A: 16th Sun of OrdTime (19 July 2020) - MAKING SENSE OF REFERENCE (Mt 13:24-43)

One important concept in analyzing biblical words is the difference between “reference” and “sense”. At most times, words contain a two-level understanding. In particular, reference means the thing, person, or idea that is immediately communicated to the reader. Thus, a “seed” can directly signify the notion of a tiny grain that is the foundational provenance of plants. Meanwhile, sense directs the audience to a profound meaning, often hidden but comprehensible to the keen reader. Accordingly, while “seed” refers to the kernel that grows to become a tree, it can inform the small nature of faith that blossoms to be a true confession of belief. Another way of expressing this interpretational device is by the terminologies “denotation” (for “reference”) and “connotation” (for “sense”).

Jesus in our gospel delivered both the denotation and connotation of the harvest in the Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Mt 13:24-30). On the one hand, he narrates an anecdote about a sower who planted good seeds into the field that was quickly offset by an enemy who sowed weeds at the night; the wheat and weeds would only be separated at harvest time. On the other hand, when alone with his disciples, he explained the tale, saying: “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children 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. Just as weeds are collected and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age” (vv. 37b-40). With these details, we readers will never be lost in catching the sense of the narrative as Jesus himself had already interpreted it for us.

Under normal circumstances, Jesus never unfolded the connotation of his parables in order that to the believing disciples the “knowledge of heaven” would be given, but to those who do not will only “look but do not see and hear but do not listen or understand” (v. 13). Exceptionally, in vv. 18-23, he explained the meaning of the Parable of the Sower (vv. 1-9), which he also did in our gospel today in vv. 36-43. But for the greater part, Jesus’ parables were left unclarified. See, for example, the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) that simply ends with his open-ended statement: “Go and do likewise” (v. 37). Meanwhile, at few times, his cryptic message would correctly get across his narrative audience as we read in the Parable of the Tenants (Mk 12:1-12), which concludes with: “They [Jewish authorities] were seeking to arrest him … for they realized that he had addressed the parable to them” (v. 12).

By and large, Jesus left the interpretation of his stories to his listeners, even extending to our present times. While this reality may demand more reflection and pondering on our part, it is a welcome sight since it allows Jesus’ words to converse to us in our contemporary contexts.

Hence, we need to make a sense out of this literature of two millennia… What does the “good seeds sown into the field” mean amidst the chaotic handling of the pandemic crisis? What does “the enemy sowing weeds at night” mean vis-à-vis the vicious moves of governments to suppress freedom and to wreak a totalitarian control of citizens’ lives? What does “harvest time” mean for the most vulnerable sectors of society who have begun to lose hope in the political system? The list goes on … we simply need to make sense of the biblical texts before us and we will have the right answers to all our daily questions.

- Rex Fortes, CM