Sermons and discussions that I've heard almost always focus on the last half of the last verse, emphasizing the final judgment. The explanation Jesus privately gave his disciples (verses 37-43) certainly deals with that. But reading it again this morning, I wonder if we've overlooked a couple of points that come before the harvest.
What are the "weeds" that the enemy sowed and the field hands wanted to pull up?
The original word, which might be written in English as "zizania", was translated as "tares" by the King James committee, but appears as "weeds" in many modern translations. After all, most of us in twenty-first-century America have little experience with the details of wheat production. But essentially all sources I checked identify zizania with darnel, a plant with some interesting properties that just might contribute to our understanding of this parable.
Early in its life, darnel resembles wheat very closely. However, the ear develops in a way that is different from true wheat. This reminds me of the description of "wolves in sheep's clothing" in Matthew 7:15-20, where Jesus says we can identify them by their fruit. The visual appearance of the ears made it clear which stalks where true wheat and which were darnel.
There's one more point: darnel grain is toxic when eaten by itself or mixed with wheat. Some sources blame a fungus in the darnel for the toxicity, rather than the grain itself; even if that's the case, I suspect that was a moot distinction in the first century.
The combination of zizania and wolves leads me to understand this in terms of hypocrisy, whose toxic effects are a major problem in contemporary America. Anyone–televangelists, politicians, or everyday people–who pulls a sheep-skin of talk about faith and morality over a self-serving agenda is mixing poison with the good news. And the toxicity is enthusiastically pointed out by those who oppose the good news itself.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could somehow make all of that controversy go away? But that brings me to the other point hidden in this parable.
Why don't the hands dig out the zizania?
As soon as the infestation became apparent, the workers asked the land-owner whether they should go immediately to pull the zizania out of the field.
"Don't do that," he replied, "because you risk pulling up the wheat as well."
The roots are entangled below the ground, in ways that are not visible from surface appearances.
I began thinking about this in terms of the book of Job. I should be humble before demanding what I think of as justice; there's more going on than I understand. We shape the world by the choices we make, and so does everyone around us. In the language of my day job, that process is interactive and in real time. And, still in terms of my work experience, people who try to take aggressive action based on an overly-simplistic view of a complex situation often do more harm than good.
But then I notice that the workers who ask about going right now to pull up the zizania are not the same as the harvesters/reapers who will be given the responsibility of clearing the ripened plants before bringing in the good grain. We who serve are not the agents of final judgment.
I need to be careful about the seeds I ingest and allow to take root in me. And–to shift the metaphor slightly–I need to be very careful about the fruit I produce. My words, example, and leadership need to be true wheat, and encourage true wheat-ness in everyone whom I can influence. I certainly should not condone hypocrisy in others, and I cannot tolerate it in myself, but my job is to serve today. I have no authority to run wildly through the field, yanking up every plant that doesn't meet with my approval.
I need to do my job, and let the harvesters do theirs.
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