Matth. 13, 24-30.
He set before them another similitude, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while the people slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away. Now when the herb grew and bore fruit, the tares were also found. Then the servants came to the father of the house and said: Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? where then did the weeds come from? He said to them: The enemy has done this. Then said the servants: Do you want us to go and weed it out? And he said, Nay; lest, when ye sow the tares, ye also pluck up the wheat. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to be burned; but gather me the wheat into my sheaves.
The Lord Himself interpreted this parable in the same chapter by the suggestion of His disciples, saying, The Son of man is he that soweth good seed; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares are the children of wickedness; the enemy that soweth them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. These seven pieces summarize and clarify the gospel, what he meant by the likeness. But who would have found such an interpretation, since he here in
In this simile, the seed is called the people and the field is called the world; yet in the next simile before this, he calls the seed the word of God and the field the people or people's hearts? If he had not interpreted this himself, then everyone would have imitated the previous simile and let the seed be God's word, and thus would have missed this understanding.
2 Therefore let us note here for the prudent and learned who are to act the Scriptures. The imitation or counseling is valid in the
Scripture does not; but one should and must be certain of it. Just as Joseph interpreted the two dreams of the gift-giver and the baker, which rhymed in the same way, so unequally and did not follow the pattern. Although there would not have been much danger here, if the seed had been interpreted as God's word, it would still not have been understood correctly.
3 This gospel teaches us how things are in the world with the kingdom of God, that is, with Christianity, especially with regard to doctrine, namely, that it is not to be expected that there should be only true believing Christians and pure doctrine of God on earth; but there must also be false Christians and heretics, so that the true Christians may be proven, as St. Paul says 1 Cor. 11, 19. Paul says 1 Cor. 11, 19. For this simile does not speak of false Christians, who alone are outward in life, but of those who are unchristian in doctrine and faith under the name of Christians, who are glittering and harmful. It is a matter of the conscience, not of the hand. And they must be spiritual servants who recognize such tares among the wheat. And the sum of it is, that we should not be astonished nor frightened, if many false doctrines and beliefs arise among us. The devil is also always among the children of God, Job 1:6.
4. the other, how we are to hold ourselves against these heretics and false teachers. We are not to exterminate or destroy them. He speaks publicly here that we should let it grow with each other. The word of God alone is to be acted upon here; for it is so in this matter that he who errs today may be right tomorrow. Who knows when the word of God will stir his heart? But if he is burned or otherwise strangled, he will be multiplied, so that he will not be able to come to his senses; and if he is raptured from the word of God, he will be lost, who otherwise might have been saved. This is what the Lord says here, that the wheat is also plucked up when the tares are weeded out. This is a terrible thing in the sight of God and can never be justified.
5. notice from this what furious people we have been so long time that we have been the Turks
with the sword, the heretics with the fire, the Jews with deaths, we want to force them to believe and root out the weeds with our own power; just as if we were the people who could rule over hearts and spirits and we wanted to make them pious and right, which only God's word must do. But we separate people from the word by murdering them, so that it cannot work on them, and so at once bring two murders upon ourselves, as much as lies in us, namely, that we murder the body temporally and the soul eternally at the same time, and then say that we have done God a service by it, and want to have earned something special in heaven.
(6) Therefore, this saying should justly frighten the heretics and murderers of men, if they did not have iron foreheads, even though they had true heretics before them. But now they burn the right saints and are heretics themselves. What else does this mean, but that they pull out the wheat and pretend to weed out the tares, like senseless men?
(7) This gospel also shows that free will is nothing, because the good seed is sown by Christ alone, and the devil can sow nothing but evil seed; just as we see that the field bears nothing of itself but tares, which animals eat, even though it grows green and occupies the field as if it were its own. So the false Christians among the true Christians are of no use, except that they feed the world and are the devil's food, and yet they green and shine as prettily as if they alone were the saints, and also occupy the space in Christendom as if they were lords in it, and the rule and supremacy must be theirs; and have no other cause than to boast that they are Christians and among the Christians in the church of Christ, although they themselves see and confess that they live unchristianly.
(8) That the Lord also paints the devil as throwing seed when people are asleep, and goes away so that no one sees who has done it, shows how the devil can adorn himself and hide himself so that he is not considered a devil. As we have learned in Christianity, since he has made false
Teacher first interjects: they walk along beautifully, there is vain God, the devil is gone for a thousand miles, that no one sees otherwise, but how they present God's word, name and work; that is fine devious. But when the wheat comes forth, the tares are seen, that is, when one wants to act rightly from God's word and teach the faith that fruit will come from it, then they go along and set themselves against it, and want to have the field in their possession, worrying that the wheat alone will grow in the field and their things will remain.
9 So the church, the preachers, are surprised; but they are not yet allowed to judge, if they want to...
But they see that they are tares and evil seed, fallen from faith and works, and think to buy them out. But they see that they are tares and evil seed, fallen from the faith and into works, and think to buy it out; but they complain of it before the Lord by heartfelt prayer in the Spirit. He then says again, they should not pluck it up, that is, they should have patience, and suffer such blasphemy and command God; for though they hinder the wheat, yet they make it the more beautiful to behold against the tares, as also St. Paul says 1 Cor. 11:19: "Sects must be, that they which are approved may be made manifest." That is enough of that.