainian imports in 2023. Think starvation as a looming worldwide threat in 2023.
-Villains = weeds that grow up alongside the wheat, quite a natural process.
-Questions posed: what do we do about the evil weed, evil deeds? It is THEY (humanity not God) who think a secret “enemy” has sowed weeds among their wheat. THEY are sure that THEY should pull up and destroy these weeds as evil enemies.
-Jesus says STOP. Let this unholy mess grow together until the harvest when God will do the decision-making—not us.
What is the central wisdom this parable conveys? The simple NO from Jesus to so many of our human assumptions about morality: what and who is good, and what and who is evil, then creating an EITHER/OR tension—not to mention foolhardy assumptions that any one person or any one group or religion knows God’s will.
Therefore: Biblical Wisdom is not based in morality alone; it is spiritual, mobile, blessed, known alone to its Creator. Our work is to watch the signs and pray.
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Right now the EARTH is crying for Mercy. According to a plea from the 7/23 newsletter from the Sisters of Mercy: “Perhaps this is a time to turn our attention, our spiritual attention to Earth, to acknowledge that Earth is a living being that has given us life. We are part of one living being we call Earth. Will we hear its cry, sense its suffering? Earth desperately needs our love and attention, our prayer.”
4 comments:
A few years ago, a retreat house decided to leave one of the large fields on their several acred property, let's say, "unweeded." It grew wild and beautiful until of course it got out of hand and unmanageable. It's near impossible for me to think this, but I do wonder whether Jesus Christ knew that this wildness was exactly what Creation need to bear good fruit of blessing for ALL. Psalm 103 begins "Be wild, O my soul for the Source of Wonder;/let all my insides praise the Holy Name." This is from The Complete Psalms, 2010 translation by Pamela Greenberg. Other translations use "Bless" or "Praise". Me, I prefer "BE WILD..." It has chutzpa and energetic excess. GO!
ok this is my 2nd try on this comment..... I think generally humans prefer to have everything sorted, organized and labeled. It is much easier when things are "in order." I find this works very well when I am setting up my desk or my kitchen but that it fails quite miserably in relationships and is a hindrance to my prayer life and being more fully alive.
I'm not writing about external chaos here, or a disorderly desk. I'm advocating for a spiritual state of mind, heart, and soul:open, free, energized, ready to receive, ready to give one's mind, heart, and body to Life itself. And certainly to the solitude and silence that prayer sometimes requires. To be ready to embrace full Life itself can actually feel "wild"— filled with the Spirit. You're right that this Spirit is not orderly and neither are most relationships, God, or Love itself. Can you imagine the groaning when Jesus summoned his disciples to follow? NOW.
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