Paul Woodley argues that when Jesus explains a parable himself, like the Parable of the Weeds, take his explanation at face value. Don't layer on extra spiritual meanings or allegories. Let Jesus' own words settle what the story means.
He said 4 parables, boom, boom, boom. Now they go back to the house, and now they're like, you know, that parable you were talking about, the weeds, can you explain that to us? And this is great. This is great for us Christians. This is great for us Bible study students, per se. Many times, and here's a good example, Jesus explains himself. So we don't got to go around trying to over-spiritualize the text on any particular things. Oh, you know, this means that, when it doesn't. So if Jesus explains a parable, that's what it is. Leave it at that. And here's a good example of him doing that.
