My Dear People, 

This parable describes a real scenario from the first century agricultural world, where Roman laws specifically forbade the sabotaging of crops by planting darnel. A man sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy sowed weed all through the wheat. The weed here is darnel, a poisonous plant whose roots would become intertwined with the rest of the wheat crop.  To remove it without damaging the wheat would be difficult, which is why the householder tells his servants not to pull up the weeds yet: if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. 

Though darnel  could destroy a crop, it did have one positive use; it could be burned for fuel. The householder alludes to this when he tells the servants that the harvesters will collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning. 

The parable of the mustard seed builds on the previous one, showing that despite the enemy’s opposition to the kingdom, the harvest will yield tremendous results. At first, the kingdom does not appear to be very large. It is like a mustard seed, which was proverbially the smallest of all seeds.  From this tiny seed, a great bush emerges. Jesus describes it as becoming so big that birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches—which recalls an Old Testament description of a great kingdom that gathers many nations as a large tree gathers birds who nest on its branches.  In particular, Ezekiel foretold that Israel would gather the nations like a mighty cedar that shelters the birds of the air (Ezek. 17:22-24). Jesus uses this parable to show how his kingdom movement, despite its small beginnings, will become like a prophetic large tree gathering birds, fulfilling Israel’s mission to the nations as Ezek. 17 foretold. 

Matthew next shows how Jesus’ new approach of speaking obscurely to the crowds only in parables is part of God’s plan, foreshadowed in the Old Testament. Using a fulfillment quotation, Matthew cites the opening lines of Ps. 78:  I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has laid hidden from the foundation of the world. Matthew’s most basic purpose here is to show that Jesus’ parables are in accord with God’s will. Perhaps, since Matthew refers to the psalmist as a prophet, he is revealing Jesus as the official spokesman for God. More likely, since Ps. 78 sums up Old Testament salvation history, Matthew is indicating that Jesus is the one who brings God’s plan of salvation to its completion. 

Jesus moves away from the crowds and into the house in order to give his disciples an explanation of  the parable of the weeds in the field. The parable shows that even though the kingdom is dawning on the world, the wicked and the faithful will coexist with it until the final judgment. Like the weeds among the wheat, the wicked may not be easily distinguished from the faithful, represented by the good seed. But at harvest time—the judgment at the end of the age—the Son of Man will send his angels to uproot the weeds, which are identified as all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. 

Thus while the parable encourages patience with the presence of wickedness in the world, it also provides assurance that the faithful children of the kingdom will be vindicated and the wicked will face a severe judgment, as the weeds are thrown into the fiery furnace—an allusion to the burning trash dump outside Jerusalem called ‘Gehenna, an image of hell (see 5:22). There the wicked will experience wailing and grinding of teeth—an image Jesus earlier used to describe unfaithful Israelites being expelled from the kingdom (8:22). 

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Vincent Clemente