Matthew 13:27-30 English Standard Version

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.”’”

Immediately after the parable of the sower we have the parable of the weeds. Some might consider this one is included with the parable of the sower but if we look to the intent of the gospel we will find this is connected to life after the gospel has taken root in the good soil.

How can we break down this parable in terms of application to our church life now that the gospel has been planted in our hearts? Parables have no relevance if we do not have a proper understanding.

The Greek for weeds here is zizanion which is a kind of darnel, resembling wheat except the grains are black. This weed, in the church, looks like every other stock of wheat until it produces seeds of its own. It is black and easily recognized by the servants as having no light in them.

What isn’t said here and is a cultural attribute of the wheat field is that they are not grown in rows. The shafts grow closely together with no distinctive separation. Servants cannot come in to remove the weeds without trampling all over the wheat.

Now let us ask how this bad seed gets planted with the wheat? Paradoxically we were all bad seeds before the gospel was planted in our hearts. 

The darnel seed came floating in the air to land in the field of wheat. We all know who the Prince of the Power of the Air is and what he wants to do.

Here is an opportunity to see a major truth. The presence of the weed does not change the wheat into a weed. Now if that stock, which looks like wheat, has not yet produced the telltale black grain, who is to say that God cannot change the bad seed into wheat?

God is the God of change in us. He has done so for us and only God can say if He will change them. 

Weedeating damages the wheat.

Philippians 1:6 English Standard Version (ESV) And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Completion is for another day, not today. Is this the completion of our new creature in Christ or is it the work we do in service to God?

What we see in scripture can often be confused by how we feel about ourselves. We all want to attain that perfected state, knowing in our hearts that we are not there yet. We must guard our hearts so that our past does not taint our service.

If we focus on what God is calling us to do rather than how we feel about ourselves we will find it is easier to serve God faithfully. Negative thoughts and feelings are nothing more than Satan trying to drag us down and stop the work of the gospel of Christ.

When others say “get over yourself” it is not always about ego. Sometimes it is our negative speech that hints at a deep seated problem with knowing who we are in Christ. A wise pastor once said to me “you keep shooting yourself in the foot”. What I was saying was hindering my walk with Christ. He put it in a way I could understand.

What we do to ourselves that is not in line with how God loves us hinders how we see His love towards us. God can love the imperfect because He knows the end result of the love, mercy and grace that He pores into our lives.

Our impatience only gets in the way. “I want it and I want it now.” That does not move us forward towards the finish line.

The older I get the closer the finish line appears in front of me. There is so much more to be done in service to God and if I rush to finish the race I am not looking at what God is doing at the moment. How I see and what I feel in the moment is not as important as what God is doing.