Sunday Meditation: The Sower of Good Seed

For this Sunday, Jesus in that great chapter of Matthew’s Gospel on the Kingdom, continues with a series of parables describing the Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened

to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

While everyone was asleep his enemy came

and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well.

The slaves of the householder came to him and said,

'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

Where have the weeds come from?'

He answered, 'An enemy has done this.'

His slaves said to him,

'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

He replied, 'No, if you pull up the weeds

you might uproot the wheat along with them.

Let them grow together until harvest;

then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters,

"First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning;

but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

 

He proposed another parable to them.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

that a person took and sowed in a field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds,

yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants.

It becomes a large bush,

and the 'birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'"

 

He spoke to them another parable.

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast

that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour

until the whole batch was leavened."

 

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

He spoke to them only in parables,

to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:

I will open my mouth in parables,

I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation

of the world.

 

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house.

His disciples approached him and said,

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."

He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man,

the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom.

The weeds are the children of the evil one,

and the enemy who sows them is the devil.

The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

so will it be at the end of the age.

The Son of Man will send his angels,

and they will collect out of his kingdom

all who cause others to sin and all evildoers.

They will throw them into the fiery furnace,

where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine like the sun

in the kingdom of their Father.

Whoever has ears ought to hear."

~Mt 13:24-43

 

Most homilies on this passage will concentrate on the first parable, that of the Weeds and Wheat.  Jesus explains why He allows evil people to be mixed within us.  Dr. Brant Pitre gives us an excellent exegesis.

 

As usual, Dr. Pitre gives a fine explanation.  But I think he makes a subtle mistake.  Jesus never says that the kingdom is like the field.  He says the Kingdom is like the man, that is, a sower.  Which leads us to our meditation.

Meditation:

"The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field.”

The kingdom of God is like the Sower not the field.  So what difference does this make in the meaning of the passage?