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Nature’s 5th Columnist

Have you ever questioned why God allows evil in the world? It would be surprising if you haven’t. For many people the question of evil in a world ruled by a good and all powerful God is often a great sticking point for people in the quest for faith. Boethius, a 6th Century Roman scholar who influenced the Church greatly, put the question as “Si Deus justus – unde malum? “If God is righteous, why evil?” He reasoned that either God wishes to prevent evil but cannot, in which case God is just, but not omnipotent; or God can prevent evil, but chooses not to, in which case God is omnipotent, but not just. In some way the parable which we are studying today answers that question, the Parable of the Wheat and Tares Matt 13:24-30.

During the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 Spanish nationalist general by the name of Emilio Mola claimed that in addition to the four columns of troops under his command heading for the capital Madrid, he had a ‘fifth column’ inside the city consisting of subversive Nationalist sympathizers. Since then ‘fifth columnist’ has become a widely used phrase to describe saboteurs and seditionists.

Today we are introduced to the ‘fifth columnist’ of the wheat growing industry, the ‘bearded darnel’ or ‘poison ryegrass.’ The word translated in our modern bibles as ‘weed’ or in more traditional translations by the Middle-English word ‘Tare’ in our Gospel reading today is not simply a generic term which we would apply to our everyday herbaceous garden pests, but a specific plant, the ‘bearded darnel’ or ‘poison ryegrass.’ The Greek word is ζιζάνια dzidzania linked to the hebrew word for ‘fornication.’ Its botanical name is ‘lolium temulentum’ and it was and still is the bane of the life of a wheat farmer.

Cited in the 6th Century law code Corpus Iuris Civilis: Digesta, referring to much earlier Roman law from the 3rd Century, prosecution can be brought against another for sowing darnel seed into a rival’s crops.

“ Et ideo Celsus quaerit, si lolium aut avenam in segetem alienam….And so Celsus asks, if you sow darnel or weeds in another man’s crops …..” (Book 9/14 Lex Aquila)

There would have been many nodding heads among the farming folk who knew just how pernicious this plant was to wheat crops as they listened to Jesus tell His story. Bearded darnel seems to thrive especially well alongside its cultivated cousin wheat, but is both poisonous to cattle and humans. The seeds are grey in colour and have to be removed by hand. Milled wheat flour containing darnel tastes bitter. Scientists have shown that the seed heads of bearded darnel attract a fungus called endocladium temulentum which produces a soporific narcotic toxin called Temulin.

It is interesting that in Jesus’s story, the enemy waits until his rival is asleep to sow a sleep inducing weed to corrupt his crop. In Germany it is known as rauschgras, schlafweizen, schlafkorn or schwindelhafer.

The bearded darnel originated in warm mediterranean and near eastern climates, but has now spread across the globe to affect 14 crop types in 38 different countries. In its early stages, bearded darnel is indistinguishable from wheat and it is only when the grain heads emerge and the plant fruits that it reveals its true colours.

According to a report cited in the Invasive Species Compendium (ISC), a scientific research database supporting the agricultural industry, weeding out darnel by hand is possible within 30 to 60 days after the sowing of wheat, but thereafter it is very difficult to distinguish it from genuine wheat therefore it is impossible to uproot it without destroying the wheat too. I find it refreshing that non-biblical, historical and scientific evidence proves what Jesus was saying. Jesus is using the illustration of darnel to explain satan’s activity in the world, the apparent source of our suffering, but also the reason why God is not willing to destroy satan’s works in the world as we know it.

Satan masquerades as an angel of light. His deceptions are very subtle and it is often not until much further down the line that the reality of the peril we are in is truly evident as those dabbling in the occult or experimenting with illicit drugs later discover.

In his autobiography ‘To the Stars’ George Tikei, the actor who played Sulu in Star Trek, recalls the unjust terror that he as a young boy and his family suffered along with 120,000 other Japanese-Americans during WW2 when they were forcibly confined in internment camps. It may well be that there was strong evidence that some posed a significant ‘fifth columnist’ threat, but I wonder how many other innocent people were caught up in the purges?

ISC argue that the only really effective way of controlling darnel other than chemical intervention is burning “Burning resulted in a reduction of viable seeds by 99.7 and 97.7% when practised in December and January, respectively.” (Pearce and Holmes, 1976). Jesus again reflects this in His parable. Those He termed the children of the devil will, like the darnel, be gathered up and burned, leaving the pure wheat grain to be gathered and stored in His Father’s house. This fact is a promise of hope that evil may seem triumphant now, but it will not be so forever. The devil and his works have a shelf-life and God’s patience is running out!

There is one final application which is not stated in the parable, but implicit from Jesus’s other teaching. Another reason for God’s delay in acting is that by His grace weeds can become the wheat that God intended! God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever who would believe in Him should not perish (John3:16). He does not create people for the express purpose of destruction, but like darnel Jesus states elsewhere that our true nature can only be determined by our fruit (Matt 7:20).

And so my brothers and sisters it is hard to be genuine wheat when you are in the weeds. You must be aware of satan’s deceptive tactics. Test everything you read, watch and hear (including my sermons) against scripture and prayer. Remember bearded darnel looks like wheat to begin with, but it is poisonous. Do not be disheartened with the facts we see in the news. God allows these things because He is full of Grace. He wants and wills weeds to become wheat, but time is running out. We would love Him to destroy evil right now, but if He destroyed every weed, then like trying to pull up bearded darnel the wheat would also suffer. Finally in your prayers don’t give up on the weeds. Our God of Grace is long- suffering and patient and wills that all would have the chance to repent and become wheat, but many refuse His offer of grace. We must pray for the protection of our community against the subtle influences of evil. Jesus teaches especially in the Sermon on the Mount that we not only sin against God in practical ways, but also with our minds and eyes. It is perhaps these which are most vulnerable to the subversive tactics of satan.

Next time we pray the Lord’s Prayer and request His deliverance from evil, let us remember lolium temulentum, the bearded darnel or poison ryegrass for it is hard to be genuine wheat when you are in the weeds.

Amen

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