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.’”
 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.”
— Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, ESV

Matthew’s Gospel presents the Lord Jesus Christ as King of “the kingdom.”  Forty-four percent of the appearances of the word “kingdom” in the Gospels appear in the first one (56 out of 127), and thirty-five percent of the uses of the word “kingdom” in the New Testament are found in Matthew (56 out of 158).  

There is no more important concept in the Gospels and in the New Testament than “the kingdom of God” (which Matthew refers to as “the kingdom of heaven” in an attempt not to offend Jewish readers who do not like to use the word “God”).  This kingdom is both visible (in the worship of a true church) and invisible (in the heart of every true believer).  The kingdom exists wherever, and especially in whomever, Jesus Christ is Lord, or King.  

Jesus chose to use parables to preach about His kingdom.  Each one tells us something significant and straightforward about this vitally important and vastly eternal place.  This second parable in Matthew (found only in Matthew) touches on the same themes as the first parable (ref. Matthew 13:1-23).  

Jesus is preaching about the people inside and outside of His kingdom, citizens and non-citizens, saved and lost, children of God and children of the devil.  Knowing whose child you are in regard to the kingdom is the most important self-discovery of your life.  So, “He who has ears, let him hear.” 

Jesus Tells a Story

To an agrarian society Jesus told this agricultural story.  The three-ringed audience of disciples, pretenders, and scoffers could all relate to the word picture created by the Master Storyteller.  Since the fall of man, fruitful wheat and frustrating weeds have grown together in this world.  They will continue to do so until the each one’s end of life or the ultimate end of time.

There are blessed benefits to being wheat.  There is only a fiery judgment for being a weed.  First century residents of Israel would have known the weed as darnel, a wheat-looking weed that takes up space, bears no fruit, and is culled from the cash crop at harvest time, then burned for fuel.

In the light of day, a godly man sowed the good seed which became the wheat.  Meanwhile, under the cover of darkness, an enemy sowed the weeds.  Two different men planted two different populations which in the end meet with two different destinies.  The story is simple, perhaps too simple.  Maybe that’s why the disciples had to ask Jesus to explain it in more detail.  

Jesus Defines His Terms

I had a junior high school teacher named Miss Kluball.  She taught English, and she always kept a huge, unabridged dictionary on a table in her classroom.  According to her, success in life would depend on one’s use of the dictionary.

According to the Master Teacher, success in this life and the life to come depends upon one’s use of the Bible, God’s word.  Occasionally, a passage of Scripture contains its own glossary of terms, like this one.  Look carefully at how Jesus Himself defined the different parts of this parable.

The good sower of the good seed is God.  Jesus refers to Himself here as the Son of Man, a term He preferred to offer Himself as the Messiah come to earth, the incarnation of God Almighty.  Jesus is the King of kings, Lord of lords, and Sower of the good seed.

The field is the whole wide world.  It is not the kingdom, for the true kingdom only contains true wheat.  The field is not the church, although every church is almost certain to have baptized weeds sitting amongst the truly whole wheat.  The field is the people of this planet, existing in the two hands of God, one for grace and one for judgment.  

The good seed is not the gospel and the word of God, as it was in the last parable.  In this parable, the good seed represents people, people who have been transformed by the gospel and the word of God into children of God.  In a fuller explanation Jesus might have pointed out that they too were weeds at one time, but the bad seed became good, the outsiders became insiders, all because of sovereign grace that put saving faith into the good seed. 

Weeds, of course, represent humans, too.  There are actually two kinds of weeds that represent two kinds of people.  Both kinds resemble wheat, but both lack the good seed.  One is actually poisonous and one is not.  Hypocritical church members are poison on the inside of the church, and even the best preaching and most careful discipline cannot weed them out entirely.  The non-poisonous darnel represents people outside the church who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ.  They are usually less dangerous for the church, for even the ones that persecute us serve only to make us stronger.  The two types of weeds are false believers and non-believers, both in grave danger of God’s judgment.  

“The harvest is the end of the age.”  This is a clear reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ.  At the second coming there will be no second chances.  You will either be wheat or a weed, your eternal destiny sealed by angels, gathered in the barn of good seed, or smoking in the pile of bad weed.  It is either Heaven or Hell, for all eternity. 

So, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus Proclaims His Kingdom

With the parable of the wheat and the weeds, Christ proclaims the gospel of the kingdom of God.  He draws a definitive line, showing who is in and who is out.  But as long as this world is spinning and you are still breathing, you have the opportunity to find yourself among the wheat or the weeds.

Some of you know you are wheat.  Like the golden color of a wheat field, you have a golden heart, wrought by the hand of God.  You have been graced to hear the gospel, by grace you have believed the gospel, and standing in grace you bear fruit for the gospel, spreading gospel seed with your lips and your life.  God begets wheat, and with wheat God begets more wheat, so the surest proof that you are wheat is that somewhere someway somehow some people have come into the kingdom of God because God used you.  Rest assured, my brother and sister, you are golden, and all the glory goes to the God who planted you by His golden, sovereign, saving grace.  

Some of you are not sure whether you are wheat or weed.  I do not wish to exploit your doubts, as I have witnessed other preachers do.  I’d rather help you, by holding up a mirror before you so you can see if you are good seed or smoking weed.

Are you poisonous?  Are you here in the church to promote God’s agenda, or your own?  Are you here in the church to glorify God, or get attention?  Are you adding love, truth, and unity to the body of Christ, or are you disgruntled and divisive?  If you are of the latter, then you should have no doubt about who you are.  You are a hypocrite, you are lost, you are a poisonous weed, and you are in grave danger.  Such weeds seldom change into wheat, but with God all things are possible.

If you are not poison, just a passive unbeliever, then you know you are a weed in the parable.  You should also know this puts you in the hands of the devil, destined for a smoky, fiery, judgment.  Please consider some important questions.  Is the gospel and the word of God truth, or fiction?  Did Jesus really come to us through the virgin birth, live a sinless life, die on the cross, and rise again the third day, or is this just a myth?  Again, if you take the latter side, you are lost, separated from God, a lonely weed about to be plucked and placed in a godless grave forever and ever.  But, there is hope.

In the words of the late, great saint Augustine, “Those who are weeds today may be wheat tomorrow.”  Remember, the wheat are transformed weeds, good seeds, no longer smoking weed.  People do change, by the power of God, and as long as there is time, there is time for change.  But don’t tarry as a tare, for as the parable preaches, one day it will be too late to transform into good seed instead of smoking weed.

Remember, the kingdom of God exists wherever and in whomever Jesus Christ is King, Lord, Master, Savior.  Throughout human history, there have been people who died for their kings.  True wheat is willing to die for the King, Jesus Christ.  But we also know we are wheat in the first place because our King, Jesus Christ, died for us.  This is the grace, by which the wheat have faith, in the kingdom of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Come to grace.  Have faith.  Accept Jesus Christ as Lord.  Live for Him now and with Him forever.  Be a good seed, so you don’t end up as smoking weed.  So, “He who has ears, let him hear.”