If Tares Could Talk by: Emmanuel Philor Sr.

 Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30 KJV 

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

 

If Tares Could Talk 

This may come to you as a shocker, but believe it or not, I am the quiet member of my family of origin. No one came to me for advice or to hear my opinion about various subjects in our house, because I'm the baby of the family. If you heard me talking in the gathering, it was because I had to say something about something that was going on. I loved being outside while silently enjoying nature's surround sound. I had a good childhood, and I enjoyed my life growing up. I'm the product of a traditional lower Middle-Class Black family, with two working parents who provided everything I desired and an older brother, who I fought with on a religious basis. Our family ate dinner together at the dinner table almost every night of my childhood. On special occasions and holidays, all the kids ate at one table, and the adults sat together to discuss adult topics. Your only desire was to be able to sit at the adult table one day. We celebrated birthdays with a big shindig that made you consider if this party was for the child or the adults. I came from a Black Community and didn't know that I was considered the other until I left that environment. In my eyes, I was the black normal, and I knew I was not alone. I know the story of another person who falls in this category.  

On February 5, 1995, Sybrina and Tracy became the parents of a beautiful baby boy. The family came together to raise and rear a child with a future with its pregnant possibilities. He could've become a Sports Analyst, Community Organizer, University Professor, or just a Model Citizen, but unfortunately, we will never know. Because, on February 26, 2012, this child, also known as Trayvon Martin, was murdered by George Zimmerman. However, February 26, 2012, is not the day that reminded many Americans of the reality of our nation's weight of sin that so easily besets us. July 13, 2013, offered us that reminder because that was the day that Trayvon Martin was proven to be a Tare. That was the day that Black Life because noticeably insignificant to Blacks all around America. That was when jurors of his peers gave George Zimmerman a Not-Guilty Verdict, and I'd argue that this is sin. Some would say that America's sin is Racism. However, I would say the sin of our nation is our willingness to be divided. Our division causes us to buy into the binary of Good and Evil. This challenging realization charges us to consider how we have converted our thinking to use these terms. This is not simply an American issue, but please indulge me enough to consider this reality since we are in this country. Our nation juxtaposed against others is that we justify our mistreatment of a group or sect of people through these lenses. My unsettledness with this understanding is due to the argument that some people are inherently good, whereas others are intrinsically evil. We see a clear example of this in today's text.  

Jesus begins our text by telling us a Bedtime story. I know you're wondering why I called the parable a Bedtime story, and that's because Jesus gets us in a place where we are comfortable to drop some subtle lesson on morality to us. Jesus is talking to a group of people who are familiar with agriculture. I know this because the text follows another parable with a similar theme about agriculture. Both parables teach about crops being able to grow through diverse environments. Jesus stands amid our place of comfortability and charges us to consider our morality differently. In today's text, Jesus begins telling a parable that helps us consider the behaviors that model the will of the Kingdom. The way this text is read offers us an opportunity to see the separation between the two parties, which causes a sense of mirrors and binaries. When one group of people thought they were better than the other because of their family of origin, the deity that they worshipped, and the ways they behaved, there was a clear separation that caused contention between the people living in a community. The issue of this is that people in the community get marginalized and mistreated due to them not being a part of the elite. I know you are trying to see this in text, and I hope to share it with you. 

The story, in short, is about a Master who sowed seed in a field and expected a healthy crop of wheat. While the master and his slaves were sleeping, an enemy sowed another type of seed in the field. This type of seed would not yield the master a profit, but instead may have contaminated or devalued the initial harvest, so the Slaves considered ripping them out of the field while the wheat was growing alongside them. The master responded with concern for the good crop, stating that they should just let them grow together and separate them when it is time for the harvest. The concern was that there would be an issue with discerning which crops were Good or bad. This breeds a conversation that the church is often unwilling to have about binaries. Whether we feel scripturally sanctioned or supported, there is no justifiable excuse for treating people poorly because they are different from us. Reality will show that the issue of binaries addressed in this text causes a more significant wedge between those who fall into these categories. The wedge is drawn due to a sense of Superiority compared to the other. Some of these Binaries are: 

• White or any other race 
• Male or female 
• Cisgender or transgender 
• Young or Old 
• Educated or uneducated 
• Wealthy or Poor 
• Christian or not 
• Married or not 
• Hetero or Homo 
• Citizen or Alien 

The text gives us these two distinctions with the Wheat and Tare. The Master of the Field intentionally planted the wheat. He planted the wheat because it is a valuable crop used/eaten throughout dietary habits. It is found in most of our fiber-related meals and sides. It is a valuable crop, as it is often necessary to those who choose to consume it. The master saw a profit off of the growth of wheat and wanted nothing but the best for the wheat because everybody loves wheat. Such is the case for wheat in the sense of our binaries in our society. The wheat never has to be deemed abnormal or unfamiliar because the wheat is the standard of excellence. The text says that the Master sowed GOOD seed in the soil. The tare seeds were planted with the expectation that they would bring back a largely quantified yield. The wheat was seen as good in this context. The soil was rich enough to offer the nutrients needed to bring forth this yield, and the expectation was that with the right things in place, we would receive what we expected.  

I have an issue with the text because it calls the seed of the wheat Good but fails to call the tares bad outright. I soon realized in my study that they couldn't call the tares' seeds bad because they were doing what they (the tares) were called to do. They were tares. A tare or the Greek term ζιζάνια (Zizania) is a term used to define a crop that is deemed worthless. It has no value whatsoever to either the farmer or the consumer. Jesus shows us how worthless this crop was when the parable ends with the tares being burned. Tares had no expected end or hope for a future. Tares were not even on the scale of the standard of excellence. They were the nobodies in the cropping world. But this makes me bear the question today. What happens to the people, who all of our lives, all we have been are the tares? We have been overlooked, overworked and underpaid. We have been told to speak only when the wheat deemed us relevant. We are paraded through the wheat when we accomplish accolades, but as soon as the parade is over, we are reminded of our tare-ness when mistreated and abused. 

The reality is that there are tares all across our society and throughout our cultural and heritage implications. I know that and understand it. One of the issues I am faced with is that the wheat remained silent throughout the parable. They never defended the tares. They never advocated fair treatment of the tares, and if you know like I know, you will not be wheat the only desired crop forever. All wheat will be treated as tares someday, so it would behoove you to advocate for them now so that you have company later. Hear me: I understand that wheat is more valuable than the Tares based upon the market system, as there is a market for wheat. But what should be said to the tares of our society? Because of things you cannot change, you are worthless to us? You can be unapologetically Black if it doesn't make anyone uncomfortable. You can have this job, but we're not offering you equal pay since you are a woman. You can identify as LGBT, but you must keep your identity closeted. That is not okay! I'm proud to be a tare of this society, but I refuse to be burned any longer. I'm okay with being the other, as long as I get fair treatment. Whenever I walk into a room, I consider myself the tare first—Jesus's parable, when misread, sanctions the mistreatment of the tares.  

Can I be transparent? When I first began this text, I wanted to hear from the wheat. I felt like the wheat shouldn't be complacent enough to not say anything on behalf of the tares that look just like them. They grew up together dealing with the same master. They had to learn how to maneuver the master for their benefit. I even said that part of the problem is the fact that the wheat felt comfortable in its position of value. While I would never exonerate the wheat for their inability and unwillingness to speak up on behalf of the Tares of our community, they are a product of the same master that tares had to endure. But the real issue with this text is the systemically oppressive, marginalist, misogynistic, judgmentally gender-conformed, ageist, wealthy, and privileged citizen who creates, fuels, and maintains the role of dictator over a field of crop that wants to grow. I have realized the issue is not whether the tares can talk, but rather whether the master can listen. If Tares Could Talk, they might cry out about the misfortune that they have endured at the hands of our government. If Tares Could Talk, they would demand their freedom from a church imprisoning them for their identity. 

For so long, the tares were muted because our society is more interested in the success of wheat. Thus, it does not make it ironic that tares and tears are the same letters. The tares have cried tears of sorrow, and today, we reclaim our rightful position because the tears we have sown in sorrow have helped us grow alongside the wheat. Even if we are plucked out of the community and thrown into prisons and mental health facilities to be discarded, you can't erase our presence and impact. Because despite our silence, we all know that Tares can talk. So, to the wheat of this world, create opportunities to amplify the voices of the tares. When seated in your positions of privilege, remember them. When they cry out, hear their voice. When they are being bullied by the rulers of this society, protect them. For there is a day coming where the privileged will become the underprivileged, and there will be nothing to remember, but the pain and heartache caused by the wheat. But until then, there is a field owner who can see value in the tares and treats us with equality. Knowing we are different, but no less valued than the wheat and until this field owners views are realized by all, I pray

·         That justice roll down like waters

·         That righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

·         That the wicked cease from troubling

·         That the weary are at rest.

·         That the small and the great are there

·         That the slaves are free from their masters. 

Then and only then, we will realize that until all voices are equally amplified and regarded we will never know if the tares could talk!