Wheat and Thistles

Jesus made many illustrations and spoke in many parables. In Matthew 13 He uses three parables to describe true disciples and those who desire the Truth but fall away. I shall begin with the first Parable:

"A Farmer was sowing grain in his fields. As he scattered the seed cross the ground, some fell beside a path, and the crows came and ate it. And some fell on rocky soil where there was little depth of earth; the plants sprang up  quickly enough in the shallow soil, but the hot sun soon scorched them and they withered and died, for they had so little root. Others seeds feel among thorns, and the thorns choked out the tender blades. But some fell on good sol and produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted." (Matthew 13: 4-9).


Here is Jesus' explanation, which I used in my interpretation: "Now here is the explanation of the story I told about the farmer planting grain: The hard path where some seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Good News about the Kingdom and doesn't understand it; then Satan comes and snatches away the seeds from his heart. The shallow and rocky soil represents the heart of a man who hears the message and receives it with real joy, but he doesn't have much depth in his life, and the seeds don't root very deeply, and after a while when trouble comes, or persecution begins because of his beliefs, his enthusiasm fades, and he drops out (abandons the faith). The ground covered with thistles and thorns represents a man who hearts the message, but the cares of this life and his longing for money choke out God's Word, and he does less and less for God. The good ground represents the heart of a man who listens to the message and understands it and goes out and brings thirty, fifty, and a hundred others into the Kingdom." (Matthew 13:18-23).

Jesus uses another illustration: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer sowing good seed in his fields; but one night as he slept, his enemy came and sowed thistles among the wheat. When the crop began to grow, the thistles grew too. The farmer's men came and told him, 'Sir, the field where you planted that choice seed is full of thistles!' And enemy has done it, he exclaimed. Shall we pull out the thistles? They asked? No, he replied. You'll hurt wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest, and I will tell the reapers to sort out the thistles and burn them and put the wheat in the barn." Jesus then explained this parable, "I am the farmer who sows the choice seed. The field is the world and the seed represents the people of the Kingdom; the thistles are the people belonging to Satan. The enemy who sowed the thistles among the what is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. Just as in this story the thistles are separated and burned, so shall it be at the end of the world: I will send my angels and they will separate out of the Kingdom every temptation and all who are evil, and throw them into the furnace and burn them. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the godly shall shine as the sun in their Father's Kingdom." (Matthew 13:24-31).

Thirdly, Christ uses another illustration, this time using Fish: "Again, The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by a fisherman he casts a net into the water and gathers in fish of every kind, valuable and worthless. When the net is full, he drags it up onto the beach and sits down and sorts out the edible ones into crates and throws the other away. That is the way it will be at then end of the word -- the angels will come and separate the wicked people from the godly, casting the wicked into the fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13: 47-50).

The common theme we can see in Jesus' parables is that there are two groups; the wicked often called thistles and the righteous who are wheat. The Lord then says that the two shall be separated in the End of Days by angels. This parallels The Gospel of Mark which says, "the angels will gather the faithful (Elect) from the corners of the earth," (Mark 13:27, cross ref. Matthew 24:31) and "He will separate the goats from the sheep." (Matthew 24:32). This division of peoples is necessary and many believers I know are arguing that it is happening now. Never have we seen such an unprecedented falling away from the faith, nor has the divide between disciples of Jesus and mere desirers been so stark.

I would like to examine all three parables in this post. The first was the "parable of the sower." I believe and support Christ's explanation and hold it above any other; however I felt the Lord was also was teaching me something else in addition to what He explained and detailing some things (Lectio Divina). I felt He was giving me some further interpretation that is in harmony with what He already has said. That being said, the seed that falls among the birds to be devoured is the Christian who is assailed by demons and does not hold on to their faith and is devoured by the devil. The seed that falls among the rocky soil is religion which does not allow your spiritual life in Christ to take deep root and thus when the sun (Son Jesus Christ comes) you will be burned and realize you never knew Him. The seeds among the thorns is Christians who mingle with toxic and wicked people who choke the spiritual life out of you. Finally the seed that fell on fertile soil and grew a crop of a hundred fold is believers who let Jesus take deep root inside and they effect so many for the Kingdom and thus usher in more followers of Christ.

The second parable is quite interesting. When the Farmer Jesus Christ sows the wheat seed, Satan plants thistles amongst them. This reminds me of how there are undercover witches and wolves in sheep's clothing in the churches. What is interesting is that the Farmer says to not remove the thistles until the Harvest (End of Days) and then the Reapers will gather the thistles and caste them into the furnace. What is puzzlingly is that God does not just remove these wicked people in his crop (church). Perhaps it is because the Lord wants to give the thistles a chance to be changed by the Message of the Kingdom into wheat. In the end The Lord God knows what He is doing.

The third parable struck me. I have always been moved by the first parable of the Sower, but this one about the fish has imagery that sticks more readily into my mind. Jesus says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a fisherman. Jesus is that fisherman and he castes his net to catch people with his Message. As a result He gathers up good fish that will be his disciples and bad fish that need to be thrown away. This the same message in the other two parables, but here our Lord uses different symbols. The idea of being caught up like fish into our Father's hands is powerful. The fact that the bad fish must be thrown away puts readily in our minds how fish that has gone bad stinks and must be destroyed.

Jesus Christ is separating the wheat from the thistles, and the good fish from the bad. The time has come to either be disciple or a deserter. A sheep or a goat. I pray that you choose to be disciple and produce thirty, fifty, and a hundred fold harvest of people into the Kingdom of Heaven!