In Matthew 13 Jesus explains what the kingdom of heaven is like and he does it using parables. A parable is a story meant to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. A parable is also used to describe something unfamiliar using what is familiar. For example, Jesus often described heaven, what is unfamiliar to us, using farming parables or fishing parables, which would have been very relatable and familiar to his audience then, and even still today. In fact, Jesus used so many parables in Matthew 13 to describe the kingdom of heaven that scholars have deemed that chapter the Parabolic Discourse. What we are going to do is explore the powerful parable of the weeds found in Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43.
Let’s begin by looking at the parable in verses 24-30. Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men are sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Later, after Jesus gave this parable, his disciples approached him and asked him the explanation to this. Jesus said to them in verses 37-43, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” So, what does all that mean exactly?
This parable explains why God allows believers and unbelievers to coexist. Some would even say this parable explains that the enemies of God will always coexist with the children of God in this world. Others say this parable explains why God allows wicked people to remain on the earth with the righteous. To put that another way: this parable explains why God is tolerating evil in this world. Each is correct. In a way, they are all saying the same thing.
In essence, God is not allowing unbelievers to coexist with believers for the sake of the unbeliever, but for the believer. Notice the farmer in the parable doesn’t want his servants to gather the weeds from the field, because it will risk uprooting the wheat also. God’s field is not yet ready for harvest. The seeds of God’s word are still being planted, which means people are still being saved by God’s grace. And until the time has come that God has ordained to harvest His field, the believer and unbeliever will always be side by side in this world.
However, this parable also tells us that will not always be the case. A time is coming that believers and unbelievers will not live side by side. That for now God is allowing the unbelieving and wicked to remain in this world, like a farmer may allow weeds to remain in his field. But this will only be until the farmer goes to harvest his field.
A harvest day is coming. A day when God will uproot all people from this earth, the righteous and the unrighteous, the believer and the unbeliever. On that day the wheat will be separated from the weeds; the believers will be separated from the unbelievers. The unbelievers will be thrown into hell, like a farmer discards the weeds that grew in his field, and the believers will remain to live with Jesus in his kingdom forever. But until that day, believers and unbelievers will always live side by side. Which also means that until that harvest day, believers will have to co-exit with the unrighteous deeds of the unbelieving.