Weedy Christians and Odd Fish

I’ve had quite a few conversations recently where I’ve referenced two of Christ’s parables. In the process of having these discussions, I’ve started to see the importance of these stories and seen the need for every Christian to spend some time with them to grasp the truths they contain, particularly with regards to the nature of the Church. Both of these parables are found in Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, in the section known as “The Parables Discourse”

Parables

Parable #1: A harvest of righteousness (& unrighteousness)

The first parable I’d like to look at is often called the “Parable of the Wheat & Weeds”. Here’s the text… 

…”The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn'” – Matthew 13:24-30

The “weeds” which are sown here are probably darnel. The plant is somewhat poisonous and during its early stages it looks like wheat, being only easily distinguishable from wheat once it has reached maturity.

Wheat

A little later in the discourse, Jesus explains this teaching to His disciples (Matthew 13:36-43):

…His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels – Matthew 13:36-40

In this section we see that Jesus identifies the various symbols used in His parable:

The “sower” is Jesus
The “field” is the world
The “wheat” represents Believers
The “weeds” represent Unbelievers
The “harvest” is the End of Time
The “reapers” are the Angels

The central message of this parable is an important truth which needs to be appropriated. Jesus is explaining that, until the Final Judgement, things are going to be a bit of a mixed bag. There will be saints, to be sure, but there’ll also be sinners too. To make matters more complicated, it won’t always be easy to tell which is which since they can both look rather similar. Fortunately for us, it’s not our job to do the weeding:

Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers… – Matthew 13:40-41

It will not be us, but the angels who will clean up the kingdom! St. Jerome, the great Biblical scholar of antiquity makes the following explanation and qualification:

“But this seems to contradict that command, ‘Put away the evil from among you.’ [1 Cor 5:13] For if the rooting up be forbidden, and we are to abide in patience till the harvest-time, how are we to cast forth any from among us? But between wheat and tares… so long as it is only in blade, before the stalk has put forth an ear, there is very great resemblance, and none or little difference to distinguish them by.

The Lord then warns us not to pass a hasty sentence on an ambiguous word, but to reserve it for His judgment, that when the day of judgment shall come, He may cast forth from the assembly of the saints no longer on suspicion but on manifest guilt.” – St. Jerome

Although the Church has the right to exercise discipline, she should not do so hastily.

Parable #2: Net Prophet

The Lord drives the point home with real force a few verses later when He tells the “Parable of the Dragnet”:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.” – Matthew 13:47-48

Dragnet

In the very next two sentences, the Lord gives the interpretation:

So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth – Matthew 13:49-50

By explicitly describing the Kingdom as a net, the Lord explains that the Kingdom is initially going to be a mixed bag (or, in this case, a mixed net). In this net there are going to be all kinds of fish flopping about. Some will be “evil” and others “righteous”, but they’ll all get sorted out later.

Application: Encountering weeds and bad fish

So what? I have come to see the importance of these parables because it tells us something very important as to what to expect from the Church. Many Catholics become disillusioned with the Catholic Church upon first encountering bad fish; I know this was certainly true for me. Likewise, many Christians become disillusioned with their congregation when they discover that it isn’t quite as “pure” as they had previously thought.

Although we would rarely articulate it in this way, I think we basically expect the Church as a whole, as well as individual Christian members, to be free from all fault and sin. It sounds rather ridiculous when we put it like that, but I think it’s what we subconsciously think. I know it’s what I thought. There’s even a case to be made from the Bible to support this, since the Scriptures say that the Church is called to be the spotless Bride of Christ.

pew

I have lost track of the number of times I’ve heard former Catholics say that they left the Catholic Church because of the sin or some failing they found there. Sometimes it’s a priest who doesn’t seem to have a care for the souls in his charge. Other times the pastor has an appalling approach to pastoral care. Occasionally, it’s a member of the parish council who seems to have an inflated sense of self-importance. Still other times, it’s a Lector or Eucharistic minister who is openly sleeping with his girlfriend, getting drunk on the weekends etc.

I have also often come across non-Catholic Christians who, upon encountering very similar things, decide to eschew congregational life and instead “go it alone”. This is a tragic situation, but that’s for another blog post…

I can sympathize with these reactions, as I have experienced very similar feelings. However, this is why the parables of the Lord are so important.

Exhortation: Stay corn-y and in your plaice

It is so important for any of us who are involved in areas of catechesis, to ensure that all those under their care understand this truth of the Kingdom so that when (not “if”) the catechumens encounter sin and scandal, they will remain unfazed. Rather than being shocked, they will be prepared, trusting that the Lord will one day gather the wheat into His barn.

13 comments

  • Your second parable fits your concern about bad “fish” in the church. In the first parable the field is the world, not the church; in the world is the wheat (“the children of the kingdom”) and the weeds (“the children of the evil one”); the latter people are not part of the kingdom. As for putting up with bad fish, Jesus also talks about how to deal with these in Mt. 18:15f.–warning the “bad fish” (in the church), and if it remains bad, separating from it.

    • Hey Lucas,

      Welcome to Restless Pilgrim!

      Unfortunately I was busy in Los Angeles when this was published and it needed some more work. I’ve tidied it up a bit now…

      I certainly would not in any way deny that Church discipline is important. Both the Lord Himself and St. Paul spoke about these things, although I would suggest that the emphasis of these passages is on the return of the prodigals rather than “weeding” the Church. Having said that, I still think these parables of the Master show us what we should expect until to His return – weeds and bad fish.

      “For room for repentance is left, and we are warned that we should not hastily cut off a brother, since one who is today corrupted with an erroneous dogma, may grow wiser tomorrow, and begin to defend the truth; wherefore it is added, ‘Lest in gathering together the tares ye root out the wheat also’…
      – St. Jerome

      With regards to the application of the first parable to the Church, I’d invite you to see my comment to Renée below; I’d be interested to hear what you think.

      God bless,

      David.

      • Hi David,
        I interpret Mt. 13:41 to mean the Son of man at his final coming will bring the new heavens and new earth, and since only his meek/gentle disciples will inherit the earth (Mt. 5:5), all the weeds/evildoers will be gathered off this new earth–gathered out of this final kingdom–and thrown into the “fire.”

        • Fair enough, but verse 41 still demonstrates the necessary point that “sin and…evildoers” will, at least for a time, be found inside the borders of the Kingdom.

  • David, I have encountered folks who have pointed out that in this parable, the “field” means “the world,” not the Church, and therefore can’t be used to explain ugly behavior in a Christian context. Any thoughts?

    • Hey Renée,

      Concerning the meaning of the field, I point people to Jesus’ explanation in verse forty-one:

      Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers – Matthew 13:40-41

      What does the Lord say is gathered out of the Kingdom? He says “sin and all evildoers”. This means that, until that time, there will be sin and evildoers in the Kingdom…

      Also, in the “Parable of the Dragnet”, there is no ambiguity – the net is identified explicitly as the Kingdom and we are told the Kingdom has good and bad fish.

      Hope this helps,

      David.

    • I was digging through the Catena and came across lots of interesting commentary from Augustine:

      He says, “While men slept,” for while the heads of the Church were abiding in supineness, and after the Apostles had received the sleep of death, then came the Devil and sowed upon the rest those whom the Lord in His interpretation calls evil children. But we do well to enquire whether by such are meant heretics, or Catholics who lead evil lives. That He says, that they were sown among the wheat, seems to point out that they were all of one communion.

      But forasmuch as He interprets the field to mean not the Church, but the world, we may well understand it of the heretics, who in this world are mingled with the good; for they who live amiss in the same faith may better be taken of the chaff than of the tares, for the chaff has a stem and a root in common with the grain. While schismatics again may more fitly be likened to ears that have rotted, or to straws that are broken, crushed down, and cast forth of the field.

      Indeed it is not necessary that every heretic or schismatic should be corporally severed from the Church; for the Church bears many who do not so publicly defend their false opinions as to attract the attention of the multitude, which when they do, then are they expelled. When then the Devil had sown upon the true Church divers evil errors and false opinions; that is to say, where Christ’s name had gone before, there he scattered errors, himself was the rather hidden and unknown; for He says, “And went his way.” Though indeed in this parable, as we learn from His own interpretation, the Lord may be understood to have signified under the name of tares all stumbling-blocks and such as work iniquity.

  • Deanna Johnston Clark

    What you’re saying is that the Bible is our authority, and the Bible says to be patient, to wait and see.
    In the case of the Catholic Church, the authority is also in the hands of clergy and tradition.
    So the Church should be judged by the Bible alone?
    If a Catholic parish has yoga and borderline occult spiritual books, the school seldom mentions Jesus…don’t bother, don’t have a rational thought…it will all come out in the wash.
    Who or what has the final say?

    • Hey Deanna, thanks for your response 🙂

      > What you’re saying is that the Bible is our authority, and the Bible says to be patient, to wait and see.

      Not quite. Jesus is our authority and everything else flows from Him and the Deposit of Faith He gave the Apostles.

      Part of the Deposit of Faith was the above teaching which we find recorded in Scripture. In this passage, the Lord tells us not to be surprised when we find that the Church is something of a mixed bag. It’s also not always very clear who is wheat or a weed.

      > In the case of the Catholic Church, the authority is also in the hands of clergy and tradition

      Almost. Authority is not in generic “tradition”, but in Sacred Tradition (captial “T”).

      Authority is in the hands of the teaching body of the Catholic Church, the Magesterium. The clerical authority is derivative of this.

      > So the Church should be judged by the Bible alone?

      Not really. I think you’re describing Sola Scriptura. Also, the Bible can’t really “judge” anyone since it’s a document and therefore requires an interpreter.

      > If a Catholic parish has yoga and borderline occult spiritual books, the school seldom mentions Jesus…don’t bother, don’t have a rational thought…it will all come out in the wash.

      Firstly, it would depend on what you mean by yoga and what you regarded as “borderline occult spiritual books” (and I’ve seen some dodgy stuff in Catholic schools).

      But, no, I wouldn’t recommend inaction as a course of action. The Church is always called to renewal and that is the responsibility of both clergy and laity alike. However, what is important is how that renewal takes place, to ensure that one is a St. Francis or St. Dominic, rather than a Martin Luther. This was certainly true in my own frustrations with the Catholic Church.

      > Who or what has the final say?

      With regards to what? If it’s doctrine, then it’s the Magesterium.

  • As my great grandma said, “church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” As I sit here in the hospital with my newborn, I realize that patients in a hospital are generally much more interested in their own cases than those of others. HIPAA reinforces this atmosphere of “mind your own bizness.” That keeps everyone focusing on removing the plank in their own eye rather than focusing on the splinter in their neighbor’s.

    The wonderful thing about our faith is that because of the Atonement, the sick can become well, the bad fish can become good, the weeds can become wheat. We believe in redemption, in hope, in God’s love. Yes there should be discipline in the Church, but if we ever take it upon ourselves to declare, even interiorly, “well clearly that one’s a weed and will be separated and burned”, then we are the ones with the more serious defect. I think that isthe lesson to be learned: Jesus isn’t telling us how to judge others, He’s exhorting us to examine ourselves.

    • Hey Teresa!

      > As my great grandma said, “church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.”

      I use that very phrase in another post!

      > As I sit here in the hospital with my newborn…

      Wait, you’ve given birth?! Congratulations!

      > I realize that patients in a hospital are generally much more interested in their own cases than those of others. HIPAA reinforces this atmosphere of “mind your own bizness.”

      I remember that from my hospital visiting days – it’s quite rare to see patients talking with each other.

      > That keeps everyone focusing on removing the plank in their own eye rather than focusing on the splinter in their neighbor’s.

      Nice comparison 🙂

      > I think that isthe lesson to be learned: Jesus isn’t telling us how to judge others, He’s exhorting us to examine ourselves.

      Yup, and not to be surprised when the Church looks a bit weedy and some of the fish smell funny 🙂

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