Weeds among the wheat

Following on from the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, we have a short story about a farmer who has sown a crop into his field. As the crop grows, weeds also spring up among the crop. The man’s enemy has crept in and sown a crop of weeds among the good plants.

“Shall we pull out the crop of weeds?” ask the farmer’s workers.

“No leave them alone” says the farmer. “you might damage the good crop whilst pulling out the weeds. They will be separated when the harvest is gathered.”

This story is a parallel of the world, where the people of God, His church, are working and growing in the midst of the ungodly. Satan, the enemy of Christ, is forever sowing his evil seeds into the midst of what Christ is doing. We are to be assured that there will come a time when each person will be judged according to whether they have committed their lives to Christ or not.

The church is not immune to attacks by satanic forces. They can be a source of great division and hurt.  If Satan is unable to destroy the church, he does his best to disrupt its work through petty squabbling, power struggles, sexual sin, gossip, slander, financial mishandling and many other devices sowing seeds of discord. That is why the Bible encourages the church to strive for unity and respectful and honest relationships in the body of believers.

What I believe this parable is teaching is not that we should be unaware of sinful practices, but that we should be cultivating lives rich in the things of Christ.  There’s a quote of Abraham Lincoln’s which describes the need to concentrate on our ministries rather than our troubles or critics:

“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

We should not be disheartened by the presence of evil in this world, but assured that Christ has the victory and will do the winnowing in His time.

Grapevines, Barossa Valley, South Australia