cockle (Fig. 75) [1] among the wheat and went his way. And when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared also the cockle. And the servants of the master of the house came, and said to him: ‘Master, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? From whence, then, hath it cockle?’ He said to them: ‘An enemy hath done this.’ The servants said to him: ‘Wilt thou that we go and gather it up?’ And he said: ‘No, lest, while you gather up the cockle, you root up the wheat also together with it. Let both grow until the harvest, and in time of harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up first the cockle, and bind it in bundles to burn, but the wheat gather ye into my barn.’”
Jesus likewise explained this parable, saying that He who sows the good seed is Himself — the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed represents the children of God, and the cockle those of the devil. The enemy who sowed the cockle is the devil. The harvest-time is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As the cockle is plucked up and cast into the fire, so it will happen to the wicked at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send His angels, and take away from His kingdom all scandals; and those who are guilty thereof shall be cast into the everlasting flames of hell. But the just, the faithful servants of God, shall be gathered into the eternal granaries of heaven, and they shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.
COMMENTARY.
Evil in the Church of God. In order that the apostles and other preachers of the Gospel might not lose heart, when, in spite of all their efforts, men would not be converted, our Lord teaches in this parable that it must needs be that evil shall grow up in the Church alongside of the good, and that the complete separation of the evil from the good will only take place at the end of the world.
God suffers evil in His Church, 1. because He gave man a free will; 2. in order that the sinner may have time for conversion; 3. that the just may be proved and gain more merit; that even the wicked
- ↑ Cockle. A weed which, until the ear is formed, is exactly like wheat. The cockle, therefore, was only discovered after the ears were formed.
