Matthew 13:24-30
“Notice what you notice.” Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds (Tares)… Jesus’ explanation for this parable comes tomorrow, so be careful not to try to explain the parable or make too much of the meaning behind the story. This is the first of six “kingdom of heaven” parables in this chapter, with Jesus using metaphors to show His disciples what the kingdom of heaven is like (Mt. 13:31,33,44,45,47).
Yesterday at our RTB gathering we talked about planting seed by the “broadcast” method – grabbing seed from a bag by the handful and flinging it out, trying to spread it as evenly as possible. This is in contrast to “row crop” planting where seeds are planted in rows and spaced fairly evenly apart. With room to walk between the rows it would be more possible to pull up weeds (or cut them off at ground level) and not disturb the good seed. But with broadcast seed, it is difficult to walk through the field looking for the weeds and not stepping on and killing the good grain.
Another complication, as explained in footnotes in two Bibles, is that the weeds/tares that were sown in the wheat was actually “darnel”, a plant that looks like wheat when it is young but is clearly distinguishable when the wheat seed bears fruit. So the servants had to wait until the harvest to separate the wheat and the weeds.
Not much for today…
Slava Bohu!