Saying 57

English

Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of the Father is like a man who had good seed. His enemy came at night and sowed weeds with the good seed. The man did not let them to pull out the weeds. He said to them, “In case you go to pull out the weeds and pull out the wheat with them. Because on the day of the harvest, the weeds will be discovered. They will be pulled up and burned.” ’

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Interpretation

Matthew’s version slightly expands the parable to present it as a dialogue between the master and his slaves. The author also provides his interpretation of the parable, putting an explanation in Jesus’ mouth (13.36–43) where the wheat represents ‘the sons of the kingdom’, while the weeds are ‘the sons of the evil one’. Currently, ‘sinners’ are hidden among the ‘righteous’, but when humanity faces judgment in the eschaton, their identities will be revealed and the sinners will be punished. This interpretation is probably the intended meaning of the parable, since it coheres with the same thought in other passages, such as Sayings 8 or 9.

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Parallels

Matthew

13.24–30 He put before them another parable. ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field. But while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” But he replied, “No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers: collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’