This is the version read in Catholic churches today, the attached graphic is a more accurate translation of the Greek word for what is translated into English in the above version as “weeds”, which is a form of degenerate wheat that looks the same as wheat in appearance.

 

The servants working for the farmer wanted to go and pull out the weeds, but were told not to unless they might also pull out the good wheat.

 

Lots of people think that Jesus said, “don’t pull out the weeds because you might pull out the good plants too,” because the roots might be intertwined, but it’s really because THEY LOOK THE SAME ON THE OUTSIDE, and we can’t judge which plants are good on the INSIDE.

 

The whole business of evil is “deception based on perception,” that’s always a form of “sleight-of-hand,” designed to create false understandings of things, making lies pose as truth, and preventing clarity to see what is good in God’s eyes.

 

That’s why Jesus said to “watch and pray ALWAYS,” (i.e., “never sleep”), and to thereby ensure that we are not deceived and led astray.

 

It is of no little consequence or significance that evil seeds that we can NOT then detect and discriminate from the good solely on appearance are sown “when we sleep,” which is to say, when we fail to obey the command of Jesus to “watch and pray always”.

 

If and when a person then perhaps “wakes up,” (repents and begins to walk in the way of the Spirit of God, in imitation of Jesus), he or she will be walking within a world of both wicked and wonderful wheat. Until the harvest, none of us will truly be able to judge “which is which” until the fruit is made manifest for all to see, and the good fruit can be clearly distinguished from the bad.

There are two Greek words in Scripture for what appears in our Bible as the word “good” in most English translations, so the subtle but incredibly significant difference between ‘Kalos’ and ‘Agathos’ is often missed… the former ‘good’ is what appears “good on the outside”, the latter is what is “good on the inside,” it is used to denote spiritual excellence which is of the heart.

The human heart is both deep and devious, capable of union with the divine and participation in all God’s unfathomable love , grace and mercy; or it can be as dark as the dankest dungeons of hell [ think, “Sound of Freedom”] and we can not judge what we can’t see, and we can’t see the heart of another person.

 

That is why we are told in Scripture that “vengeance belongs to God,” because only God can judge justly, seeing all.

 

We know that appearances are deceptive, and that Jesus said that it’s what is in the heart that determines both evil and good. It is in the heart we find what is treasured by a person, the thing desired above all else, which should be God.

 

I pray that we all receive the grace today to be able to stay awake for the duration and to obey our Lord, keeping our attention continually fixed on Him and heaven, our true home, which certainly isn’t here on earth!