The Wheat and The Weeds

English Standard Version Chapter 13

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 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?’ 28 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?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 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.” ’ ”

English Standard Version Chapter 13

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 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.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

I remember when I was little, sowing wildflower seeds with my grandmother. I had never done anything like this before. You see, the only thing I had ever known was planting, either watching my dad do it with his tractor or by hand where you meticulously dug a hole and carefully layed the seed in the hole and covered it up. Sowing was completely different. You could be so free and wild with sowing. You took the seed in your hand and simply cast it upon the ground. That was it. But what was to come was so beautiful.

In our text for this morning, Jesus uses the example of sowing seeds in His parable to teach a valuable lesson. So as we open God’s Word this morning, may we allow this age old parable that Jesus spoke over 2,000 years ago, to speak to our hearts and souls this day. As Commentator David Brown writes, “Happily for us, these exquisite parables are, with like charming simplicity and clearness, expounded to us by the Great Preacher Himself.” May we, as we read these words from the Great Preacher Himself, take the time to evaluate our own souls and see where we stand with Jesus and are we ready for His return. And with that in mind, may God bless the preaching of this, His Most Holy Word.

Our first point for this morning is “The Good with the Bad.” How many of you have ever heard the saying, “Well, sometimes you just have to take the good with the bad.” It’s like going to the doctor and him or her saying to you, “Well, Doug, the good news is you’ve lost 5 lbs, the bad news is I want you to continue to stay away from those candy bars.” In this world, we have a way of conditioning ourselves to take the good with the bad, because let’s face it. If we are honest with ourselves, there is typically always a mixture of the two in our lives. Now you may meet that person who treats life as if it is always bad and you may meet that person who treats life as if it is always good. But until we meet Jesus there will always be a combination of the two, much like it was in this parable that Jesus told. Let’s look at it once more. Note what Jesus says before He begins the parable. He says, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to.” So keep the imagery of the kingdom of heaven in your minds as we proceed with this parable.

We read, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.” So our text for this morning begins with a man wowing, note this, “good seed”, in his field. We are not told exactly what kind of seed this man sowed, however many presume it to be wheat. In the Greek translation of the text, we find the word for “sowed” to be the Greek word, “speirō.” This word means to sow, scatter, or seed. But remember, this was good seed that was being scattered.

Then we read, picking up in verse 25, “but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.” My goodness! What a mess! This man could have lost his entire crop due to the act of this enemy or as the ESV translation words it, “His enemy.” But let’s remember what we are truly looking at here. We are not simply looking at wheat, a farmer, and some tares are we. NO! There is more to this story than meets the eye. But we will get to that in a few minutes.

Something I found interesting in my studying this week, was what the enemy sowed among the farmer’s field. In some of your translations, it may read that the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. If we look at the Greek word for tares, it is the word, “zizanion” and this means a kind of darnel, resembling wheat, except the grains are black. In addition, darnel is also an annual grass that is poisonous.” Wow. It’s all beginning to make a little sense now I hope. This was a crafty plan of the enemy, but as we will soon see the farmer, or Jesus, always has a plan.

So, my brothers and sisters, as we pause for a second at the end of this first point, let us remember that the enemy is out there, always sowing bad among the good in our lives. That’s his job. That’s what he does. It should not surprise us or catch us off guard. But it typically does. However, when we notice the tares among the wheat in our lives, let us not panic, but simply return to the farmer, or the author of our lives, Jesus. Because no matter what bad, negative, harmful thing has been sown into our lives, let us not forget who holds the pen of our lives and who is truly writing our story, Jesus. He holds our hands and most importantly He holds our heart. The world today looks a lot like a wheat field. We have a lot of make-believe wheat in the world out there . A lot of people and even leaders who are pretending to be “wheat” but in reality are darnel. So let us be careful in who and what we listen to.

Our next point for this morning is the Solution. So, upon realizing what has happened, the servants are panicked. We read, “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?’ The servants are panicked, much like we are when troubles arise in our lives. But the master, the farmer, Jesus, always calm and in control, knows the solution to the problem.

In verse 28, we read, “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?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 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.” ’ ”

Jesus, or in this parable, the farmer, immediately realizes not only what has been done, but knows who has done it. A lot of times, being able to pinpoint these two things helps determine a solution to the problem. What is interesting about this parable is that this was not an uncommon occurrence in the days of Jesus. Many times, enemies of farmers would purposefully plant darnell to destroy a farmer’s crop. In the Bible, Jesus also talks about yeast and how a little leaven can destroy the entire batch of dough.

So I ask you this morning church, for the most part, we here today are all Christians, living our lives for Christ and seeking to do the most good we can until Jesus comes to call us home. Yet, how many times do those small, miniscule things of life seem to cause us the most aggravation and irritation? I don’t know about for you, but for me, Satan likes to use those little things to cause me the most aggravation. Like those days that you just can’t seem to hold on to anything. Those days when nothing seems to go right. Those times when you can’t seem to say anything right. Brothers and sisters, this is the darnel of our lives and it comes from the enemy. We have got to recognize it, call it for it is and rid our lives of it. Don’t allow it to damage the goodness of our lives.

So Jesus, or the farmer, tells the servants, let the darnell grow with the wheat and when the time comes for harvest, each will be bundled separately. Then Jesus says, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” The separation of the good from the bad is coming. But most importantly the time is coming when Christ’s children will be separated from the evil doers of this world. So I ask you this morning. Have you given your life to Christ and made arrangements for the life that is yet to come. Because, brothers and sisters, it is coming. You have one of two choices as to where your eternal destination will be. So have you made your arrangements?

Our last point for this morning is the Explanation. I can remember when I was being homeschooled and my mom drilling an algebra problem to me over and over again until she was blue in the face and I still wouldn’t understand. Then she would try one more time and finally, the lights would come on and I would understand. Jesus, all throughout His ministry used something called parables, where He took the ordinary, everyday items of the world and used them to explain heavenly, spiritual things, just like within our text for this morning.

So now we move down to Matthew 13:36 where Jesus explains the parable of the Weeds. I have already touched a little on it but wanted to wait to fully expose the meaning behind the parable. Note in verse 36 that all the crowds have now left and it is now Jesus with His intimate group of disciples. It is only the disciples who get to hear the explanation.

Jesus begins by saying, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.” Jesus is the One who is sowing the good seed. But what is interesting is the title that Matthew uses. The Son of Man. This title, is used by all four Gospel writers and is found in the Old Testament, contains power and authority. I loved how Christianity.com explained this title of Jesus. It reads, “In the words of Jesus, we see echoes of the imagery from Daniel’s vision. Passages like Matthew 26:64 describe Jesus, the Son of Man, coming gloriously on the clouds of heaven at his second coming. There will be no question when the Son of Man comes again; it will be as obvious as lightning in the sky (Matthew 24:27, Luke 17:24). When he returns, he will judge the righteous and the unrighteous. At that time, the righteous will inherit the kingdom of God (Matthew 16:27; Matthew 25:31-36).” What a glorious name and what a glorious time to look forward to for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. But what a horrible time for those who are not.

Now that we know a bit more about this title of Jesus, let’s continue on with the explanation. Jesus continues by saying, “The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.” Those of us who have repented of our sins and given our lives to Jesus are the sons of the kingdom. We are the good seed.

“The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.” That pretty much explains itself. Now we know why we hate weeds so much. Right?

Jesus then says, “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.” Revelation 14:15–16 reads, “And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.” The time is coming dear brothers and sisters. The harvest is near. We need not ignore it or pretend that it won’t happen. It is coming. So I ask, “Are you ready?”

Jesus continues in verse 40, “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It is just like what we read from Revelation. Look church! Christ is very clear that for the ungodly, the unjust, and the unrighteous, at the end of the age it will not be pretty. These people may look as if they are living the dream today, but trust me, that when that trumpet sounds and the sickle is swiped across the earth, the result for the unrighteous will not be pretty. For as Christ says, their recompense will be the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

But. The final verse of our text for this morning. Verse 43 reads, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” Praise the LORD! So, my dear brothers and sisters, if you have ears, hear this. if the world today looks dark and dreary, if the world today seem difficult and unbearable, if the world today seems like everyone is winning but you, just wait. Why? Because, for those of us who have given our lives to Christ, a beautiful day is coming. So just hold on. Yet if you have not given your life to Christ and you find yourself amid the law-breakers and the sinful, may today be the day of your salvation.

So this week, as we reflect and meditate on this scripture, as we work in the garden, or put up vegetables, may we remember this story of the wheat and the tares. May we reflect upon which one we find ourselves as and seek to be the wheat. May this week we seek to stand up and stand tall for Jesus. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!