The Problem of Weeds
Read Matthew 13:24-30
Everyone who has ever farmed or gardened, or taken care of a lawn, is only too familiar with the vexing reality of weeds. Weeds are essentially a mundane example of the fall of Creation and the presence of sin in the world. The dictionary defines them as obnoxious plants of no value that tend to grow quickly where they’re not wanted, often choking out more desirable growth. There is no known upside to weeds, as far as I can tell.
Jesus knew all about the problem of weeds, living in an agricultural society, and he used them to illustrate an important spiritual truth. This parable is based on the devious practice of sabotaging an enemy’s field by scattering bad seeds among a newly planted crop, which was considered a crime under Roman law. The weed in this case, also known as tares, is a poisonous plant that in its early stages of growth is indistinguishable from wheat. Only as it begins to mature is it betrayed by a grayish coloring. By then, however, the roots of the two plants have intertwined so that it’s too late to pull the tares without also uprooting the grain. The only recourse is to wait until the harvest, when the wheat can be safely sorted from the tares.
This parable has largely been underappreciated, it seems to me, but it may very well be one of the more important teachings for the church to hear. Listen to how Jesus explained its meaning:
Read Matthew 13: 36-43
Jesus plants good seed in the world, which he says are the sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God. The weeds, in contrast, are the children of the devil, who is intent on undermining God’s good work. The harvest is the coming Judgment that will separate the evil from the righteous. But the point of the parable is that it won’t happen before then. “Let them both grow together until the harvest” (v. 30a). That’s the key insight to unlocking this parable.
The children of God and “the sons and daughters of the evil one” will necessarily coexist in this world until the final harvest when God renders his judgment. It’s a very simple truth, but all throughout history the church has failed to fully understand its significance: that it’s God’s responsibility--not ours--to impose judgment and ultimately to eradicate all evil. Until then, we need to accept that “everything that causes sin and all evil” (v. 42) will inevitably be with us. That doesn’t change our mandate to be part of God’s light in a dark world, of course. But far more harm than good is done by well-intentioned religious people when we neglect this teaching and attempt to “fix the world” ourselves.
There were two prominent groups in Israel during Jesus’ time that illustrate the point: the Pharisees and the Zealots. Both groups cared passionately about wanting to reform the world, each in their own way: one through politics and the other by an extreme form of religion.
The Zealots were political revolutionaries and insurgents. Israel was an occupied state, chafing under an oppressive Roman political rule and military power. Even worse, they were Gentiles, openly contemptuous of Judaism’s religious culture, who instead claimed the emperor to be divine and embraced a multitude of idolatrous pagan religions. It was deeply offensive on every level to the Jews, God’s chosen people, to be subject to the heathen Romans.
The Zealots had already attempted a violent revolt during Jesus’ lifetime that was brutally crushed and its leaders crucified. But the rebellion continued in the form of an undercover terrorist campaign: a group of assassins who carried daggers concealed in their cloaks, using them in public gatherings to attack Romans and Roman sympathizers alike, and blending into the crowd afterward to escape. The Zealots were ruthlessly committed to Jewish independence and political sovereignty, whatever it took.
Jesus was presented with the dilemma of declaring his political allegiance when asked whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. This was a loaded question, but his reply elevated the issue to a higher spiritual plane. After asking to see a Roman coin stamped with Caesar’s image, he answered, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” While that was a very different answer than the Zealots wanted to hear, it was equally revolutionary. Neither Jesus nor Paul, nor any of the disciples or Early Church Fathers ever advocated for political causes. Instead, their focus was on an even bolder spiritual revolution that prioritized the Kingdom of God. Jesus understood that the Zealots, or any political revolutionaries, can very easily violate the higher principles of love and truth upon which the kingdom of God is based. And the same can be said of politics in general. It’s a necessary part of civilization, but one that carries its own considerable liabilities and risks to human dignity And it will never solve our deepest needs.
The Pharisees, whose name means “separated ones,” on the other hand, had their own very narrow ideas of how the Kingdom would come, and they were already taking it upon themselves to weed out the sinners from the righteous. Their crusade included relentless attacks on Jesus when he bravely defied their strict traditions and standards. And ironically, it was the Pharisees, the most devoutly religious segment of Jewish society, who were most responsible for Christ’s death.
These two groups, each with their own self-righteous agendas, were both operating outside the realm of God’s kingdom. In trying to eliminate the weeds, however well-intentioned their goals, they were destroying the wheat. And those same militant crusades, both political ideologies and religious intolerance, are still very much with us today.
The more politically outspoken and aggressive many Christians have become in the past few decades, the less grace is shown through our witness. The politics of confrontation hasn’t served the church or the kingdom of God very well. Surveys show that Christians were viewed much more favorably before becoming so involved in fighting the so-called “culture wars.” Now most unbelievers associate Christianity much more with everything we’re against than what we’re for. Our witness has become so overtly political that it has largely eclipsed the light we should be shining as Jesus’ ambassadors of grace and mercy.
Nor is this phenomenon new to our day and age. The history of the church is indelibly stained by the combustible relationship between politics and religion, which has been the source of shameful wars, persecution and bigotry--and we have yet to learn that lesson. The church is at its best and bears the most Christ-like witness when we focus on being the church. We shouldn’t be just another political demographic.
And like the Pharisees, the more we Christians see the world through the prism of “us” and “them,” the less effectively we serve God’s kingdom. This parable teaches us to leave the ultimate judging to God. A Christian social worker has said that one of the most important lessons she was taught in her casework was to be willing to meet people where they are, putting aside any and all judgments. She’s learned that that’s the only way she is able to help anyone effectively. And isn’t that also true of all of us? Isn’t it what Jesus did? It’s how he saved us, by meeting us where we are.
“Let both the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest,” Jesus teaches us. The world will always be a place of good and evil, where the kingdom of God grows right alongside sin and evil. There’s wisdom in understanding that truth.
This parable should teach us a greater measure of humility and tolerance. We aren’t meant, nor are we able, to “fix” the world by our own devices, whether through an ideology or even our religious convictions. The world will always have its “weeds.” What God asks of us is to be faithful to the light we’ve been shown; in the words of 2 Peter 3:18, to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we let that be our focus, God will take care of the harvest.
