Theophylact Bulgarian. Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 13:36. Then Jesus, having dismissed the people, entered the house.
He let the people go when - they did not receive any benefit from the teaching. For He spoke in parables to be asked. They didn’t care about it and didn’t seek to learn anything; therefore the Lord justly releases them.
And coming to Him, His disciples said: Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.
Only this one parable is asked, because others seemed clearer to them. By tares we mean everything harmful that grows among wheat: cockle, peas, wild oats, etc.
Matthew 13:37. He answered and said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed is the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
Matthew 13:39. the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are Angels.
Matthew 13:40. Therefore, as tares are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age;
Matthew 13:41. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all the temptations and the perpetrators of iniquity,
Matthew 13:42. and cast them into a fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;
What should have been said is what was said above. For we said that here we are talking about heresies, which are allowed to be until the end of the world. If we let us kill and exterminate heretics, strife and war will rise; and in the midst of strife, many of the faithful, perhaps, will perish. But both Paul and the robber were tares before they believed, but they were not destroyed at that time for the sake of wheat that had to grow in them, for in the subsequent time they brought fruit to God, and they burned the tares with the fire of the Holy Spirit and the fervor of their souls.
Matthew 13:43. then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!
Since the sun seems to us shining more than all the stars, therefore the Lord compares the glory of the righteous with the sun. But they will shine brighter than the sun. Since the Sun of righteousness is Christ, then the righteous will then be enlightened like Christ, for they will be like gods.
