We probably need to be first century farmers to properly understand what Jesus is saying in this parable of the wheat and the weeds or the wheat and the darnel. The image is of the farmer who comes out in the morning and sees the first shoots of the wheat that he has planted. They are tiny and very green. His enemy has come by night to sow darnel, a type of weed. The problem is that, like the wheat, when it first starts to shoot it is tiny and very green. How is the farmer going to distinguish one from the other? If he tries to weed out the darnel he will probably take a lot of the good wheat with it. Jesus uses this parable because he knows that every farmer would wait until harvest time to start weeding out the rubbish.
But Jesus is not really interested in giving a lesson in farming. So why does he tell the parable? I think there are several messages in it. One of the messages is really addressed to those who are disappointed because there doesn’t seem to be much sign of the coming of the kingdom. As they look around they still see both good and evil, people whose lives are obvious examples of love and selflessness, but also people who lie and cheat and exploit others. Jesus is addressing their disappointment that the kingdom that he has been preaching is not coming quickly enough. In our own day this can be seen in those who abandon the Christian life because they say that Christianity is making no difference in the world, or because they see in the church examples of ways of living that are the complete opposite of what Jesus has preached. The message of the parable is really one of hope. Jesus is calling on them to keep alive their hope in the truth of his message, and not to abandon it in despair. Hope can be nurtured if people understand the dynamics of the coming kingdom of God. Jesus’ message is that God has begun to reign and that his reign is gradually taking heart in the world. God isn’t acting like some magician who suddenly changes the way things are. Rather, God has sown a seed and it is growing steadily. Yes, it is growing in the midst of the bad seed, the weeds, but it is growing. God is waiting until the harvest is ripe before pulling out the weeds. Jesus is asking his followers to wait with God, to be patient, and to live in the hope that when the harvest is ready the kingdom will be clearly visible.
Another message of the parable is addressed to individuals and to their own experience of failure and disappointment. The more you listen to the gospel and seek to live it in your life the more you become aware of the movements in your own heart; you become more self-conscious. We have traditionally spoken of this as examining our conscience. The Christian life is an examined life. All of us probably realise that despite all our best intentions and best efforts we often find ourselves doing things we regret and that disappoint us. The question we face is how we should deal with this. Jesus’ message is that sometimes the good and the bad in us are closely linked. Parents know this instinctively. They often tolerate something unpleasant in their young child’s behaviour because they know that to try to stop it might crush the child’s spirit and the child might not flourish. Often it is a matter of being able to tame the wild parts of our life so that they can be used for good and so that our character grows. While parents seem to know this instinctively, as we grow up we can become quite intolerant of our weaknesses – we don’t know how to deal with them. Some people end up being very hard on themselves, so that while they might finally eliminate all that disappoints them from their life, they also crush the God-given spirit of freedom and thus they never fully live at their potential. Jesus is saying that God is patient with us – just as the farmer allows the wheat and the darnel to grow together – so we also should be patient with ourselves.
There is one other message in Jesus’ parable, and it is connected to the previous two; and it concerns how we think of God. We should make no mistake: Jesus is challenging the people about the way they think of God. At the time of Jesus there were various groups of religious zealots who were working hard to purify religion. They interpreted the law very strictly, and, as Jesus says, they laid heavy burdens of people’s shoulders. In some sense Jesus is condemning them and pointing out that their actions can lead to greater evil. In seeking to weed out all the darnel they are also killing the good wheat. God is not like this; God is not like a religious zealot. Religious zealotry is often a characteristic of difficult and troubled times; it is often a sign that people feel under threat. Jesus acknowledges this, but he calls for hope. In a time of threat the virtue of hope is needed more than ever.
There is something common is the three messages of the parable that I have mentioned. Whether it be the disillusionment with the slowness of the coming kingdom of God and the seeming absence of God, or disappointment with our own personal fidelity to the gospel, or the temptation to religious zealotry – the thing that is common is the temptation to want to leave God aside. In one extreme form of this we can give up on God and abandon the Christian life; in a different manifestation of it we can think that we’re able to make everything right. Jesus says that in each of these cases the thing that is really needed is hope in God. God is patient with the world, with us, with the church. The kingdom is coming, and it is coming slowly. We are invited to imitate the patience of God and to persevere.
Fr Gerard Kelly
