Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew's Gospel

by John Shelby Spong

The parable of the sower is about the need to plant the Christian message in the kind of soil that will bear fruit. The parable of the wheat and tares is about the compromises one must make with the world in order to accomplish the tasks of the church. Human life is always a mixture of good and evil; one cannot separate them from each other without destroying both. The parable of the mustard seed is a picture of the early church. It was at that time as small and as insignificant as a mustard seed, but was destined to grow, Matthew and his fellow adherents believed, to be so large that even the birds of the air could build their nests in its branches. The “birds of the air” was a reference to the Gentiles, who would ultimately make their homes in the Christian movement. The treasure in the field and the pearl of great price were symbols of the way early Christians valued their Christ message, believing that its success was worth any sacrifice. These are the concerns of the Christian community at the time Matthew’s gospel was being written. They would have been totally foreign concerns to the Jesus of history. So Jesus has now been related to the great fall festival of the harvest.