Matthew 13:24-30

B. THE PROBLEM OF EVIL IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD: THE TRIALS OF TRUTH
1. THE PARABLE OF THE WEEDS
TEXT: 13:24-30, 36-43

24 Another parable set he before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man that sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares? 28 And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he saith, Nay; lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them. 30 Let them both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.
36 Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house; and his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37 And he answered and said, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy that sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world, 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, 42 and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears, let him hear.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

Do you see any relationship between this parable and the age-old human problem of evil? That is, how could God be perfectly good and not want to do something about the evil in the world? How could He be omnipotent and yet not move a hand to exterminate that which His righteous character must recognize and condemn as wicked? If you see a connection in this parable, what is it? If not, explain why you think there is none.

b.

Do you think Jesus is describing the problem of evil in the Church, or in the world, or in both, or in neither? Why do you decide as you do?

c.

After what Jesus says about the difficulty of discerning the best from the worst of men, how can you still believe in a church discipline that excludes church members who persist in their sinning despite all the efforts of their fellow Christians to bring them to repentance? How do you harmonize these two concepts?

d.

When Jesus used the expression, The end of the world, (Matthew 13:40), His reference was an allusion to the conclusion of the Jewish world, i.e., to the decline and final fall of Judaism as a religion and Israel as a nation. Do you think this is a fair statement of His meaning? If not, how would you correct it? If so, how would you demonstrate it?

e.

In Matthew 13:41, Jesus promises that He will personally send His angels to gather out of His Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and them that do iniquity. Now, some believe that once a person has become a member of God's Kingdom as a child of God, he cannot possibly be lost thereafter by sinning. Does this passage say anything on this question? If not, why not? If so, what does this text reveal about the possibility of removal of members from God's Kingdom on account of their sin?

f.

What do you think about the following statement: Jesus came to give us just as much a revelation about Satan as He came to give a revelation about God? Affirm or deny and tell why.

g.

Do you think it is very important to spend much time studying about the devil? Some would say that to be happy in this world and safe for eternity, it is enough to know all we can about God and that no other problem is essentially important. What is your opinion? Should we waste time studying about the Evil One, God's enemy or not? Why?

h.

How does one become a son of the Kingdom?

i.

How does one become a son of the evil one? Is there a similarity in process between the development as a Christian and that as an unbeliever? Think this one over carefully, because it may be trickier than it looks!

PARAPHRASE

Here is another parable that Jesus told the people: The Kingdom of God may be compared to a farmer who sowed select seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, an enemy of his came and maliciously broadcast seeds of bearded darnel over the ground already sown in wheat. Then he left.
Later, when the plants sprouted and began to head out, then the darnel appeared as well. So the owner's field hands came to him with the question, -Sir, did you not sow quality seed in your ground? Where did all these darnel weeds come from?-'
His answer was: -Someone has done this out of pure malice!-'
The man's field hands asked another question: -Then do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?-'
-No,-' he replied, -because in pulling up the darnel you might root up good wheat along with it. Just leave them as they are, growing together until harvest. Then at harvest I will tell the ones working in the harvest to gather all the darnel first, tying it in bundles to be burned. Then they can gather and store the good wheat into my granary.-'
Later, when Jesus had dismissed the crowds and gone indoors again, the disciples approached Him with the request: Would you explain the story about the weeds of the field to us?
This was His answer: I, the Son of man, am the farmer who sows excellent, quality seed. My field is the whole world. The good seed here represents the people whose hearts are ruled by God. The darnel weeds are those people who belong to Satan. The enemy who scatters them throughout my world is the Devil himself! The harvest represents the end of the world. The ones who will do the harvesting are the angels. Just as in the story where the weeds were collected and burned, this is the way it will happen at the end of time. I, the Son of man, will send my angels to gather out of my Kingdom everything that causes sin and all the evil-doers. These will be thrown into the blazing furnace of hell. That will be a place where men will wail and grind their teeth in frustrated anger. Then it will be obvious who the righteous really are, for it will be just as clear and obvious as the sun who is really in the kingdom of their Father, God. So, if you have the ability to hear, then listen!

SUMMARY

God is not to be blamed for the problem of evil in His Kingdom in the world. Even as He began His creation with good people, so it is also with His new creation. His Kingdom, or rule, has always reflected this fact. The existence of the wicked in the world in no way denies the reality of God's control, nor in the final denouement will they escape the justice of their fate. The extreme difficulty of deciding just who are the truly righteous during this earthly journey renders such judgments patently impossible for those who are themselves involved in the problem of evil. However, God Himself is fully capable of distinguishing the only apparently good from those who actually please Him, and at the conclusion of all earth-life will be responsible for making that separation now so difficult for us. Then, and then alone, will it become perfectly clear who, all along, were the true sons of God.

NOTES

INTRODUCTION TO THE PARABLE (13:24)

Matthew 13:24 Another parable set he before them. This generalized indefinite introduction to a story is to be expected in Matthew, since he has reworked the order of this sermon by inserting the explanation of the Sower parable out of order to place the interpretation near the story itself for sake of the reader. (See notes on Matthew 13:18 and the Introduction.) Technically speaking, therefore, the telling of the Weeds Parable actually precedes the explanation of the Sower Parable. What viewpoint of the Kingdom of heaven is represented in this parable?

1.

The Church exclusively? No, because Jesus says that God's Rule, or Kingdom, is like the whole picture of two farmers competing for the same soil, each by sowing his own seed in the field. Now, if the good seed represents those who submit to the rule of Jesus Christ, i.e., His Church, then the Kingdom itself cannot be two separate parts of the parable at the same time. The Kingdom includes the Church, but not vice versa, since the Kingdom here is the larger concept. Trench (Notes, 194, note 2), desiring to apply this parable more exclusively to the Church, quotes Calvin with approval:

Although Christ adds that the field is the world, yet it is not doubtful that He wished to apply this name to the Church in particular, concerning which He had begun His discourse. He transferred by synecdoche to the world what fitted a part only.

Then Trench adds:

It required no especial training to acquaint the disciples that in the world there would ever be a mixture of good and bad, though they must have been so little prepared to expect the same in the Church, that it was very needful to warn them beforehand, both that they might not be stumbled, and that they might know how to conduct themselves.

But the good Archbishop is not looking at the question from the vantage point of the disciples-' Jewish concept. What did THEY believe the Messianic Kingdom was to accomplish in the world? That is, did they expect the Messiah to usher in an unprecedented era of perfect righteousness, a paradise of holy persons whose King would instantly destroy all the wicked? If so, the startling revelations made by this parable would require that they re-evaluate all their previous thinking about the Kingdom.

2.

The future reign of God after the conclusion of the present age is automatically ruled out as the exclusive meaning by the fact that the parable ends on this note, whereas it represents God's authority over the world as already having had full sway for the long interval from before the establishment of His Church in the world until the final victory at the end, Even if Jesus says, Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, it is evident (1) that they had been in that kingdom ever since their submission to the King and this is but the moment of their glorious revealing, and (2) that God had not relinquished His right to rule nor surrendered the government of earth to anyone in the interim.

3.

This parable, rather, pictures the government of God in its totality. The particular background of this story is the eschatological waiting of the people of God for the realization of the Paradise of God. The Jews would have linked this directly with the first appearance of the Messiah and establishment of the Kingdom on earth (Cf. Psalms of Solomon 17:23ff, 29). Naturally, the failure of the nationalistic triumph to materialize as a visible result of Jesus-' mission would not only raise serious questions about Him, but would lead to an understandable disappointment with Him. This is the kind of tension that motivates the uneasy question of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:2-6) and that of the Apostles (Acts 1:6).

Jesus would have men see that His new society of the redeemed is but one significant expression of God's Kingdom. The very fact that God can afford to wait until that Day to destroy evil is surprising proof that His Government is supreme. The final, permanent crushing of the Enemy and those whom he deceived, is another evidence of God's invincible rule. The radiant dignity to which the saints will then be elevated is a crowning evidence that the Almighty reigns! And this carefully constructed allegory splashes all these tremendous truth before His hearers in one coherent picture.
But this is NOT new material. The truth taught about the kingdom in this parable had already been suggested by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in clear, unparabolic language.

1.

Why worry, for instance, about persecution from evil men (Matthew 5:10-12), or about strife (Matthew 5:21-26) or about personal vengeance against attackers (Matthew 5:38-42), or even about loving one's enemies (Matthew 5:43 ff), if the Kingdom of God is going to eliminate all these problems from its inception?

2.

Would not the great Messianic King remove all hypocrisy by the purifying power of His presence? (Cf. Matthew 6:1-18)

3.

Why then all this concern for personal purity as if the citizens of the Kingdom could somehow become contaminated by divided loyalties and worry? (Matthew 6:19-34)

4.

Further, if the Kingdom is only for the pure and holy anyway, why concern oneself with dogs and swine? (Matthew 7:6)

5.

Most significant of all is the preoccupation with false ways and false prophets, as if IN THE KINGDOM YET one could actually be duped into following them to his destruction! (Matthew 7:13-23)

Incredible? Yes, but all that is rendered explicit in the Parable of the Tares was already implicit in the clear language of the Sermon on the Mount. This is the reason Jesus now repeats these ideas in the parabolic form: the prejudices of His hearers would not permit them to detect what He was driving at even when He talked plain about these very concepts. This simple story flashes before them God's entire answer to the problems of sin and its accompanying evils in the world. The Church, of course, is not incidental, because she is the very crop for which the world's true Owner yearned to see the fruition.

INTRODUCTION TO ITS EXPLANATION (13:36)

Matthew 13:36 Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house; did he leave them or dismiss them? The Greek verb means either. Interestingly, Jesus probably did both to go into the house. (His own house? Cf. note on Matthew 13:1)

His disciples came to him, saying, Explain. This is the most important verse in the entire chapter and the only reaction acceptable to Jesus Christ! They proved themselves genuine disciples by coming to HIM and laying before HIM their ignorance and confusion. This is the verse that draws the distinction between the sheep and the goats, the truly wise and the fools, the good and the evil. There is no evil like unbelief in Jesus in Nazareth, and there is no good like that absolute trust in Him that will bring a person spontaneously to Him so that He might teach him. (Cf. John 8:24; John 3:36; Psalms 25:8-9; James 1:5-8; see Notes on Matthew 13:10-17.)

THE SAVIOR'S SOWING (13:24, 37, 38)

Matthew 13:24 A man. sowed good seed in his fields. 37. He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man: keep that straight! The problem of evil in the world, and particularly in the institutional Church, often blinds men to the fact that only good giving and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father, whereas temptations, lust, sin and death come from human desires willing to be enticed by Satan (James 1:13-18; James 3:6; James 3:13-18; James 4:1-10). In starting His Church as one tangible expression of His Kingdom on earth. Jesus made no mistakes. The Lord knows His own (Cf. Numbers 16:1-5; Ezekiel 8:1 to Ezekiel 9:11; 2 Timothy 2:19; John 10:14). On that Day the justice of His strategy will be vindicated. In the meantime, the field is His field, His world, and any evil in it is the result of an enemy'S work, not His (Matthew 13:28)!

Matthew 13:38 a The field is the world, not merely the Church, although this is composed of people who live in the world. He is not only affirming the world-wide character of His reign as opposed to narrow nationalism, but also that the world itself is the soil within which the life growing-cycle of the two divergent kinds of people is brought to maturity. So, as long as the world stands, the mighty Kingdom of God has a sphere of action that is coextensive with all humanity. In unveiling this Kingdom Jesus taught His Jewish hearers to look not merely upon Palestine as the boundary of His dominion and the limit of His concern. Rather, He came to enlarge their horizons to include the utmost limits of mankind as the supreme target of His love and sphere of His good government.

Matthew 13:38 b The good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. The expression sons of, rather than refer here to ancestry, is rather a Hebraism expressive of a more general relationship. Sometimes the connection is membership in a guild, class or sect (Cf. 2 Kings 6:1; 2 Kings 4:38; Matthew 12:27 see note). Or else the expression indicates some characteristic quality of the persons so described. The sons of the Kingdom, then, are Jesus-' followers, because these disciples share the goals of the Kingdom (Cf. Notes on Matthew 5:45 and Matthew 8:12). They are the true Church, hence not a hypocrite among them. Wheat plants are just the wheat seed in a changed form: that new life-character in a Christian is actually the product of the truth he has accepted. God plants truth in a man, buries it in his heart, fires his imagination with, and energizes his will with it until that man literally becomes the truth incarnate (Cf. 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:14-21; Colossians 1:27-28; John 17:14-19; 2 Peter 1:3-4; 1 Peter 1:22-23; James 1:18; James 1:21; 1 Timothy 4:6). They are good seed, not perfectly matured plants ready for harvest; good seed with all the potentiality for producing the right results desired by the Lord of the harvest. Good seed is Jesus-' evaluation of His Church: woe to the man who disagrees with Him!

SATAN'S SINISTER SOWING (13:25, 26, 39)

Matthew 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came ... This taking of rest need not refer to any lack of attention or care on the part of those responsible for the field, nor is the sleeping blamed. Rather, sleep is not only proper because earned by honest labor, but may easily signify the farmer's undisturbed confidence that good seed has been sown, as in the parable of the Growing Seed (Mark 4:27). Nevertheless, it was this time that Satan turned to his own advantage.

His enemy. sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away 26 But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. From these details it is obvious that the servants only discovered their presence in the field when the weeds had already begun to mature, hence not earlier. In fact, it was only when the wheat had brought forth fruit that then appeared the tares also. On this basis the Davis Dictionary of the Bible (759) argues for the Lolium as the culprit:

The bearded darnel (Lolium temulentum) is a poisonous grass, almost undistinguishable from wheat while the two are only in blade, but which can be separated without difficulty when they come into ear.

It was the fruit that gave it away (Cf. Matthew 7:15-20). Though the fruits furnish the saints a practical clue, or test, whereby they may guard themselves from the influences of the wicked, they are not permitted to destroy them, because only at the judgment will all fruit be fully matured, rendering possible a true final decision. So, before that Day, who but God can recognize the genuine wheat from the obnoxious darnel? (In fact, some may even be charismatics. Matthew 7:21-23) Merely because God does not seem to be doing anything about rooting out the wicked now must not be interpreted by anyone as if He were doing absolutely nothing about the evil. He is biding His time until harvest when the final reckoning will reveal the drastic difference between the sham believers, the hypocrites, the role players, the shamelessly evil ones, and the genuine sons of God.

The use of the darnel weed was aptly chosen by the Lord because of its striking similarity to wheat, since the shoots of both are so alike it is next to impossible to decide which is which. The value of this resemblance for the story lies in its vivid representation of a real problem: there would be many non-Christians in the world whose honesty, integrity, generosity and other good traits often surpass the average morality of many Christians who really do believe Jesus and try to serve Him, but whose ethics are no match for those high-minded unbelievers. Or, there might be two men of equal moral worth, one a disciple of Jesus; the other, no. Many would be tempted to leap to the conclusion that faith in Jesus and justification on the basis of that faith makes little essential difference, since, they would say, Surely God wants good people, not just believers whose life and morals are unspectacular for their similarity to non-believers. In fact, the whole concept of justification by faith which puts a man in Christ and renders him juridically perfect before God, is so unbelievable that God would have had to say it before any of us would have ever believed it possible. Man's idea of justice would just not let him dream it up, because it involves condemning himself regardless of how good he is. Since people in Christ must live out their lifetime among the more-or-less good people in their community, anyone who would decide about the effectiveness of Jesus-' mission to earth would be inclined to pronounce it a failure, since no noticeable difference distinguishes the one from the other. But what a difference judgment will reveal between the two!

Matthew 13:38 c The tares are the sons of the evil one. Although very few of them would openly own Satan as their lord and actively seek to promote the interests of his domain, yet in doing exactly what they want to do, they carry out his wishes (Cf. John 8:44; Ephesians 2:2 f). This real, fundamental commitment explains the need to play the hypocrite, felt by those sons of the Devil who want to be part of the Church. While mimicking the externals of the Christian society, they cannot go all the way to fruits of righteousness, because they are already committed to themselves, which, in effect, means commitment to Satan's desires. (See Ezekiel 33:30-33 in this context!) Just as the sons of the Kingdom are the logical, moral product of the truth that transforms them, so also the sons of the evil one are the product of the false, the inadequate, the sham, the deceptive, that they too have taken into their being in exchange for truth (Romans 1:21-32; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; Ephesians 2:1-3; Philippians 3:19; Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:18; 1 Timothy 4:1-2; 1 Timothy 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 2:16-17; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; 2 Timothy 3:7).

Matthew 13:39 a The enemy that sowed them is the devil. Contrary to the correct understanding of this parable, Christians are tempted to see the enemy as anything or anyone else! Before a successful battle can be waged, one ought at least to know who his enemies are. All of our seemingly great difficulties with people are but minor skirmishes in comparison with the bloody war with Satan himself. Nevertheless, although millions march at his orders, his ranks can be infiltrated, even as he tries to infiltrate the Kingdom of God, and some of his tools can be converted into disciples of the Kingdom (Cf. 2 Timothy 2:24-26). However, were the sons of the evil one to be treated as one would their father and chief, were they uprooted and burned before the time, their conversion could never take place. Our warfare, our struggle for the control of men's minds, therefore, must not mistake men for Satan, for the enemy is the devil (Cf. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6; Ephesians 6:10-19)! Not even the Romans, nor the Pharisees!

This simple declaration marks the chasmic distance between Satan and Jesus Christ! No accusations of secret collusion with that sinister demon can be sustained (Cf. Matthew 12:24; Matthew 9:34), In fact, in His most secret revelations to His intimates, the Lord bares the harsh reality of that moral struggle for world domination in which the lines are sharply drawn (Hebrews 2:14-15; 1 John 3:8).

These literal words of our Lord (The enemy is the devil.) expose as fundamental unbelief the embarrassment of people who blush at the mention of the devil. Satan is as real for Jesus as is God His Father. But, some would urge, While I accept Jesus-' words as true, should they not be understood figuratively? No, because the words of this text are not part of a figure, picture or parable, but, rather, the literal interpretation of a parable. Jesus, who sees as clearly the invisible realm of the spirits as He does the visible world of time and sense, declares as eternal truth: the enemy is the devil!

THE SERVANTS-' SURPRISE (13:27, 28)

Matthew 13:27 And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? whence then hath it tares? Although Jesus did not interpret this verse nor the following one, it is the basic problem back of this parable to which the story is the answer. The causes of the shock in these servants are two: their confidence in their lord's wisdom in sowing good seed in his field, and their own discovery of the continued presence of noxious weeds that threatened to compromise his harvest.

Matthew 13:28 And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. And the servants say unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? The farmer's true response not only does not solve the problem for them; it, rather, increases their anxiety to right this disturbing situation immediately.

These anxious questions would not long remain unuttered after men should have seen how Jesus intended to establish His Messianic Kingdom. Such questions, in fact, would be wrung out of the tortured emotions of embattled saints: Lord, did you not establish your new humanity comprised of your own people who submit to your rule in the world? Why, then, are there yet so many people who obviously not only do not accept your rule, but openly belong to the ranks of Satan? Lord, if your Church is what you say it is, if we are to be as victorious as you promise, if we are to bring every tribe, nation, people and tongue to your honor, riches, praise and thanksgiving at your feet, what are all these OBDURATE, UNCOVERTED AND UNCONVERTIBLE SINNERS doing here, still left seemingly at peace in the world? Why, Lord, are they left to pursue their own degenerate and degrading course? If you, Lord Jesus, are really the King of the world, as we believe, how is it that the world still lies in the power of the wicked one-'?
Who are the servants whose righteous zeal thus manifests itself in personal interest in the proper management and future success of their Lord's property? Interestingly, Jesus leaves us no direct clue to their identity.

1.

The Church? But in this parable, the Church is already symbolized by the good seed, not the servants of the householder. Nevertheless, the disciples of Christ have as much need for the information given these servants as anyone else, even if not specifically addressed to them.

2.

Angels? Since the reapers in this figure are angels, it would not be at all surprising to see also these servants as angels who raise the problem of the continued presence of evil in the world even after the Son of God had completed His redemptive work. However, while these servants could well be the angels, yet thoughtful men too have always been tormented by this same question of justice.

It may well be that Jesus left their identification deliberately indistinct, in order to permit nonemen or angelsto make false accusations or ignorant final verdicts. But if the exact identity of these concerned servants of God is intentionally left out of the picture, the attitude expressed is strikingly typical of John the Baptist. (See notes on Matthew 11:1-6.) His heavy, thundering demands for repentance and his blazing threats of unquenchable fire practically cancelled out for John the possibility that a loving Messiah should patiently and mercifully seek the salvation of the vilest of the wicked. Nor had Jesus been sufficiently prompt in satisfying John's own understanding of Jesus-' mission.

Barker (As Matthew Saw the Master, 60f) visualizes Jesus-' immediate situation as an uneasiness about the kind of people He was attracting. He had given a blanket invitation to the human race to come to Him, and some who came had notorious reputations. Some were with Him for the wrong reasons, expecting rewards and honors. And what about the borderline, the wobbly, superficial followers? Surely, the disciples may have been thinking, they should sort out those who were insincere. Critical and untolerant, some mumbled to Jesus about the bag of mixed followers, around Him. Why not weed out the undesirables?

Matthew knew better than most what it was to be an undesirable, A dubious risk with a disgraceful past, Matthew had no letters of recommendation to get him into Jesus-' Kingdom. If there had been any sorting out of followers, Matthew knew that he would have been classified as unreliable, or offensive.

How desperately pertinent is this parable to the immediate perplexity of the Twelve themselves! How appropriate for their peace of mind! They must not only witness the desertion of Jesus by fickle, uncomprehending mobs of well-wishers (John 6:66), but also face the certainty that even one of their own number would be Satan's tool (John 6:70)!

God's servants are always tempted to ignore this teaching by allowing themselves to become overly alarmed by the great, powerful causes or movements of sinners united together. Consequently, abandoning the ministry to which Jesus had set them working, they set about to eradicate the evils in the world by combatting the great evil movements themselves, By contrast, the Apostles finally understood their Lord and refused to get involved in fighting totalitarian government and godless ideologies of their day, for they believed that preaching the Gospel of Christ would produce more necessary, grass-roots changes in humanity and, consequently, in its philosophies and systems, than could begin to be touched by tremendous reactionary campaigns.

THE SERVANTS-' SHORT-SIGHTED SOLUTION SCRAPPED (13:29, 30a)

Matthew 13:29 Their seemingly natural, more obvious solution is surprisingly, but wisely, rejected. Not only would the roots of the plants have become intertwined in the earth, so that the uprooting of the unwanted weeds would necessarily ruin the good stalks yet unready for harvest, but the very similarity between the good and bad plants would require powers to distinguish them that the servants did not possess.

Matthew 13:30 Let them both grow together until the harvest. The striking likeness of bearded darnel to wheat is gone by harvest, making it possible to distinguish the plants without difficulty.

It is this definitive, standing order of the Lord of the harvest that exhibits the true relationships: these persons, overeager to help along the punitive justice of God must recognize their true position as Jesus assigns it to them in this parable. They are servants, nothing more. It is not theirs to dictate policy to the Lord, no matter how staggered they are by the enormity of the evil in the world, no matter how provoked to demand immediate justice. (Cf. Revelation 6:9-11 and God's reaction even to those martyred for Christ.) For anyone ready to rush radical remedies to the scene, Jesus reminds that judgment still belongs to the Almighty who can well afford to wait. Even if His judgment is inexorable, His patience can take its time. If Jesus had sometimes to rebuke the all-too-human desire to call down fire from heaven upon those deemed to be enemies of Christ (Cf. Luke 9:51-56) or reprove the attempts to hinder the efforts of anyone not a part of Jesus-' personal following (Luke 9:49-50), here, however, He guarantees the final, impartial extirpation of the really wicked. This guarantee, however, is based on the righteous and mercifully patient justice of God, not upon the hasty elimination of all the doubtful on the part of the pure. We need to feel the arrogance it would involve to propose to begin God's sentencing by using human evaluations and methods. We must learn to distrust the smug conviction of our personal purity and worth that considers itself qualified to root out all the impure and damn them to an eternal fire.

Let them both grow together! What an excellent combination of patient wisdom and far-reaching grace! We would have ordered an immediate quarantine of all the wicked, called fire down from heaven, burnt up all the unworthy and set up a pure, true Church. But how like God to be serenely patient! Nevertheless, His very forbearance irritates us, because somehow we just cannot see that we too would have to go, were He to give the green light to such punitive measures, because not a one of us is pure wheat, except by His patient grace. His wise mercy halts the self-extermination of the Church in its present condition of imperfection and immaturity. In one clear word He forbids all kinds of Inquisitions, Crusades and Holy Wars. If it be contrary to God's longsuffering kindness for angels to rush among an unwitting humanity with drawn sword, how much more is it wicked for the Church, God's means to save the world, to don the robes of secular power and turn her sword against heretics and execute them herself? How many Zealots, Assassins and sympathizers in Jesus stomped impatiently for some clue from Jesus, some key phrase that would signal the zero hour to begin the messianic holy war against all enemies of the New Israel! And yet, He quotes with approval the words of the world's Owner: Let them both grow together. ! He simply will not permit anyone to take over for God and begin to execute precipitate justice by slicing men out of the Kingdom. Jesus is justly optimistic about the converting power of His own gospel, because He knows what so many forget: The Gospel is God's power to save anyone who believes it, Tares can become wheat! (See notes on the Growing Seed Parable, Mark 4:26-29.)

Here again is the Lord's option for gradualism, as opposed to instant revolution and apocalyptic judgment, a doctrine reiterated in the stories of the Mustard Seed and of the Leaven and that of the Growing Seed. Although the Jewish apocalyptist wrongly imagined the fulfillment of God's plans, he was not altogether wrong to calm the impatience of the godly man, chafing for perfect justice in the world:

Your haste may not exceed that of the Most High; for you are hastening for your own self, but the Exalted One (is acting) on behalf of many. (IV Ezra 4:34).

Let them both grow together cannot apply to church discipline.

1.

Because the field is the world, not merely, nor only, the Church. The Church is planted IN the world, and so does not include all that is affirmed of the world. The basic distinction drawn in this parable is that between those who share God's mentality and the Devil's own. Though they must all grow along together in the present age, the separation will be made later. But in the case of church discipline, the basic distinction is between the wicked and righteous within the Church itself, and the separation must be made immediately on earth.

2.

Because the reapers here are the angels, not church members indignant about the sins of a fellow Christian.

3.

Because no interpretation of this parable can be correct that contradicts the Lord's clear instructions on church discipline (Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2:1-11; esp. 2 Corinthians 2:9; Titus 3:10; 2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 2 John 1:9-11; Romans 16:17-18). The Church is condemned that tolerates inquiry within (Revelation 2:3). Those individuals who demonstrate by their attitudes and actions that they are tares at heart, those sons of the evil one, however much they protest their orthodoxy or innocence, if the facts justify their being disciplined by the congregation and if they repent not, are to be severed from the fellowship of other Christians.

4.

Because Jesus is not answering the specific question about dealing with sin in the Church. The burning question on the lips of the servants is: Why is all the evil in the world allowed to continue? Shall we begin final judgment and damnation right now? Decisions to be handled by the Church in carrying out church discipline are not of this order at all. This is because her judgments do not carry the weight of final judgment and eternal damnation. She is merely restoring to the world those of her number who refuse by their well-known character to be what the Church is really supposed to be. Naturally, the sequel to this situation will be the eternal damnation of the ex-church member IF HE DOES NOT REPENT, but that consequence will be God's decision, not the Church'S. Church discipline is so designed as to seek this very reconversion to Christ, and, if successful in its working the desired effect in the sinning member, re-embraces him in reconciliation. Even if not instantly successful in his restoration, church discipline always leaves the door open until his death, so that he can repent and return if he will. From these considerations, it is demonstrated that, in no way does this parable forbid Church members to make the necessary judgments to discipline a recalcitrant fellow Christian (See fuller notes at Matthew 18:15-18.)

SUBSEQUENT SETTLEMENT BY SCRUPULOUS SEPARATION OF SINNERS (13:30b, 39-42)

Matthew 13:30 Note the perfect foresight and calm mastery of this situation on the part of the householder, despite the tension felt because of the apparently menaced outcome of the harvest.

Matthew 13:39 b The harvest is the end of the world (Cf. Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:10; Hebrews 9:26-27). What as astounding revelation, either from the standpoint of Jewish eschatology or from that of modern philosophical determinism. The former sees the coming of the Messiah as the immediate, cataclysmic solution to all problems, the precipitate punishment of all wicked, and hard on the heels of judgment, the arrival of the Jewish paradise. But, as the Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Leaven teach, so here too, Jesus pictures the perfection of the Kingdom through an extended time-period of internal and external development after which a cataclysmic event will finally bring everything to a sudden, abrupt halt and hale every man before God's court for judgment. (Is the Lord here reacting directly to that strand of Jewish apocalyptic that sees a necessity for the eradication of evil before something better can take its place? Cf. IV Ezra 4:22-24)

Further, in contrast to that philosophical pessimism that sees history as going nowhere, endlessly repeating itself in cycles, Jesus diagrams a scheme of history that rolls right up to its last hour and comes to a decisive conclusion. For the wild-eyed optimists who see man's travail as an upward-moving, endless spiral curving ever higher toward infinity, Jesus-' incisive definition spells the same defeat.

The reapers are angels (Cf. Matthew 25:31; Matthew 16:27; Luke 12:8-9). Those who had been no more than spirits in the service of God commissioned to help those who are to inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14) and who have longed to look into God's plan for human redemption (1 Peter 1:12) will consummate the last act of their service for this epoch by becoming, with regard to the vile and the unbelieving, the ministers of God's justice.

Matthew 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels. Compare the grand similarities of language and figures between Jesus-' interpretative prophecy here and that ancient prophetic judgment described in Ezekiel 9! Who does Jesus think He is, since He applies such majestic language to Himself in such a way that none could miss His underlying authority? Even without any reference to echoes from Ezekiel, this impression stands solidly on its own imagery. Here is Jesus in all His divine power and majesty in full charge of the final judgment, directing His angels, to purify His Kingdom, which is, of course, the Kingdom of God.

They shall gather out of his kingdom what had, to that moment, actually been IN that Kingdom as it existed in the world. This obvious truism points to the fact that the presence of evil in the world and hypocrites in the Church were no surprise in Jesus. He not only knew about them all the time, but had already made adequate plans for this disposal. They could not, for all their rebellion, escape from God's Kingdom, God's control. Despite temporary appearances to the contrary, God had always been Sovereign. Despite their insubordination, they had had to live in His world with His reality. They could not even escape this! Now they shall be gathered out of His Kingdom. So let not the disciple trouble himself either with the difficulty of telling the genuine from the false Christians or with the task of eliminating them, because the responsibility for this final judgment is not his. This is the Lord's right (John 5:22; John 5:27) and He has never surrendered this task to any human officers, or servants. But gather them out He will! (Cf. Matthew 15:13-14; John 15:1-8; Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26-31)

All things that cause stumbling: see Matthew 18:1-35 for fuller notes. Them that do iniquity: may not represent a separate class, since the Lord may be speaking according to a popular Hebraistic idiom (parallelism) to repeat an idea. Rather than divide the offenders into neat groups, He actually throws them both into the same category. If any distinction is intended, He sees as damned both those who are the cause, or temptation, to sin and those who yield to the allurement, in which case none escape. No more can he who is merely the source of temptation excuse himself as being extraneous to the sins of. others than can another be excused who permits himself to be beguiled into acting as if there were no laws (anomìan poioûntes). They are both sons of the evil one, and so must be segregated forever.

Matthew 13:42 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This image, squarely set as it is within the literal interpretation of the parable, must be taken seriously without hedging or watering down its force, even if human experience has never encountered a furnace of fire that punishes forever. (See notes on Matthew 3:12 where John the Baptist used a similar image to convey a picture of the horrible thoroughness of God's condemnation. See also Matthew 18:8-9; Matthew 25:41; Matthew 25:46; John 15:6; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; 2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:12; Jude 1:7; Revelation 20:15; Revelation 21:8.) Whatever the reality intended, it is a horrible destiny, if the language employed to picture it contemplates such a gruesome punishment! (Cf. Jeremiah 29:22; Daniel 3:6) Weeping and gnashing of teeth is an expression characteristic of bitter regret and impotent rage. (See on Matthew 8:12.) There are still only two classes of people in the world, however mixed the lines seem to be. There is no middle, no third group; just wheat or tares. Righteousness is still righteousness, even if no one anywhere seems to be praticing it, and sin is still sin and will be punished, even if it seems that everyone everywhere is doing it (Cf. 1 John 2:28 to 1 John 3:10; Revelation 21:1-8; Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:14-15).

THE SATISFACTION, SECURITY AND STUNNING SPLENDOR OF THE SAVED

Matthew 13:43 Here, finally, is the climax toward which Jesus had been building: THEN, and only then, shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Trench (Notes, 195) citing Calvin, rejoices that

It is a very great comfort that the sons of God, who now are either lying covered with squalor, or are hidden and unesteemed, or are even buried under reproaches, shall then, as in a clear sky and with every cloud dissipated, at once shine out brightly.

At judgment they will be as obviously recognizable as God's children as the midday sun is obvious in the summer sky (Cf. Judges 5:31; Daniel 12:2-3; Romans 8:19). Since the scene of this great presentation, in which the true character of the righteous will be so gloriously displayed, is set in their Father's kingdom, we have further proof that, when Jesus uses the expression Kingdom of God, the Church is but a part of this great concept. Here, rather, the righteous are all of God's elect of all ages who acknowledge God's rule (Cf. on Matthew 8:11), including the Church of Jesus Christ, but the kingdom itself is greater than all these who are now thus glorified therein. The kingdom here, then, is God's universal rule (Cf. 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 1:3-11).

Then shall the righteous shine. How and why?

1.

Physically, their lowly earthly body will be changed to be like His glorious body (Philippians 3:20; 1 Corinthians 15:43).

2.

Juridically, their justification will be complete, because they Believed God and it was imputed to them for righteousness (Romans 4:3 ff; Galatians 5:5). Though morally imperfect on earth, a fact which made others-' prior final judgments undependable, however after God's judgment it will be absolutely clear to angels, demons and men why God saved THESE of all people (Cf. Romans 3:21-26).

3.

Morally, they will shine because the very thing that makes them righteous is the fact that they had already accepted into their very being the Word of that God who Himself is Light and dwells in light unapproachable. In their fellowship with Him and in their imitation of Him as His children, they grew to be like Him (Ephesians 5:1; 1 John 1:3-7; 1 Timothy 6:16). We shall be like Him (1 John 3:1-3)! We shall shine as the sun: is this some figure of speech? Read the following attractive brochure on our future and decide for yourself! (Romans 2:7; Romans 2:10; Romans 5:2; Romans 8:18; Romans 8:21; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 1 Corinthians 15:43; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17; Ephesians 1:18; Ephesians 5:27; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Hebrews 2:10; 1 Peter 4:14; 1 Peter 5:1; 1 Peter 5:4; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 1:3) This is why we will be glorified in Him and He in us, because what we shall be will have been His work in us and our positive response to it for His sake.

The kingdom of their Father is the same as what Jesus had but a moment before called His Kingdom (Matthew 13:41). The government of God belongs, therefore, to both the Father and the Son, a fact that prepares the mind to accept the concept of the Trinity, even if he cannot understand it. Also, the fact that the Kingdom is of their Father declares them all to be heirs of the Kingdom and royal princes (Cf. James 2:5; Revelation 21:7; Romans 8:15-17).

He that hath ears, let him hear. (See notes on Matthew 13:9.) Despite all that has been said about the sons of the evil one and the permanency and horror of their fate, yet all could actually hear with understanding and change their relationship to God. Notwithstanding the fact that this parable is not immediately concerned with the doctrine that even Christians that produce no fruit will also be destroyed (Cf. John 15:2; Hebrews 6:4-6; Hebrews 10:26-31), nevertheless, this warning, appended to the explanation given privately to Jesus-' closest disciples, is particularly ominous. None can plead inability to hear and understand, since He hereby makes each one responsible to listen, understand, accept or pay the consequences.

APOLQGETIC VALUE OF THIS PARABLE

At first glance, it would seem that if, according to this parable, evil is never to be absent from the world, the unbeliever would have a strong argument for rejecting Christianity, because of its self-confessed inability to conquer all evil here and now. Paradoxically, however, if evil is never to be absent from the world during the present reign of the Messiah, this parable has tremendous psychological power to deal with our anxiety caused by the problem of evil and to persuade men to believe the Gospel's truth:

1.

There is psychological wonder that the amount of good done is as great as it is, considering the obstacles the Kingdom must overcome using the means within its power, To put it another way: look what God is able to do, working under the deliberately chosen handicap of leaving evil in the world! Further, when men consider that God freely elected to use only the influence of His Word to overcome sin and all its ramifications and consequences, rather than organize great armies of police to enforce His will and execute the evildoers, they must marvel. If He can do that much with His hands tied behind Him, what a great God He must be! How worthy of our praise and worship! Our God can beat Satan while letting Satan do his worst.

2.

The Church affirms that men are morally free to accept or reject her message, and if this is true, then one must be prepared to expect to find at least some people left in the world who do not accept it. Even if the existence of these evil men is dreadfully uncomfortable for the godly people and makes it appear that God is powerless to do anything about them, their very existence proves the true freedom of the human will. Here, then, is real proof of the correctness of God's procedure, because this parable demonstrates just how much opportunity there is for the full development of freely chosen righteousness by its being put to real tests in an evil world where all options are live! If God were suddenly to remove all temptations and evil from the world, there could be no freely taken choice to love and obey Him, since there would be no real alternatives to do otherwise. So the very presence of unchecked evil in the world and even the very imperfection of the Church, when looked at from THIS angle, prove the truth of its message!

3.

Faith is real, because even though this parable paints in some detail the great victory over evil won by the Son of God, most of us will not live to see it. So, from a purely human point of view, since that victory is not a sure thing, anyone who stakes his life on its occurring, really does so because he trusts the word of Christ.

4.

As in the lesson of the Growing Seed Parable, so also here, any precipitate verdicts critical of the present state of the Kingdom of God are just bad misjudgments. Too many facts are left out of account when men look only at the chaos and injustice in the world without seeing what God is doing about it by means of His Gospel. This Parable clarifies His total program.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

What are tares? What particular difficulty do they present to the inexperienced eye that observes them? What characteristic makes them especially appropriate for use as a symbol in this story?

2.

What great philosophical problem does Jesus pose here under the form of a parable? How does He answer the problem?

3.

What difference is there between the answers that the philosophers have given to the problem, and the answer Jesus gives?

4.

State the declarations in this text that give evidence of the unique nature of Jesus as revealer of God's will.

5.

What is the one principle point of this parable? State it, if possible in one well-sharpened proposition.

6.

With what other parable(s) does this story show a distinct relationship as to the meaning intended?

7.

What may be deduced about the Evil One from the description Jesus provides in this text? What is known about him from other passages?

8.

Give Jesus-' interpretation of the following points in the parable:

a.

The Sower

e.

The enemy

b.

The good seed

f.

The harvest

c.

The field

g.

The reapers

d.

The tares

h.

The fire

9.

What are the things that cause stumbling?

10.

Where are they to be found?

11.

Who are those that do iniquity? Where are they found?

12.

Harmonize the seeming contradiction between the fact that Jesus here presents the punishment of the wicked as a blazing furnace of fire, whereas elsewhere He speaks of an outer darkness. All the fire we have ever seen gives off light in the darkness, and all the darkness we have ever experienced is the absence of light. Which of Jesus-' expressions is the correct representation of the facts: the fire or the darkness? What does the apparent contradiction teach us about Jesus-' way of speaking about things of which we have not yet had any experience?

13.

What other Scriptures speak of the punishment of the wicked?

14.

What other passages speak of the future happiness of the righteous?

15.

What other Scriptures describe who are the sons of the Kingdom? Does Jesus always use this expression with the same identical meaning, referring always to the same people?

16.

Explain gnashing of teeth.

17.

In what sense will the righteous shine forth as the sun?

18.

Why does Jesus not refer to those in His Kingdom as sons of the Kingdom, who do iniquity and whom the angels will eventually expel, if unfaithful Christians were really the ones intended?

19.

Who are the sons of the Kingdom? How, according to Jesus, does one get to be one?

20.

Show the relation (or lack of it) between this parable and the doctrine of church discipline.

21.

To what aspect of the Kingdom of God does this parable address itself? List the possible concepts of the kingdom involved and defend or deny each one.