Cosmic Weed Control
Introduction: The King's Briefing
We live in an age that is allergic to clarity. Our generation wants a Jesus who is a celestial guidance counselor, a dispenser of affirmations, a mascot for our personal self-fulfillment projects. But the Jesus of the Scriptures is a king, and kings do not offer gentle suggestions. They issue decrees, they define reality, and they wage war. And they brief their officers on the nature of the conflict. This is what we have here. The crowds get the parable, the story that conceals as much as it reveals. But the disciples, the inner circle, get the explanation. They get the classified intelligence briefing.
This is not a story about being nice to your neighbors, even the difficult ones. This is a battle plan. It is a description of the world as it actually is, not as we wish it were. It is a map of history from the first coming of the King to the final harvest. And like any good intelligence briefing, it identifies the combatants, the theater of operations, the enemy, and the ultimate outcome. To misunderstand this parable is to misunderstand the nature of the age we live in. It is to misunderstand the mission of the church. Many in the modern church have tragically misunderstood it, and have consequently adopted one of two disastrous strategies: either a pietistic retreat into a holy huddle, trying to create a weed-free greenhouse, or a compromised surrender, deciding that the weeds are not so bad after all and perhaps we can learn something from their perspective.
Jesus provides the necessary corrective. He gives us the divine commentary on His own story, and in doing so, He arms us with the truth. He tells us how to live in a world shot through with good and evil, and how to do so with patience, with courage, and with an unshakeable confidence in the final, glorious harvest.
The Text
Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
(Matthew 13:36-43 LSB)
The Divine Cast of Characters (vv. 37-39)
Jesus begins by identifying all the players and the stage. This is the key that unlocks the whole thing.
"The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels." (Matthew 13:37-39 LSB)
First, the sower is the Son of Man. This is Jesus's favorite self-designation, drawn from Daniel 7. It is a title of messianic authority and universal dominion. He is the one building His kingdom. It is His project, His field, His seed.
Second, and this is critically important, the field is the world. It is the kosmos. It is not the church. Many have made the mistake of thinking this parable is about tolerating heretics inside the visible church. While there are other passages that deal with church discipline, that is not the point here. The kingdom of God is planted in the world, and it grows up in the midst of the world. This is a direct refutation of any monastic or isolationist impulse. We are not called to create a sterile Christian ghetto. We are called to be salt and light in the very midst of the rot and darkness. The kingdom advances in history, on earth, in the public square, in the arts, in the sciences, in the family, right alongside the kingdom of darkness. This is the foundation of a robust, world-engaging, postmillennial confidence.
Third, the seed is identified. There are two kinds of people in the world, and only two. There are sons of the kingdom, and sons of the evil one. This is the great antithesis. There is no middle ground, no neutral territory. You are either wheat, planted by Christ, or you are a tare, a counterfeit sown by the devil. Your parentage determines your nature, and your nature determines your destiny. A tare cannot decide to become wheat any more than a thistle can decide to produce figs. You must be born again. You must be re-sown by the Son of Man.
Fourth, the enemy is the devil. He is a real, personal, and malicious agent. He is not a symbol of our dark side. He is a sower of counterfeit Christians, of false ideologies, of destructive lies. His goal is to choke out the true crop. And lastly, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. The final accounting is not our job. It belongs to God, and He will execute it with terrifying precision through His angelic ministers.
The Fiery Separation (vv. 40-42)
Having set the stage, Jesus now describes the climax of history. And it is not a gentle scene.
"So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matthew 13:40-42 LSB)
The modern, sentimental Christian squirms at verses like these. But Jesus is unflinching. The fate of the tares is to be gathered and burned. This is a picture of final, irreversible judgment. Notice the scope of this cleansing. The angels will gather out of His kingdom "all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness." The Greek word for stumbling blocks is skandala, from which we get our word scandal. This refers to anything and anyone that causes others to sin, that brings reproach upon the name of Christ.
This is a purification not just of the world, but of the visible manifestation of Christ's kingdom on earth. All the hypocrisy, all the corruption, all the nominal Christianity, all the lawlessness that has grown up alongside the true wheat will be ruthlessly purged. The kingdom will be presented to the Father in its pure, unadulterated glory.
And the destination for this refuse is the fiery furnace. Jesus is the one who speaks most often and most graphically about hell. He describes it as a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth." This is not annihilation. It is conscious, eternal torment. The weeping signifies profound sorrow and regret. The gnashing of teeth signifies impotent rage and fury against God. This is the final, self-chosen destination of all who remain sons of the evil one. To downplay this reality is not to be more compassionate than Jesus; it is to be a liar and a coward.
The Solar Glory of the Saints (v. 43)
But the story does not end in the furnace. The fire is for the tares. For the wheat, there is a different, and infinitely better, destiny.
"Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matthew 13:43 LSB)
This is the great contrast. While the lawless are cast into outer darkness, the righteous will shine like the sun. This is not just a poetic flourish. It is a promise of ultimate vindication, glorification, and radiant joy. Think of the Transfiguration, where the disciples got a brief glimpse of Christ's unveiled glory, shining like the sun. Here, Jesus promises that His people will share in that glory. We who were sown as tiny, humble seeds, who grew up in a hostile world surrounded by counterfeits, will be revealed for what we truly are: sons of the kingdom, radiating the glory of our Father.
This is the hope that anchors the soul. This is what enables us to persevere. We live now in the time of growth, the time of patience, the time of being misunderstood and often overshadowed by the tares. But the harvest is coming. The day of revelation is coming. And on that day, there will be no more confusion. The glory of God in His people will be as obvious and as brilliant as the sun in a cloudless sky.
Ears to Hear
Jesus concludes with His customary exhortation: "He who has ears, let him hear." This is a call to take this intelligence briefing to heart. So what does it mean for us, now?
First, it means we must have a long-term perspective. We are not to be discouraged by the prevalence of evil in the world. The King told us it would be this way. The enemy is active. But his work has a shelf life. The harvest is coming. History is not a random series of events; it is a field ripening for a divine appointment.
Second, it means our primary task is not to be frantic weed-pullers. In the parable itself, the master forbids his servants from uprooting the tares, lest they damage the wheat. Our job is not to bring in the final judgment. Our job is to be faithful wheat. We are to sink our roots deep into the Word of God, draw our life from Christ, and bear fruit. We overcome the weeds not by attacking them directly, but by out-growing them. We are to be so vibrantly alive, so fruitful, so full of grace and truth, that the counterfeit nature of the tares becomes manifest by comparison.
And last, and most importantly, this parable forces the ultimate question upon every one of us. Which are you? A son of the kingdom, or a son of the evil one? You were born one or the other. But the glorious news of the gospel is that the Divine Sower, the Son of Man, is also the Divine Reaper who went to the cross. He allowed Himself to be harvested, to be cut down, to be crushed for our iniquities, so that tares like us could be miraculously transformed into wheat. He can give you a new nature, a new parentage. He can make you a son of the kingdom.
Therefore, if you have ears, hear this. Do not persist as a counterfeit. Do not remain a child of the enemy, destined for the fire. Repent of your sin, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Call out to the Sower to replant you into His kingdom. For the harvest is coming, and on that day, only two destinies are possible: the furnace or the sun.