16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

Mt 13:24-30

The explanation for speaking in parables and the explanation of the parable of the Sower are followed by three more parables. These three parables are also spoken to the disciples and the crowds.

The first of these three parables may be called the Parable of the Weeds of the Field. This parable contrasts two kinds of seeds in much the same way that the Parable of the Sower contrasts good soil with unfruitful ground.

As with all the parables, we may ask three questions:

• What does the parable mean at this point in the gospel? It may have the same meaning as found in 12:33ff. It is about the good tree and its good fruit and the bad tree with its bad fruit.

• What did it mean in the life of the Church? The Church’s explanation may be found in 13:36ff. The judgment is coming at the end of this age when the wicked and the righteous will be separated and each will receive his just deserts.

A more restricted interpretation would be: the disciples are the good seed while the scribes, Pharisees and unbelievers are the weeds, sown not by God but by the evil one. As the farmer leaves wheat and weeds together until the harvest, so God will leave the Church and the synagogue side by side in this world until the end of the age.

• What did it mean when Jesus used it? The key is found in vv. 29f. The disciples must wait until God brings this age to an end, and leave the separating of men to him and his angels. See also 1Cor 4:5.

v. 24. He proposed another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

This method of introducing a parable is a translation of an Aramaic expression and it means: “It is the case with the Kingdom of heaven as with a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

vv. 25-26. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

Weeds is “zizania” in Greek. This type of weed is called “bearded darnel”. In their early stages they so closely resembled the wheat that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other. The grain of bearded darnel is slightly poisonous. It causes dizziness and sickness and is narcotic in its effects. Even a small amount has a bitter and unpleasant taste.

v. 27. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?'

Jesus has been called the householder, that is the master of the house and his disciples are his servants (or slaves) (10:24f).

vv. 28-29. He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' His slaves said to him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them.'

Deliberately sowing weeds in another man’s field is a crime in Roman law and therefore, punishable. In India an enemy is known to make this kind of threat: “I will sow bad seed in your field.”

When the wheat and the darnel produced heads of grain, it was easier to distinguish one from the other. But by this time their roots were so entwined that the darnels could not be weeded out without tearing the wheat out with them.

v. 30. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."

Darnel was dried and used for fuel.

The householder’s words echo the threat of St. John the Baptist (cf. 3:12). In fact, in Greek the words are identical.