An interesting parable from the Bible - Jesus explains this later in the text (though I think one has to take the explanation metaphorically and not literally).
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
-- Matthew 13:24-30
And now here's Jesus's explanation when the disciples ask him to explain the parable.
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
-- Matthew 13:36-44
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honey, you might find biblegateway.com to be a good resource as you post things you're reading in the New Testament. You can even choose the translation of the Bible you want to quote from.
yes, i'm already using tht :)
Sorry Iam posting anon.Iam too lazy before sleep to chase down my password.
It is interesting that the identity of the seeds are either tares or wheat. I would suggest another explanation that the field is our life and the tares are deeds which turn out wrong, and the wheat are deeds that produce life. I think it is dangerous for Christians to continue to believe that those people among them in their daily life may be tares, marked by God already from the beginning, which their logic would mean, no recourse, a tare is a tare, predestined to be fit for the fire and not for heaven. Could the people Christ was trying to communicate with deal with a more sophisticated interpretation? I think the 12 could but the average Joe could not. I am guessing the remaining fact is that there will be a day of judgement eventual justice for the injustice which good men and women see all around them in that time but were really powerless to do anything about. I wonder if the servants could intervene any easier in the growing process to separate out the tares from the wheat? IN the the end it would probably be much easier, if we research the actual tares that the people were/are familiar with in those lands. The earth was generous to both and the wheat would grow unhindered, judging by the Christ's recommendations, so that the life of the wheat would be focused on producing its fruit/grain. Tares would do whatever tares like to do I suppose ;-)
anon - i like ur interpretation of "children" being metaphorical, and actually representing our deeds as good/bad, rather than people who are intrinsically good/bad. thanks for sharing!
there is alot more to this parable as I thought more about it.
In my last lenghy posting I merged two issues, of point of view. One point of view is if we are like the seeds. What is our world view as seeds? And the other point of view would be the farmer's. However who are the "farmers"? they are two: one is Satan. Well who is Satan here. He/it is some agent or institution that sneaks in late at night after the guards are asleeep, and wholesale plants tares in the fields. Is this is some active mischief force that wants to torment man? No of course not! There is no active force, just like darkness is the absence of light, it isn't an active force you can't shine a light of darkness, can you?
So we are left with an interpretation of what the Christ meant if He obviously knew there was no such thing as Satan as a guy with a pointed tail, and horns, just as He knew there is no grandfather with a white beard in the sky posing as God. But hey, we have to consider his audience.
I am no scholar but it seems that the closest thing to Satan were the governments and in-groups of that time and place. A declining Roman Empire, a corrupt government that was on its way down, slowly. Where was a reliable justice system? To my mind to sign up to be a Christian was a really nutty thing to do, because it defintely took a strong determination to do so. And yet people did it. Well back to the tares and wheat. We are faced with seeds that are planted in our fields not by our choice, but by our society, our parents weaknesses influence us in their attempts at child raising. Our society influences us before we can say, "Stop! I don't want anymore of that!" How many kids do we know who "brought themselves us by their own bootstraps"? So as I interpret this, there were alot and still are opportunities for tares to become planted. We don't know really, which are the tares and which are not, really distinctly until later. I mean we may think that smoking will inhibit our ambitions if we want to become an Olympic runner." Or watching too much TV will hurt us if we dream of becoming a famous rock star." That leaves alot more people with a wide latitude on what to do with themselves/ to themselves before they get a fix on what is important. How many tares do each of us have with roots clinging to all layers of our character? Zillions, hundreds?
A farmer of this field, should have an ongoing plan to weed his field,right? The Christ seems in our imagination to present it as a 1 night thing when all these tares were sewn. It just seems this way. We wonder where all these vices come from, when we are really atuned to finding them. Would the casual farmer throw up his hands, and move to the city? Is there an easier job than being a wheat farmer over there in that situation? What are the standards? Of course the Christ knew which were tares and which were wheat seeds. BUT how does the farmer's servants know? The Christ rightly said, you don't really know, and so you will have to wait. If the tares and wheat are so intermingled there was no way. The people had no set of standards, this is what the Christ was trying to do, describe a set of standards for people to measure their behavior by. But as He says here, it won't happen overnight. For the servants to go in and remove the tares speaks of their naivete, doesn't it.
I know people who believe their way is the way towards enlighenment. They are the followers of the Buddha, and from reading various spiritual self-help books they are reasonable confident they can recognize the tares from the wheat in their lives.
A final comment, I don't think we can read all of the message of The Christ in one parable. We have to be careful in trying to fit everything in the Bible into one parable. Of course the piece should reflect the same light as the whole thing, but I don't think we can say we can see all there is to be seen from a piece, otherwise why have the whole Bible in the first place? And even further, if Moses was the Law, why was it necessary for the Christ to appear? Well, here I am getting a bit tricky, My apologies.
Regards from Japan
all these interpretations are quite interesting - thanks for posting your thoughts, EdoRiver!!
There are still unresolved issues, several, as far as I am concerned, first regarding an interpretation which to my mind a zealous Christian would put to it, and secondly as to all the agents, and their actions in this. It seems to be a parable of two parts or 2 parables, because I don't see the explanation explaining all the agents and their roles in the parable.
For example, sleeping and resting doesn't appear to be a useful activity for angels. And if this is the kingdom of heaven, where did the devil come from? If the angels cannot take away the tares from the wheat at any time, then what again are the powers of the angels? Is it really much easier after the wheat and tares have matured to separate them? Again for angels they are up to the task, so, what is the point of the devil sewing the tares in the first place? Another issue is the children? We know the children are going to be taken literally, that is why I first seized on making the children, the thoughts of an individual. However nice this idea is, If I were discussing this parable with a Christian friend, there are many points which are not yet answered in the parable by saying that the wheat are good thoughts, and the tares bad, We still have the question of where the bad thoughts came from within the kingdom of heaven, IMHO
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:Doesn't this stateme3nt just blow you away? blow anyone away? or is it just me ;-)
Look when I have read this as a casual observer I thought that"Yeah the kingdom is the field." No, the Kingdom of heaven isn't the field. Then I thought, "Oh, I got it, the Kingdom of heaven is a process!
But wait, that's not all, or that ain't it at all...whichever. If the sewer is the "Son of Man" then please tell me why the Son of Man is doing His thing in the kingdom of heaven? Shouldn't this be the kingdom of earth where all this wheat and tares get it on under the surface? So you got all these angels ready to stomp into the fields and tear out, put out the life of the wheat in order to get the tares, and you got the Son of Man saying, "HOLD ON!" Excuse me, I may be dumb for asking this, but I thought, this action was supposed to happen BEFORE the kingdom of heaven. and secondly,
WHat do angels and the Son of Man need to sleep up in the Kingdom of heaven for?
In the use and extraction of relevant information, we have to remind ourselves that the Christ was primarily interested in conveying meaning to the people of His era. Of course he knew His message is timeless. But "timelessness" is not a concept that most of the people of his era could understand. I mean, we are mining for gems in a mine that was dug and maintained 2000 years ago. Of course the value of the gems is the same (or increased in value9 but the whole structure cannot compare to the standards of later mines designed by later Prophets. Christian ministers, in preparing for their sermons, spend alot of time trying to make the society and and culture the parables were presented in and drew upon for meaning, relevant to the 21st century. We should not denigrate the work that this involves in preparing the message for the congregation.
Having said that, I am thinking, well, really how useful is it to explore and create a mental artifice over a story designed for simple people of 2000 years ago. Oh I know your heated reply even before you send it. Still, I have my doubts of its value compared to other messages and other times. For example when I finish this message I am going to see how much Nikhil has used the Qu'ran as a source of gems.
I don't think I need to feel in competition with my self :-) But I enjoy coming to a place I am familiar with and a place that offers inspiration. This parable has inspired me to go back and read some of the other parables. Unfortunately they are not part of this topic.
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