῎Αλλην παραβολὴν παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ σπείραντι καλὸν σπέρμα ἐν τῷ ἀγρῷ αὐτοῦ· 25 ἐν δὲ τῷ καθεύδειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἦλθεν αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐχθρὸς καὶ ἔσπειρε ζιζάνια ἀνὰ μέσον τοῦ σίτου καὶ ἀπῆλθεν. 26 ὅτε δὲ ἐβλάστησεν ὁ χόρτος καὶ καρπὸν ἐποίησε, τότε ἐφάνη καὶ τὰ ζιζάνια. 27 προσελθόντες δὲ οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ οἰκοδεσπότου εἶπον αὐτῷ· κύριε, οὐχὶ καλὸν σπέρμα ἔσπειρας ἐν τῷ σῷ ἀγρῷ; πόθεν οὖν ἔχει ζιζάνια; 28 ὁ δὲ ἔφη αὐτοῖς· ἐχθρὸς ἄνθρωπος τοῦτο ἐποίησεν. οἱ δὲ δοῦλοι εἶπον αὐτῷ· θέλεις οὖν ἀπελθόντες συλλέξωμεν αὐτά; 29 ὁ δὲ ἔφη· οὔ, μήποτε συλλέγοντες τὰ ζιζάνια ἐκριζώσητε ἅμα αὐτοῖς τὸν σῖτον· 30 ἄφετε συναυξάνεσθαι ἀμφότερα μέχρι τοῦ θερισμοῦ, καὶ ἐν καιρῷ τοῦ θερισμοῦ ἐρῶ τοῖς θερισταῖς· συλλέξατε πρῶτον τὰ ζιζάνια καὶ δήσατε αὐτὰ εἰς δέσμας πρὸς τὸ κατακαῦσαι αὐτά, τὸν δὲ σῖτον συναγάγετε εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην μου.
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36 Τότε ἀφεὶς τοὺς ὄχλους ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ. Καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· φράσον ἡμῖν τὴν παραβολὴν τῶν ζιζανίων τοῦ ἀγροῦ. 37 ῾Ο δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· ὁ σπείρων τὸ καλὸν σπέρμα ἐστὶν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου· 38 ὁ δὲ ἀγρός ἐστιν ὁ κόσμος· τὸ δὲ καλὸν σπέρμα, οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ υἱοὶ τῆς βασιλείας· τὰ δὲ ζιζάνιά εἰσιν οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πονηροῦ· 39 ὁ δὲ ἐχθρὸς ὁ σπείρας αὐτά ἐστιν ὁ διάβολος· ὁ δὲ θερισμὸς συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνός ἐστιν· οἱ δὲ θερισταὶ ἄγγελοί εἰσιν. 40 ὥσπερ οὖν συλλέγεται τὰ ζιζάνια καὶ πυρὶ καίεται, οὕτως ἔσται ἐν τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου. 41 ἀποστελεῖ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τοὺς ἀγγέλους αὐτοῦ, καὶ συλλέξουσιν ἐκ τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα καὶ τοὺς ποιοῦντας τὴν ἀνομίαν, 42 καὶ βαλοῦσιν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν κάμινον τοῦ πυρός· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων. 43 τότε οἱ δίκαιοι ἐκλάμψουσιν ὡς ὁ ἥλιος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῶν. ὁ ἔχων ὦτα ἀκούειν ἀκουέτω. Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
This Parable is particularly interesting for someone who has a Dutch-American cultural root. Some of my ancestors took this parable to reflect the separatist tendencies amongst their churches. In some cases the Afscheiding of 1834 in Holland and subsequent separatist movements in America were partly responsible for this interpretation. Those who were separatists became in the minds of some of my ancestors the tares, that in the last day of judgment the Lord would direct his angels to bundle together and burn them, while the grain, those who remained in the mother church would pass on to reward in the Kingdom. I think this tendency to read this parable in such a way has existed throughout the history of Christianity. Separatists were often seen as the tares, surely many in the Reformation – Counter-Reformation era saw it that way. Perhaps it is a component of our thought patterns to read the other (separatist) as a tare (weed). Of course those on the other side, the separatists, would see the mother church as a corruption of the gospel and those who remained as tares. (There are always two sides.) Perhaps the word ‘tare’ itself comes from the Middle Dutch tarwe = wheat.
The hermeneutic of this parable given by Matthew (verses 37-43) lends itself to such a reading of the parable. This is especially true considering the notion that the field is the world given in verse 38. In more modern times we associate the tares with secular humanism. This is especially true in more fundamentalist circles. But should we do that? Should we associate the field with humanity, the world, and give the others among us the interpretation of weeds in that field, which need to be destroyed in the end times, so that the true grain and pure (pietistic) person can be harvested? It is easy for us to fall into the trap of seeing the other as a weed, and ourselves as true blue believers (grain).
But I would like to suggest a deeper level of interpretation here for this parable. Let us suppose the world (the field, ὁ κόσμος) is our own personal world of our consciousness. Perhaps the seeds are the seeds of love, compassion, empathy, sympathy, generosity etc, and the tares spring up from the seeds sown by the evil force in our lives, hatred, jealousy, fear, anger, envy, bigotry, priggishness etc. Perhaps in the last days (our personal last days) we need to bundle up and burn those tares and let the seeds of love flourish in our minds. After all, to the son of man belong the seeds of love and to the evil one belong the seeds of hatred. Perhaps the field of our consciousness needs to burn the tares of fear, envy, bigotry etc and harvest the pure grain of compassion, empathy, generosity etc called LOVE. In my most reflective moments, although I often fall victim to the evil force of my consciousness and let the tares of fear, anger, envy etc take over the field, I know deep inside that I ought to be harvesting the grain of Love.
I prefer your interpretation.
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