Weeds inside the Church

‘I will open my mouth with a parable,’ ( Psalm 78:2) says the word of God. And so did Jesus Christ, spoke in parables when he preached the people. Among such parables, even the disciples could not understand one, which they enquired Christ about in Matthew chapter 13, the parable of the weeds.

Jesus told them another parable: “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 uproot 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.’ ” (Matthew 13:24-30)

Explanation given by Christ himself for this parable:

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people 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 blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear (Matthew 13:36-43).

Today’s modern Christianity explains this parable by only holding ‘the field is the world’ and emphasizes the Church as the wheat and the unbelievers as the weeds. And also illustrates that the Christians shall go to heaven and the unbelievers shall be casted into the Hellfire at the end of the world. But when I meditated this parable, I realized that it is something more than that.

As of God’s words, the field is the world. But the Bible says that the Son of God sowed the Wheat in ‘his own field.’ “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?’(verse 27) The field of God is the Kingdom of God or the Church, that is where he had sown the wheat.

If you argue that the ‘entire world is the field’ and ‘the weeds are the gentiles,’ then it means that God had sown wheat among the weeds. Because, Church was formed before 2000 years, but the sinners have been on the earth for 6000 years. If you perceive it in this angle, then it means that the owner sowed the wheat among the weeds.

The field is the world, but the owner sowed the seeds in his own land – the Kingdom of God. The wheat represents the disciples of God who have repented truly. The weeds are the unrepented counterfeit Christians, who are the sons of Satan according to the Bible. Both of them will be inside the church until the coming of Christ. How did they come inside the church? As the verse 25 says, ‘But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.’

While the guards were sleeping, the enemy entered the field stealthily and sowed the weeds. Therefore, both the wheat and the weeds grow together inside the church. We cannot distinguish between the wheat and the weeds in the beginning. That is why the owner tells the servants to wait until harvest, when the wheat and the weeds shall be separated. The wheat shall be sent to the barn and the weeds will be casted into the fire. Today, every Christian sings about Christ and talks about Christ. Everyone is baptized, and everyone takes part in the Holy Communion. But the surprising thing is, not everyone is a disciple of God. Only a few enters the narrow gate. ‘A few, ‘ is not an exact number.

In the days of the early Apostles, the number of weeds were very lower, as they guarded the church cautiously. That is why, Paul warns the leaders of today, ‘Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.’ (Acts 20:28, 29) But the guards of the flock had forgotten what Paul said and slept. The cunning wolf, Satan sowed the weeds to destroy the flock. The wheat and the weeds have been growing together for a Millenium. The reason why the wonders and the fellowship of the early church (in the Acts of Apostles) is not seen in today’s churches is because of the weeds.

Today, the wheat grows among the weeds. But as Christ says in the parable, ‘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 blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.’ The important words to be noted here are, “they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” (verse 41) Therefore, the weeds do not represent the unbelievers, but the counterfeit Christians inside the church who will be pulled out from the Kingdom of Heaven.

Therefore, nobody has the right to clear up the weeds from the wheat until the end of the world. Nobody can judge a member of the church as wheat or weed just by seeing them. “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”(Mark 10:31) The ones following the wrong doctrine today, may repent and enter the narrow gate tomorrow, but like Judas, the good ones today might also become the son of Satan someday.

‘Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.’ (Revelation 22:11-12)

All the seeds growing in the owners field are not wheat. Am I a wheat or a weed? Analyzing myself is the only remedy. ‘But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.’ (1 Corin 11:31) Let us plead to God like David to inquire our hearts. Am I yielding the fruits of righteousness? A good tree is ought to yield good fruits! A good stream must secrete sweet waters! What witness will my God, my conscience and my family give about me?

If we are ready to plead to God and kowtow before the cross in any circumstance, then it symbolizes that we are wheat.

The one who takes pride in his self- righteousness, and does not realize his spiritual state, and does not humble before Christ is never going to repent. An unexpected event will happen someday, ‘the coming of Christ!’ Every hidden and private affairs shall be exposed before the Glory of Christ then. And they shall realize that they are weeds. But we are supposed to tell God’s words and spread his gospel to everyone and to pray for everyone. Because, we do not yet know who are the wheat and who are the weeds. More over, our Heavenly Father wants everyone to know the Gospel of Christ and wants everyone to be saved.