Who Is Wheat; Who is Weeds

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Parables tend to pull the rug out from underneath us. Just when we think that we know exactly what Jesus is asking of us, we encounter a parable that makes us take a second look. The parable of the wheat and the weeds is just such a story. This particular parable appears only in St. Matthew’s Gospel. Consequently, the contents of this parable might be directed toward the community for which St. Matthew wrote. We know that St. Matthew was writing for the Christian community of Jerusalem. This community was made up almost exclusively of Jews who had turned their attention toward Jesus and regarded him as the Messiah. However, Gentiles have also been invited to participate. So, there is a very real possibility that St. Matthew is comparing this community to a field that is divided.

Like any good gardener, the servants of this particular farmer suggest that they should go through the field and uproot the weeds. However, the farmer or master counsels his servants to let the weeds grow along with the wheat until harvest time. While we might disagree with this tactic, the original Greek text amplifies the danger of letting the weeds grow. The word that we translate as “weeds,” is actually a word that describes a specific plant called darnel. Darnel tends to look very much like wheat, even producing stalks that imitate wheat. However, Darnel is poisonous. Letting it grow with the wheat makes the harvest all the more difficult and dangerous. If a stalk of darnel is mixed in with the wheat, there is a real danger that someone might be a victim of the poison. Why, then, does the parable suggest that it is better to let them grow together than to uproot the weeds as they appear?

Jesus tells the apostles that the field represents the world in which they live, and by extension, the world in which we live. We know from the writings of St. Paul as well as the text of the Acts of the Apostles that the early Christian community was often a community in conflict. Perhaps the Jewish Christians felt that since they were sons and daughters of Abraham, they were the wheat and the Gentile Christians were the weeds. Perhaps the Gentile Christians felt that they were the wheat with their freedom from old rules and that the Jewish Christians were an obstacle to the growth of the community. If we can't be quite sure who is a weed and who is wheat, perhaps we are better off not uprooting anything.

The world in which we live is very much like the field that Jesus describes. Human history has shown that we have made progress in some ways, and yet evil grows as well. We have developed diplomatic channels such as the United Nations, the Red Cross, and rules governing the treatment of prisoners. However, we  have also developed terrible weapons of war. We have raised the standard of living for many people, but we have also excluded so many people from that prosperity. We have abolished slavery, but we have also seen the growth of human trafficking. We have developed cures for many diseases, but we have also developed biological weapons. The list goes on. Yet the parable of Jesus assures us that the wheat is growing. The human race also needs to grow in tolerance, in patience, and particularly in mercy.

The reading from the Book of Wisdom explains to us that our all-powerful God, a God of mercy and compassion, is merciful precisely because God is all-powerful. Only the strong can be merciful. It takes great strength to forgive. Lest we forget, we are the people who have experienced God’s forgiveness. We are reminded of this fact each and every time that we pray the Lord’s Prayer in which we ask God to forgive us as we have forgiven. Be careful what you pray for! Heaven help us if God takes us at our word in this prayer!

As I said at the beginning, parables tend to pull the rug out from underneath us. The parable of the wheat and the weeds is such a parable. It warns us against being judgmental, assigning certain groups to the weeds and calling ourselves the wheat. These kinds of decisions are best left to God.