NOTES for Mat 13:24-30
Jesus' parable of the wheat and the weeds answers one of the most pressing questions that have been and still are put to Christians—and, for that matter, to other believers too: what is your God waiting for? Is there not enough evil in the world, not enough suffering and injustice for him finally to intervene, and to do so in such a way that everything falls into place, that the righteous and, more generally, what we call ‘good people’ receive their reward, and those who do evil their punishment? When will the promised day of Judgement come? And must we really wait? Why not, as the workers suggest to their master, pull up the weeds right now, without waiting for the end of time, the time of harvest? At first sight, the master's reply seems somewhat strange: why would someone sufficiently experienced in farming pull up wheat along with the weeds? Weeding is, after all, a fairly ordinary task! But it succeeds only when the weed can already be easily distinguished from the useful plant. That is not always possible from the start. Then one must wait until the difference becomes clear. But does God really need to wait until the end of time to understand who stands before him, a sinner or a righteous person? Surely the human heart lies open before God! Yes—but is the issue with God? Does he wait because he cannot understand a person? Or because the person cannot understand themselves and make up their mind? Indeed, how many of us are ready to say about ourselves—not ‘I am a sinner’ or ‘I am righteous’, for only God can define a person in such terms, but at least ‘I have firmly decided to follow the path of righteousness’? Or ‘I am following the path of righteousness’? There is no presumption here, only a statement of fact; but how many are ready to make such a statement? Yet few acknowledge the opposite either: a firm and unequivocal ‘no’ to God, the Torah, the Gospel and the path of righteousness. Not because they fear public opinion—these days, there is generally little to fear from it in this respect—but because they genuinely cannot bring themselves to say a firm ‘no’ to God, just as they cannot bring themselves to say a firm ‘yes’. And then all God can do is wait. Wait for each person to make their choice. Wait for the shoots to develop and reveal their nature, until one can say with certainty which are weeds and which are wheat. Until, at last, one can say with certainty of each person whether they are righteous and fit for the Kingdom, or wicked and fit only for the outer darkness.