The parable told, and then carefully explained, in this week's gospel text is part of a series of teaching parables found and featured in Matthew. While many are replicated in the other gospels, the parable of the wheat and the weeds is only found in Matthew. Fittingly for a parable concerned with the growing foodstuff (the wheat), Matthew introduces this story with the introductory formula, "He put before them." The verb "paratithemi" is used to describe serving a meal. Jesus is setting before the crowd and his disciples a feast of information and insights about God's dream for their lives.

The parable itself is exceptionally straight-forward, a fact that makes Matthew's later explanation of all the players in this drama seem even more unusual. The parable begins with good seed and, appa…