Charles Spurgeon Commentary 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?" — Matthew 13:28 (ASV)

The householder had not slept. He knew who had committed the cruel wrong. He who is the enemy of God and man, and he alone, had perpetrated this act of malice. It may have seemed to be a learned scholar, or a clever poet, or a treacherous orator who scattered doubt among the people and introduced skeptics into the Church; but the worker behind the scenes, the real author of the mischief, is always the devil himself.

The servants were eager to undo the mischief at once, in the first way that occurred to them. "Out with the false wheat and let the true wheat grow!" This was a thing easier to propose than to do, but one that would naturally come to the minds of all true servants who were sorry for their neglect and eager to set matters right.

If there had been weeds in the grain, the hoe could have removed them. But this darnel grew among the wheat and was like the wheat, and so it was the true picture of those in the Church and in the world who are nominal Christians and fair moralists, but who know nothing of the life of God. We cannot get rid of these, and yet how often we wish we could!

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.

The enemy could not do a worse thing than to adulterate the Church of God. Pretenders outside do little hurt. Inside the fold they do much mischief.