This morning we continue our three-week study of the parables of Jesus recorded in Matthew chapter 13. Last week we focused on the Parable of the Sower, which more accurately could be called the Parable of the Seed. Today we consider what is known as the Parable of the Weeds – one that sounds like it is related but is actually quite different than last week’s parable.
I’m sure that all of us can relate to the concept of weeds growing in our gardens. It doesn’t matter whether you’re growing vegetables or flowers to know that weeds are an age-old problem. No matter how carefully you plant and care for your garden, those stupid weeds just keep coming back over and over again.
In today’s parable, Jesus tells us of a farmer who sowed good seed – specifically, it was wheat seed – in his field. But under the stealth of darkness, when no one would notice, an enemy came and covered that field with the seeds of weeds. When the good seed started to grow, the bad seed started to grow as well. The man’s farm hands are puzzled and they question him, wondering aloud if perhaps he hadn’t been quite so careful in his choice of seed – possibly or carelessly planting bad seed instead of good. The farmer answers that it is all the fault of an enemy – someone who wants to see the crop fail – someone who wants to destroy the work of the farmer and ruin his harvest. The farm hands want to take action – they want to go out and pull up the weeds – but the farmer is wise enough to realize that pulling the weeds out of the ground will also damage and uproot much of the wheat, the good growth, and he tells them to hold off for now. Jesus quotes the farmer as saying: “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.’ ”
The “weed” referred to in today’s Gospel lesson is actually a very specific and very destructive weed by the name of ζιζάνια (zizania), a weed more commonly known today by the name of “darnel.” Darnel is a weed that looks exactly like wheat, and for most of its growth cycle it is virtually indistinguishable from wheat. It’s only as the harvest draws near – when the heads of the grain appear and ripen – that you can tell the difference, because while the grain of the wheat is brown when it is ripe, the grain of the darnel is black – and inedible. Because the plants have grown so closely together – in fact, the roots of the darnel can actually wrap around the roots of the good wheat – separating the two is very difficult. And even though this is a parable, this type of action – trying to ruin someone’s crop by spreading darnel seed in a wheat field – was apparently a common enough problem in ancient times that the Romans had a law making this type of thing illegal.
Someone who does something like this knows exactly what he is doing. He is attempting to ruin the farmer and ruin his crop by deception – by doing something that does its damage before anyone can realize exactly what is going on. It’s very clever – and it’s often very effective.
Just as the wheat and the weeds of this parable are indistinguishable until they bear fruit, the people of God and the people of destruction are often indistinguishable until their fruit – their faith or their lack of faith – is ready for the harvest. And before we become too smug about ourselves, thinking that everyone should just know that we are the good wheat of the parable, consider this: each and every one of us is, at the same time, both saint and sinner. Yes, our sins have been forgiven and our salvation is assured. But every time that you take an honest look in the mirror that is God’s holy and perfect Law, the image you see is of a very imperfect, very sinful human being. As hard as we might try, those of us who are headed to heaven are still guilty of the same sins that we condemn in those who are headed to eternal punishment in hell.
St. Paul writes that God would have all men to be saved – something that never has and never will change – but here Jesus is telling us that the evil one will always try to destroy God’s people, and he won’t necessarily try to destroy us in ways that are too obvious or too perceptible. Satan is sometimes referred to as the great deceiver, and deception is how he spreads his bad seed amongst the children of God. We are deceived by people who mouth the same words of faith that come from our mouths, but they lack their faith in their hearts that fills our hearts. They say the right things, but they don’t mean them. They act like us and they look like us, and because we can’t see any difference we never expect them to lead us astray.
Sometimes these deceivers are our friends or neighbors or relatives. Sometimes these deceivers are people sitting in the pews of our churches. Sometimes these deceivers are the people preaching from the pulpits of our churches.
Allow me to give you an example. There is a fast-growing movement among many Christian denominations that has been given the label “Chrislam.” Chrislam essentially is an effort to produce some type of ecumenical reconciliation between Christianity and Islam, the Muslim faith. On Sunday, June 26, when we at St. Paul Lutheran Church were focusing on the words of Christ from Matthew chapter 10, at least 71 churches in 31 states plus the District of Columbia preached sermons from their pulpits and held Bible Class and Sunday School lessons focusing on the teachings and life of Mohammed, the founder of the Muslim faith. In some of those churches, Qurans were placed in the pew racks right next to Bibles.
As those who attended the recent Islam Bible Classes learned and as many of you may also know, Islam teaches that Allah is the one true God. Supporters of Chrislam teach that Allah is essentially the same god as the Triune God worshipped by Christians. But that is a lie – it is one of the greatest deceptions being foisted on Christians today. Muslims absolutely deny the divinity of Jesus – they say that Jesus was a great prophet but He most certainly is not the Son of God, and they deny His death and resurrection – and they similarly deny the godhead of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Quran explicitly teaches that to believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit as members of the Trinity is a sin of idolatry called “shirk.” Within Islam, shirk is an unforgivable sin; according to the Quran, Allah may forgive any sin except the sin of shirk.
Those 71 churches that held special Chrislam services three weeks ago include Presbyterian churches, Methodist churches, Episcopal churches, a Baptist church, congregations that are members of the Church of Christ, the National Cathedral in Washington and even one Lutheran Church – not a member of the Missouri Synod, I am happy to point out. Seventy-one churches that call themselves Christian – proclaiming from their pulpits the teachings of a religion that absolutely denies Christianity.
False doctrine – teachings like the very wrong and false teaching of Chrislam – is a current and dangerous example of the zizania, the darnel, the weeds sowed by Satan the great deceiver to draw people away from Christ. False doctrine, all kinds of so-called “lifestyle” sins including the seeming collapse of any kind of moral system in our society, doubts about God and His enduring love for His people – these and so many more attacks against you and your faith often come from the people whom you would never, ever expect. The look just like you, they act just like you – but ultimately they are no different than the darnel seeds sowed by the enemy in an effort to ruin the farmer and ruin his crop.
When you see a parable that’s called “The Parable of the Weeds” you tend to think that weeds are all that Jesus is talking about. I’ve actually and purposefully added to that misdirection so far in this sermon. But when you really drill down to the words of our Gospel lesson, you start to realize that the ultimate focus of our Savior is not the weeds – but really, Christ’s focus is on the good grain, the good wheat that will be gathered in the final harvest.
Yes, this is a parable about weeds and their ultimate destruction. But more importantly, this is a parable about the salvation of the good wheat, the good growth – people who have faith in Jesus as their Savior. And it tells us not only of Jesus’ plan for our eternal life in heaven – but even before we join Him in heaven, how He protects and preserves the faithful members of His Church while they still live on this earth. I want to read again the words of Jesus when his laborers asked permission to pull the weeds from the field. “No,” Jesus said, “lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.”
Jesus is telling us that His Christian church on earth will always be infested by weeds sowed by the great deceiver, and often we won’t be able to tell the weeds from the good grain. But the weeds will be destroyed in the final harvest. They will ultimately receive their judgment. More importantly, God wants to make sure that not a single good fruit of His harvest will be lost. Every single grain of the wheat will be saved. As Jesus says in the conclusion of this parable, this grain will be forever protected by the God who made us and who loves us. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father,” He promises.
At the beginning of today’s parable, as is true of so many parables taught by Jesus, we hear these words: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared …” and then Jesus goes on with the story. Words like “kingdom of heaven” make us think of our life in heaven following our earthly lives, but that’s not really what these words mean. The kingdom of heaven is not some future time or place. The kingdom of heaven is now, as Jesus came to this earth to save us from our sins. That act of salvation included the entire ministry of Jesus, His death, His resurrection and His ascension into heaven. It continues today as we are brought to faith in the true God of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We – today – here and now – are living in the kingdom of heaven.
The kingdom of heaven ultimately and always focuses not on the weeds and their destruction, but on the good grain – on you, the forgiven children of God. The sower in our parable is none other than the Lord of the harvest, the One who suffered and died for your sins, the One who washes you in the waters of Holy Baptism, the One who gives you His own body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. The One who promises to bring you to the eternal kingdom of heaven where the worries and the troubles and the sins – the weeds – will never bother you again.
So take heart, fellow redeemed in Christ. Our Lord is protecting you, is keeping you safe from every weed that Satan can ever plant. You are His. And on the day of the harvest, He will, most certainly, gather you into His glorious barn of everlasting life.
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