TRANSLATION MATTHEW 13: 24

Jesus set out for them another parable:

“The Rule of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But when people were sleeping there came an enemy who sowed darnel amongst the wheat and went off. When the plants sprouted and made grain, then the darnel showed as well. Then the landowner’s slaves came to him saying, ‘Master, surely you sowed good seed in your field, so where did the darnel come from?’ And he told them,’An enemy has done this.’ The slaves asked him, ‘Master, do you want us to go out and collect it?’ But he told them,’ No, in case when you’re collecting the darnel you uproot the wheat along with it. Let them grow together until harvest; and when that harvest time is here I will say to the reapers,’Collect the darnel first and tie it in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my granary.'”

This is another profound parable which undermines traditional theology of God’s omnipotence.

If the divine sower has used good seed where do the weeds come from? The answer is specific but not enlightening: an enemy has done this. Matthew may have thought it obvious that the enemy was The Satan, the adversary of God in Jewish thought, but the parable refuses an identification. The main point is that the sower has enemies. There is no question of annihilating the enemy, since we are only dealing with a farmer.

The farmer does have the choice of immediately getting rid of the weeds., but for the sake of the welfare of the wheat, he leaves the weeds to grow until harvest. Doubtless until then the weeds compete with the wheat for nourishment, but that process is encompassed by the farmer’s wisdom. Then, at harvest, the weeds are simply gathered and burnt, while the wheat is gathered and stored.. All this is simply natural for the average farm.

Jesus was telling people that the way of God’s Rule is no different from the way a farmer ‘rules’ his land. Life comes from a process of creation similar to sowing, which always works although there are problems. There are enemies who want it to go wrong. Human beings might want these problems eradicated , but God’s wisdom trusts the process. Eventually wrong things end up on the trash heap, while God stores up the successes of creation.

If this is true of creation as a whole it is also true of the individual life. The enemy sometimes sows all kinds of malign growths in the human person. But, for the sake of the good life in the person God does not rush to judgement but awaits the time when the malign growths will die off, leaving the good life to nourish the world.