From: Matthew 13:24-30
The Parable of the Weeds
The Mustard Seed; The Leaven
[33] He told them another parable. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a leaven
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”
[34] All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed He said nothing to
them without a parable. [35] This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the
foundation of the world.”
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
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Commentary:
24-25. “The situation is clear: the field is fertile and the seed is good; the
Lord of the field has scattered the seed at the right moment and with great
skill. He even has watchmen to make sure that the field is protected. If, af-
terwards, there are weeds among the wheat, it is because men have failed
to respond, because they—and Christians in particular—have fallen asleep
and allowed the enemy to approach” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”,
123).
25. This weed—cockle—looks very like wheat and can easily be mistaken for
it until the ears appear. If it gets ground up with wheat it contaminates the
flour and any bread made from that flour causes severe nausea when eaten.
In the East personal vengeance sometimes took the form of sowing cockle
among an enemy’s wheat. Roman law prescribed penalties for this crime.
28. “When the careless servants ask the Lord why weeds have grown in his
field, the explanation is obvious: ‘inimicus homo hoc fecit: an enemy has
done this.’ We Christians should have been on guard to make sure that the
good things placed in this world by the Creator were developed in the service
of truth and good. But we have fallen asleep—a sad thing, that sluggishness
of our heart while the enemy and all those who serve him worked incessant-
ly. You can see how the weeds have grown abundantly everywhere” (St. J.
Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 123).
29-30. The end of this parable gives a symbolic explanation of why God allows
evil to have its way for a time—and for its ultimate extirpation. Evil is to run its
course on earth until the end of time; therefore, we should not be scandalized
by the presence of evil in the world. It will be obliterated not in this life, but af-
ter death; at the Judgment (the harvest) the good will go to Heaven and the
bad to Hell.
31-32. Here, the man is Jesus Christ and the field, the world. The grain of
mustard seed is the preaching of the Gospel and the Church, which from ve-
ry small beginnings will spread throughout the world.
The parable clearly refers to the universal scope and spread of the Kingdom
of God: the Church, which embraces all mankind of every kind and condition,
in every latitude and in all ages, is forever developing in spite of obstacles,
thanks to God’s promise and aid.
33. This comparison is taken from everyday experience: just as leaven gra-
dually ferments all the dough, so the Church spreads to convert all nations.
The leaven is also a symbol of the individual Christian. Living in the middle
of the world and retaining his Christian quality, he wins souls for Christ by
his word and example: “Our calling to be children of God, in the midst of the
world, requires us not only to seek our own personal holiness, but also to go
out onto all the ways of the earth, to convert them into roadways that will car-
ry souls over all obstacles and lead them to the Lord. As we take part in all
temporal activities as ordinary citizens, we are to become leaven acting on
the mass” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 120).
34-35. Revelation, God’s plans, are hidden (cf. Matthew 11:25) from those
who are disposed to accept them. The Evangelist wishes to emphasize the
need for simplicity and for docility to the Gospel. By recalling Psalm 78:2,
he tells us once more, under divine inspiration, that the Old Testament pro-
phecies find their fulfillment in our Lord’s preaching.
36-43. While making its way on earth, the Church is composed of good and
bad people, just men and sinners: they are mixed in with one another until
the harvest time, the end of the world, when the Son of Man, in His capacity
as Judge of the living and the dead, will divide the good from the bad at the
Last Judgment—the former going to eternal glory, the inheritance of the
saints; the latter, to the eternal fire of Hell. Although the just and the sinners
are now side by side, the Church has the right and the duty to exclude those
who cause scandal, especially those who attack its doctrine and unity; this
it can do through ecclesiastical excommunication and other canonical penal-
ties. However, excommunication has a medicinal and pastoral function—to
correct those who are obstinate in error, and to protect others from them.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
First reading | Jeremiah 7:1-11 © |
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Psalm | Psalm 83:3-6,8,11 © |
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Gospel Acclamation | Heb4:12 |
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Or | Jm1:21 |
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Gospel | Matthew 13:24-30 © |
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