Matthew 13:24-30
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:36-43
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
LANGUAGE
Vs 24 good - καλός kalos; beautiful, but chiefly (figuratively) good (literally or morally), i.e. valuable or virtuous (for appearance or use, and thus distinguished from 18, which is properly intrinsic)
Vs 25 weeds - ζιζάνιον zizanion; false grain: — tares.
BACKGROUND
Just prior to telling this parable, Jesus tells the Parable of Soils, in which he speaks of 4 different types of sol and how they represent the various responses to the Gospel. He then is questioned by his disciples as to why He speaks in parables. He states, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
There seems to be a sense of understanding being given to some and not to others. While I struggle with understanding this, and again have many questions about these verses, I must most worry about my own heart and level of understanding, and pray that I am not among those who are dull or hard of hearing.
COMMENT
Today I just want to stick to what I see as the main idea of this parable, that being that in the kingdom of God on earth, the church, there will be sinners and saints, there will be those who are saved and those who are not, there will be true Christians and those who perhaps just believe themselves to be Christians OR are not really Christians at all. We don't know who is genuine and who is not, so for us to attempt to weed out the bad would inevitably tear out some of the real thing in the process. (See Matt 7:21-23)
This past Sunday, I sat in Sunday School, and the leader asked us to name some heroes. One person named Mark Batterson, a preacher and author you may or may not be familiar with. My personal opinion regarding this man is that he falls into the category of Prosperity Gospel preachers, and is one that I would identify as not a Christian, or perhaps even a wolf among Christians. What to do! Do I start a discussion about this man and his theology or let it go? If I do say something, am I ripping up some wheat with the weeds? I chose to remain silent, yet this choice still eats at me.
Sometimes you have to call a wolf a wolf. Scripture is clear about this. But I still am not sure that that was the time and place to do this. I think we have let God's people down as we have flocked to the feet of many wolves such as Joel Osteen, Mark Batterson, or Steven Furtick, making them millionaires grasping at a gospel that is not really a gospel at all. But perhaps even among the vast field of weeds that follow such teachers are stalks of wheat.
The main point Jesus is making here is that in the church there will be sheep and goats. While it is important for us to deal with this, it is not within our purview to label who is which. I notice that Jesus does not say treat all of the wheat and the weeds the same, but this would almost have to be the case in some instances. Maybe it is more about what we teach than about knocking someone who does not fall in line with our specific set of beliefs. God is the ultimate judge. Come harvest time, the wheat and weeds will no longer be treated the same. In the end, weeds are burned and wheat will shine like the sun. That is a hard teaching for someone who likes things to be neat and clean most of the time.
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