3.01 The Darnel Sown Among the Wheat

I. THE DARNEL SOWN AMONG THE WHEAT.

Matthew 13:24 - Matthew 13:30. Explanation: Matthew 13:36 - Matthew 13:43. THIS parable follows the interpretation of the parable of the Sower, with which it partly coincides. Our Lord likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field. He had a vigilant enemy, who, while men slept, either at night or during the hottest part of the day, came and oversowed darnel among the wheat. In due time the good grain sprouted and produced first the blade and then the ripening ears. A similar process took place in the case of the darnel. At first both plants were undistinguishable: it was only when the fruit appeared that each could be recognized for what it really was. The servants of the goodman of the house are 92 THE PARABLES OF JESUS 93 gravely concerned at seeing the crop in danger of being spoilt, and they are at the same time perplexed as to how the darnel could have found its way among the wheat, considering that only good seed had been sown. They look to their master for a solution of the diffi culty, and he ascribes the presence of the darnel to the agency of an enemy. The practical question as to what has to be done now suggests itself to them, and they ask their master if he would have them go and gather up the darnel. He answers in the negative, on the ground that it would not be feasible to do so without at the same time uprooting the wheat. He will rather allow both to grow together till the harvest, and then he will bid his reapers gather first the darnel and bind it in bundles to be burnt, and then gather the wheat into his barn. The English word “ cockle “ is not the correct rendering of the term zizania used a the Evangelist. The latter word signifies darnel, a plant which resembles wheat till the fruit sufficiently develops to allow of its recognition by the colour of the grains, which are black. These were formerly supposed to 94 THE PARABLES OF JESUS be poisonous, but now it is known that they are in themselves harmless, and that they are deleterious only when affected by ergot, which is often the case. The plant does not seem to be found wild in England. The word “ cockle “ employed in the common English Catholic version really denotes the corncockle, a plant which bears no resemblance to wheat. The word, however, has long been used in English in a metaphorical sense, and, indeed, its use seems to have been proverbial. This may be inferred from the passage in Shake speare (“ Coriolanus,” III. i.): “ In soothing them, we nourish gainst our senate The cockle of rebellion, insolence, sedition, Which we ourselves have ploughed for, sowed, and scattered.” Cf. “ sow d cockle reap d no corn “ (“ Love’s Labour’s Lost,” IV. iii.)-

We are not dependent on the commentators for the interpretation of the parable at least on broad lines. When Jesus had dismissed the multitudes and entered the house, the disciples came and asked Him to explain it to them. The explanation, which He gave, plainly showed that He wished it to be under- THE PARABLES OF JESUS 95 stood as an allegory; though He did not so press the process of allegorizing as to extend it to every detail. The modern critics who refuse to regard any of the parables of Jesus as allegories look upon the interpretation attributed to Him by the writer of the Gospel as both in matter and form the work of the author himself. As we have already said, such a view is sufficiently refuted by the fact that many of the rabbinical parables contain an unmistakably allegorical element. In Our Lord’s explanation, the sower of the good seed is the Son of Man Himself; the field is the world. He thus sufficiently indicates that His activity is not to be limited by the narrow bounds of Palestine; it will rather have the whole world as its sphere. The good seed represents the children of the Kingdom, the darnel the children of the Evil One; while the enemy who sows it is the devil himself. He chooses the time for his nefarious work when men are asleep, and so are off their guard. This circumstance seems to be added for the purpose of bringing into prominence the secrecy of his proceeding, and we need not view it as containing an implied rebuke to the 96 THE PARABLES OF JESUS pastors of the Church for their want of vigilance. Men must needs sleep; and scandals are bound to come let pastors be ever so faithful and watchful. In the figurative half of the parable there is an essential difference between the darnel and the wheat, whereas in the real half the children of the Kingdom and those of the Evil One have a common nature: the difference between them is only moral and religious, and therefore merely accidental. Who, then, are the children of the Evil One? Elsewhere (John 8:44) we find Jesus styling His active adversaries among the Jews the children of the devil, “ Ye are of your father the devil; and the desires of your father it is your will to do.”

Ely mas the magician is styled by St. Paul “ son of the devil,” inasmuch as he had with stood him, and sought to turn away the proconsul Sergius Paulus from the faith (Acts 13:8 - Acts 13:10). St. 1 John 3:10 - 1 John 3:121 John 3:10 - 1 John 3:12) states the broad ground of distinction between the children of God and the children of the devil in the following words: “ Herein are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil. Whoew- doth not work righteousness THE PARABLES OF JESUS 97 is not of God, nor he who loveth not his brother.” This implies that such men are of the devil, and that those who pursue an opposite course are the children of God. The Apostle then goes on to mention the murderer Cain as of the devil. Heretics and schismatics are indeed to be numbered among the children of the Evil One; but there is no sufficient reason to restrict the title to them, as has often been done. Still it may be said that those are in a particular manner envisaged who are the cause of sin to others (ver. 41).

These are the children of the devil, not only because they copy the disobedience and law lessness of their father, but also because they help him in his work of destroying souls, and consciously or unconsciously follow as he leads. God could destroy them if He pleased as soon as ever they show themselves in their true colours, but He forbears till the great harvest comes at the end of the world. Then just as at the harvest here on earth the darnel is bound together in bundles and cast into the fire to burn, so it will fare with the enemies of God. He will send His reapers the angels, who will gather together out of His Kingdom 98 THE PARABLES OF JESUS all scandals 1 and all those who work iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire where there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. On the other hand, the just will appear bright as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.

TAGS: [Parables]