You won't get lost among the weeds

In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus tells a parable about wheat and weeds. "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?' 'An enemy did this,' he replied. The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?' 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

This parable is fairly easy to understand … especially since Jesus gives His explanation of the parable to His disciples. "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The Sower is the Son of Man – Jesus. He is sowing His Christian Church in the field of this world. But the enemy enters the field to wreak havoc. He is the devil. In the Greek he is called diablos, meaning “thrown down,” the fallen angel. He attacks the Christian Church by “throwing down” weeds into the good field. These weeds are unbelievers, enemies of Christians, atheists and heathens, persecutors and oppressors. The believers and unbelievers live together in the field of the world until the harvest is gathered by the angels at the end of time on Judgment Day. Then the angels will throw the unbelievers into the fiery furnace of hell where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The angels will also bring the righteous into God’s barn of heaven where they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.

Abraham Bloemaert, a Dutch painter from the seventeenth century, powerfully portrays this scene in his painting, “The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.”

Abraham Bloemaert was born in Gorinchem, a city in the western Netherlands. He was the son of an architect.  As a teenager, Bloemaert spent three years in Paris studying as a pupil of famous European artists. 

Bloemaert excelled in the vivid colors of his landscapes and had great skill in rendering human emotion in his subjects. He became well-known for his paintings and etchings of historical and allegorical pictures.

In the first decade of the seventeenth-century, Bloemaert began formulating his landscape paintings to include picturesque ruined cottages and other pastoral elements of his home country.

Bloemaert’s mastery in his landscapes and cottages is displayed in his painting of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. He was gifted in depicting natural detail, but Bloemaert preferred to create paintings with a lesson.

Bloemaert’s painting has been interpreted to be about the danger of Christian laziness. It is theorized that the two naked sleepers are alluding to the original sin of Adam and Eve. The dovecote (a birdhouse to attract doves or pigeons that can be trapped for food without the bother of raising them) was associated with laziness. The goat resting under the dovecote is a symbol of self-indulgence and the peacock on the stone wall near the house is a symbol of pride.

The main character of the painting is in the field. He is the devil, identified by his horns and tail. He is sowing weeds (or tares) where the wheat has been planted, while Bloemaert’s lazy peasants are sleeping.

Most theologians picture the peasants sleeping naturally at night in Jesus’ parable. This puts the emphasis on the devil coming in the darkness to do his evil deed. But Bloemaert interprets the time for the sleeping to be during the daytime, thus putting the emphasis of evil allowed to be done on the peasants.

We see the reality of Jesus’ parable in how the devil has sown the seeds of unbelief, doubt and hypocrisy into the world. But Jesus, in His infinite wisdom and grace, allows the weeds and the wheat to grow together in the world.

This can be extremely frustrating to Christians who wonder, “Why is there so much evil in the world? Why can’t we start eradicating these weeds and enjoy the company of only the wheat?”

But what would happen if we decided to do some weeding right now? What would happen to those who look and act like weeds most of their lives, but who are converted by the Holy Spirit at the end of their lives and are saved? What would happen to those who seem like agents of the devil, but in reality are weak in faith? What would happen to you? Do people see you as one of the wheat or one of the weeds?

It’s not so easy, is it?

It isn’t easy identifying people as either wheat or weeds because we are both saints and sinners at the same time. Evil is so much a part of us and so entangled in our lives, that to eliminate sin and evil completely now would also mean our destruction. We, too, would be cut down and uprooted.

And so there is great wisdom in this parable. Great wisdom in God allowing both to grow until the harvest. For you cannot pull up sinners without uprooting saints. This is the way it is going to be, Jesus says, as long as the Church is in the world. We’re never going to live in a completely Christian world or society. We’re never going to live sin-free lives in a sin-free world. It will never be a utopia. Sons of God and sons of the evil one will continue to grow together.

That’s because God wants what’s best for His wheat. He doesn’t want even one little bit of His harvest lost. God allows both the diabolical weeds and His sainted wheat to grow together … for a time.

It’s messy. It’s uncomfortable. It’s imperfect. But that’s what the kingdom of heaven is like.

It is at the end of the parable … and at the end of this world, when we see the wisdom and grace of Christ in the final harvest. Living among the weeds is often confusing, messy and flawed … but in the end – the weeds will not be able to destroy the wheat. No permanent damage has been done to the Lord’s harvest. The Enemy has failed. Because the One planting the seed, caring for the field and directing the Harvest is the Lord of the Harvest.

By the grace of God, by the seed of faith implanted in your heart by the Holy Spirit, you are among the wheat. The Lord of the Harvest knows you. He loves you. He lived for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He planted you and cares for you. You are His own. You are precious to Him. You will not get lost among the weeds.