Passage : Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43
- Audience: A large crowd
- Context: Jesus is teaching besides a lake
- Theme: The state of the church (present and future), Christ’s care, the devil’s intent to sabotage , the mixture of good and bad, and the ultimate separation at the time of the harvest(end of the age)
Jesus used agricultural analogies to explain God’s Kingdom and these examples highlight the process and time between the starting point and the end result. Today, we have become accustomed to microwave technologies where our will drives what we want and we are conditioned to want things quickly and immediately preferably with short or no waiting periods whatsoever. When we visit offices, customer service representatives are tasked with expected turnaround times within which a person’s issue should be resolved. With this in mind, we tend to approach our spirituality and relationship with God with the same microwave, short turnaround time mentality.
Most of Jesus’ hearers would have been rural farmers who would have easily identified with the difficult situation of weeds and wheat. Ancient farmers sometimes feuded and Roman Law had to forbid the practice of sowing poisonous plants in a neighbor’s field. Wheat was a staple crop at the time and the tare weed looked exactly like the wheatgrass and could only be distinguished when the ear of wheat appeared. Once wheat was harvested, the tares were pulled out and used as fuel for the fire.
The succession of this parable after the parable of the sower/soil is worth noting and just as the seed may be prone to choking based on the ground it falls on, there is a likening to the things that may attempt to corrupt the seed, sabotaging the growth. The parable of the sower shows how men receive the word while the parable of the wheat shows how God will separate His true people from false believers at the end of the age. The great difference is the seed was initially representative of God’s word while in this case, it is representative of the sons of the Kingdom. This parable highlights the growth of the Kingdom of heaven in three stages from the original planting, through its growth, to the final harvest. While the enemy’s sabotage seems to be effective, seeking to compete, the wheat survives and thrives. Both the wheat and tares grow to the end
The devil is God’s ape. His work a parody
Maclaren
Instinctively, the first response upon discovering poisonous shoots is to uproot and separate yet the master counsels against it by inviting the principles of caution and patience. Any attempt to separate the two would easily damage the good crop because the roots of both crops have become intertwined. The separation of the two crops would be done albeit laboriously, at harvest. when it will be easier to distinguish them and the weeds will be consigned to the fire.
The interpretation of this parable spells out personal and corporate significance. At a personal level, it is important to recognize that we are influenced both by Jesus who sows good seed, and the evil one, who sows weeds. We need to be wary of the forces of evil that have harmful designs upon our lives, so we best beware. While on a corporate level, the Kingdom of Heaven is not primarily the church, but God's sovereign rule in the whole universe, including the church. The parable is not about the immediate triumph of believers and the pure church, but about patiently waiting until God's purposes are worked out and he brings history to its final conclusion. (Tokunboh Ayedemo-African commentary)
This parable makes it plain that it is pointless to search for the perfect local church or denomination because there will always be weeds on the field even if it is sometimes hard to distinguish between those who are of the Kingdom and those who are not. We must, therefore, not be quick to judge, as we can easily make mistakes and damage the good seed. We must exercise patience and caution until God, the only judge finally decides to wind up history and makes the final distinction between those who are his and those who are not. He alone knows those who are called by his name (2 Timothy 2:19 ) thus church leaders need to be very careful in exercising discipline.
Satan has a shoot of iniquity for every shoot of grace, and when God revives His work, Satan revives his also.
Clarke
Giving people time seems to be an obvious, yet easily neglected reminder, for in time the fruit of one’s life which will point to them being wheat (chosen ones) or the tares (those headed into the furnace) will be evident. The characteristics of the wheat will be known- these are the people who walk by faith, seek God in his word, obey the word, they have the fruit of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control. Christ speaks and cautions how people in the last day will lay claim about doing things in His name yet unrecognized by Him (Matthew 7:21-23) We are therefore called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12) so that we are continuously sanctified by the water of God’s word.
The difference will always be in the fruit produced.
As new converts come to church they will have characteristics of the world that they were in and as they continuously learn God’s word, sanctification occurs. We should, therefore, take seriously the place of discipleship so that we will have grounded believers in the word of God rather than on myths and traditions. (2 Timothy 2:2) There are no perfect people and since the enemy is out to always plant weeds, the church remains a place where perfection has not been attained. Therefore, our outlook on the church should be seasoned with grace because imperfect people will bring about imperfect situations. and just like the Epistles tell us, and for you who are helping others in their situations of sin, watch out that you do not suffer the same falls (Galatians 6:1). Paul further highlights the war that is constant within an individual that the things I want to do I do not do while the things I do not want to do I do (Romans 7:15). This means that as followers of Christ we will continuously have to fight with sin in our own lives, that though saved we will find that we still sometimes fall short. (Romans 3:23)
Let the Divine Judge Distinguish
God, employing the reapers- who have a sensitivity and divine enablement, unlike us- will make the separation between the wheat and tares. Thus we are absolved of the responsibility of letting our minds wonder whether we have spoken to the wheat or the tares. It is not our job to weed out rather we are tasked with preaching to all and God will do the judging. The church may separate some in cases of discipline but ultimately, it is God who sees and judges righteously
As long as we are in this world, there will always be sons of the enemy. There is a level of care that the good sower gives the good seed that the enemy cannot grant the weeds to make them fruitful. Jesus is sowing seeds and raising up Christians while the enemy is busy sabotaging with a counterfeit seed. Therefore, let us heed the call of the great commission (Matthew 28:18-20) and keep partnering with God to raise up sons of the Kingdom