Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13: 36-43)

Over the last 200 years many scholars have argued these are not the words of Jesus. It is instead the interpretation of early Christians living through a profoundly troubled time.

I agree with many scholars that the act of tranforming the purposefully implicit into the simplistically explicit would seem to defeat the value of the original parable.

The scholarly arguments are profound, but I don't read this book as I might a historical or mathematical text. I am not seeking simple truths. I come to these stories to struggle with Truth. I am reluctant to exclude.

In embracing the text I can imagine Jesus speaking these words to the "harvesters," to God's messengers standing there before him. "Do you realize I am speaking of you?" he says. Even to us?

This Greek word for furnace is used only four times in scripture, twice in Matthew. This is a particular sort of furnace for baking, for smelting, and for firing clay. In such a furnace something unfinished is refined and fulfilled.

Above is a Russian orthodox depiction of Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego in the Firey Furnace of the the third chapter of Daniel.