The longer version of the Gospel that the lectionary offers us this Sunday ends with Our Lord offering an interpretation of the parable that we hear in the shorter version. Under these circumstances, it would take a brave, or foolish, man to offer another interpretation of the same parable. However, a parallel interpretation allows us to appreciate the richness of the genre of the parable, a parable is to be read not literally, but allegorically. As such, it can offer multiple readings. Secondly, the reading I offer is well within the interpretative frame offered by Our Lord, Himself. Third, this interpretation allows us to appreciate the first reading, and recognize how we can often use the first reading as an interpretative key to understand the Gospel, or vice-versa.
The kingdom of heaven may be
likened to a man
who sowed good seed in his field
Reading these lines allegorically we recognize in them God who planted our first parents, Adam and Eve, in the field of the Garden of Eden. Made in the image of God, they were without sin, and were indeed, good seed.
While everyone was asleep his enemy
came
and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.
Now we know that God does not sleep, and so the “everyone” in these lines can only refer to our first parents, and their sleep refers not to physical sleep, but to their failure to stay alert and guard their hearts. The enemy, we can now tell (Rev 12:10) is the Devil who crept up on our first parents and sowed in their hearts, destined for the purest wheat, the weeds of sin.
The slaves of the householder came
to him and said,
… 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?
The slaves refer to the angels, who, always faithful to God, the Father of the divine household, are always ready to do His bidding.
Faced with the concern of His angels, God responds mercifully, as only a careful gardener would:
He replied, 'No, if you pull up the
weeds
you might uproot the wheat along with them.
At this point, we are able to glimpse the truth of the psalm this Sunday:
Lord, you are good and forgiving.
God so loved the world, that rather than destroy us, or our first parents, for our sins, He allows us the opportunity to correct ourselves.
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."'
Brothers and sisters, we often fail to recognize that in
the face of the holiness of God, the smallest of our sins demands that we be
thrown into hell. And yet, despite meriting an eternity in hell, Our
Lord allows us the opportunity to grow both wheat and weeds in the soil of our
hearts, hopeful that we will grasp the opportunities that He has offered us,
through His Son, His Most Holy Mother, and His saints to focus on the wheat.
At
the end of our time on earth, when we will have to give account for our life,
our wheat and weeds will be sorted out by the angels. And once again, He will
show us His mercy, since rather than summarily send us off to hell for the
weeds we will have nurtured, we will get to spend time in the fire – of
purgatory – but it will be the wheat that we have nurtured in the garden of our
hearts that will ensure that we will eventually get to paradise.
And why, and how, is it, that Our Lord can be so merciful with us? The first reading, from the book of Wisdom offers us an explanation:
your might is the source of
justice;
your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all
In other words, and this is a lesson to all of us who are in positions of power, it is a mark of our weakness, that we seek to destroy those under us, when they disobey, or fail us. Our God of justice and mercy, shows us the way in which the power that is given to us must be wielded, with compassion. As the book of Wisdom teaches us today:
And you taught your people, by these deeds,
that those who are just must be kind;
and you gave your children good ground for hope
that you would permit repentance for their sins.
My dear brothers and sisters, Our God is the constant gardener who ensures that we are never without opportunity to cultivate the soil of our hearts so that we may produce the finest wheat and then live with Him for eternity, in paradise. Let us so cultivate our hearts, therefore, that we may yield “a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Mt 13: 8).
(A version of this homily was first preached to the faithful on 19 July 2026 in the chapel of Our Lady of the Cape at Cabo Raj Nivas, Dona Paula.)
(Image reference: The Tares, Eugène Burnand, 1908.)
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