SAYING 57: Jesus said, “What the kingdom of the father resembles is a man who had a [good] (kind of) seed. His enemy came at night and scattered grass seed in with the good seed. The man did not let them pluck out the grass, saying to them, ‘Do not, lest you go to pluck out the grass and then pluck out the wheat along with it. For, on the day of the harvest the grass will be obvious, and it will be plucked out and burned.'”
The Kingdom is represented by the good seed – the reality of Oneness – planted by the Father at the beginning of all things. This is true reality. This is the Kingdom of God.
The illusion is sown by “the enemy” which, one might suggest is “the devil” or “Satan” if that helps you process the story, but this personification of evil or deception is best understood, not as some dark spiritual being, but as anyone who perpetuates the lie of separation from the Father, or from ourselves.
This seed that is scattered is not “bad” seed, but simply “grass” seed, suggesting that it is natural and appears everywhere we look. The wheat stands in for the “good” seed in that it bears grain that provides nourishment, whereas the grass seed is merely for appearances and physical comfort beneath our feet.
The “day of the harvest” is when all is revealed and everyone’s eyes are finally awakened to the truth of our eternal connection with the Divine. In that day, the lie will be burned up as instantly as darkness escapes a lighted room.
What’s different in this saying, compared to the parallel sayings in the Synoptic texts is the absence of equating the “good” seed and the “bad” seed with individual people. The seed is merely a metaphor used to describe what is true or what is false.
One seed was planted that good. That good seed – like wheat – provides nourishment and life to everyone, whether they realize it or not.
The bad seed – like grass – covers the earth – the physical world – and blankets our world with the illusion of separation and division from God, and therefore, from one another.
The seed is not a metaphor for “saints” or for “sinners” in either case. It’s only used as a metaphor for what is true and what is not true.
So, when the grass is “burned up” it is not suggesting that those who were enchanted by the lie are burned up with the grass. Only the grass – the lie – is burned up, not those who were deceived.
We either harvest the good seed and enjoy the goodness of God’s Kingdom, or we settle for the bad seed and wrap ourselves in the false comfort of the illusion that cannot feed us, or sustain our existence.
Either way, the day of the harvest will come, and the lie will be burned up and the truth will be plainly obvious for everyone to see, at last.
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Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” His latest book, SOLA MYSTERIUM: Celebrating the Beautiful Uncertainty of Everything is available now on Amazon in paperback and on Kindle.
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