Wheat and Weeds: Living Faithfully in a Mixed and Messy World
This Sunday at St Paul’s & St Barnabas we explored Matthew 13:24–30 and 36–43, the parable of the wheat and the weeds. It is a passage that Jesus tells immediately after the parable of the sower, moving us from the beginnings of faith to the end of all things, from the question of how the gospel takes root to the question of how God will finally deal with the world as it is. And as Jesus speaks, He gives us a realistic picture of life in God’s kingdom and a hopeful vision of what lies ahead.
The Enemy Works Quietly, but God Is Not Caught Off Guard
Jesus describes a farmer who sows good seed, only for an enemy to come at night and sow weeds among it. The two plants grow up together, almost indistinguishable at first. Everything looks fine. Yet as time passes, the difference becomes clear. This is the first truth Jesus presses home: in the world, and even within the visible life of the church, not everything that looks like faith is rooted in Christ. The enemy works quietly, strategically, often unnoticed, planting imitation crops that grow beside the real thing.
But the parable is not meant to make us fearful. It is meant to remind us that God is never taken by surprise. The servants are confused, unsure how a field of good seed could become so mixed, but the master is calm. He knows exactly what has happened and exactly what He intends to do. The world is still His field, and nothing the enemy does overturns His purposes.
The Patience and Wisdom of the Master
When the servants want to rush out and uproot the weeds, the master refuses. Not because he is indifferent, but because he is protecting the wheat. The roots have grown together. A hasty judgement would do more harm than good. So he tells them to wait. Let both grow together until the harvest. It is a picture of divine patience, not divine weakness. God allows the mixture of good and evil to continue because His mercy is real, because He desires all to turn to Him, because the time for sorting has not yet come.
And this patience is a gift. It means there is space for repentance. It means there is time for roots to deepen. It means that while the world may feel confusing, God has not abandoned His field. He simply works on a different timescale than ours, and His wisdom is higher than our instincts.
Jesus Explains the Kingdom
Later, in the quiet of a house, the disciples ask Jesus to explain the parable, and He gives them a series of clear, sobering truths: the Son of Man is the sower; the field is the world; the good seed are the people of the kingdom; the weeds are those shaped not by Christ but by the evil one; and the harvest is the end of the age when God will put all things right. Jesus assumes a mixed world, a mixed crowd, a mixed visible church. And He teaches His disciples to expect this mixture, not to be thrown by it.
The Final Harvest and the Hope of Glory
Jesus then describes the harvest — the moment when God will separate wheat from weeds, when justice will be done, when all that causes sin will be removed from His kingdom. It is a serious picture, honest and unembellished, because Jesus wants us to understand both His love and His holiness. But the parable ends not in fear, but in hope: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Sin’s shadow gone. Evil defeated. The image of God restored in full brightness. What is mixed now will one day be pure joy, pure belonging, pure glory.
Where Are Our Roots?
The question this passage asks is simple: where are our roots planted? In Christ, or in the world? Because the field is still mixed, but the harvest is certain, and the Master has spoken. Now is the time of patience, mercy, and invitation. Now is the time to come to Christ, to put our roots down deep, and to shine as lights in a world that is often confused and entangled. One day, the field will be made new. Until then, Jesus calls us to trust Him, to wait on Him, and to bear fruit in His name.
You can listen to this week’s sermon below:
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