The Parables of Jesus, Part 4: Weeds Among Good Plants

• The Weeds Among Good Plants (Matthew 13:24–43)

  • “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.” He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.” 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.”

With the election coming up in a little less than a month, this parable has been on my heart quite a bit lately. I have said pretty frequently that I hate politics. I hate the way politicians act. I hate how corrupt the entire system has become. I hate that name-calling and flashy headlines can be considered political stances. Our church is running a "Kindness" campaign this year and I saw a comment on Facebook somewhere about how churches shouldn't support liberal viewpoints. Since when is "kindness" a partisan viewpoint?

The problem with all of this, for me, is that politics SHOULD be important. It should be something folks are comfortable talking about. It should be a way for citizens to provide for their community and support policy that betters our cities/states/country for everyone who lives in it, and unfortunately it just feels like that idea is dead and gone. It's really difficult for me to find positives in a political climate where everything seems to be so hostile and violent, all the time. Sometimes I find myself wondering if it's even correctable at this point.

I struggle a bit in my own faith with the idea of "the enemy." Jesus taught about "the enemy" enough that I think I'd be foolish to not believe Him, but I also wonder how much of what happens to us on earth is coincidence or happenstance vs an orchestrated act of evil be "the enemy." I certainly believe in the viability of the enemy, but I don't think I buy that our modern political system is one big orchestration of evil, either. I think subscribing to that idea is an easy way to dismiss responsibility of our politicians and dismisses the free will that each individual has to make decisions for themselves.

So where is the middle ground? I think, hidden in the weeds (pun intended) of Jesus' parable, is a point about how the wheat is still good and harvestable despite the weeds growing around it. Notice how Jesus tells folks to just ignore the weeds. He doesn't want them to constantly pick at the weeds, or try to make sure they never show up, no...He says, "Let both grow together until the harvest..." I think this is probably symbolic of how we should handle politicians and followers of politicians who act immorally and/or in bad faith. We don't have to pay ANY attention to the bad actors. We don't have to give rude or demeaning politicians the time of day. We are simply called to wait until the harvest (election day!) and separate the wheat from the weeds at the proper time.

I don't have a whole lot else to add to this. I think it's pretty self-explanatory where the point of this article is headed. I do want to point out really quickly that Jesus implies that there is nothing wrong with the seed, or the message that His followers are spreading. There's nothing wrong with the soil, or the ears who are receiving the message. And there's nothing wrong with the wheat, or the product of what happens to us when we receive His message and do with it what we're called to do, which is love our neighbor and our God. It is only the weeds, sowed by "the enemy," that must be set out and burned.

Don't hitch your wagon to politicians. Don't seek out joy in arguing with people about politics. Politics has a time and a place. It certainly serves importance in our society and there are plenty of good politicians worthy of our support at the ballots. But we don't need to be focused on the bad apples. There will always be weeds among the good plants. We just have to focus on the good plants and take care of the weeds at the polls.