The Wheat and Tares: Living as Christians in a Mixed Church

Understanding the Parables of the Sower

1. Both yesterday and today you have heard the parables of the sower from our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who were present yesterday should recall this today. Yesterday we read about the sower who scattered seed. Some "fell by the wayside," which birds picked up. Some fell "on stony places," which dried up from the heat. Some fell "among thorns," which were choked and couldn't bear fruit. And some fell "into good ground, and it brought forth fruit, a hundred, sixty, or thirty fold" (Matthew 13:4-8).

But today the Lord has spoken another parable about a sower "who sowed good seed in his field. While men slept the enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat" (Matthew 13:24-25). As long as the plants were only sprouting, the weeds weren't apparent. But when the good seed began to bear grain, "the weeds also appeared." The landowner's servants were disturbed when they saw so many weeds among the good wheat and wanted to pull them out. But they weren't allowed to do so. Instead, they were told, "Let both grow together until the harvest" (Matthew 13:30).

Now the Lord Jesus Christ explained this parable, saying that He was the sower of the good seed, and showing that the enemy who sowed the weeds was the devil. The harvest time represents the end of the world, and His field is the whole world. He says, "At harvest time I will tell the reapers, 'First gather the weeds to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn'" (Matthew 13:30). Why are you so hasty, He says to the zealous servants? You see weeds among the wheat, you see evil Christians among the good, and you want to uproot the evil ones. Be patient—it's not yet harvest time. That time will come; may it find you as wheat! Why are you troubled? Why do you resent the mixture of evil with good? They may be with you in the field, but they won't be with you in the barn.

2. Now you know that the three places mentioned yesterday where the seed didn't grow—"the wayside," "the stony ground," and "the thorny places"—correspond to these "weeds." They're given different names under different comparisons. When comparisons are used, or when a term isn't used literally, they convey not the literal truth but a likeness of the truth. I see that only a few have understood my meaning, yet I speak for everyone's benefit.

In literal terms, a wayside is a wayside, stony ground is stony ground, thorny places are thorny places—they are simply what they are because the terms are used literally. But in parables and comparisons, one thing may be called by many names. That's why it's consistent for me to tell you that the "wayside," the "stony ground," and the "thorny places" are bad Christians, and that they too are the "weeds."

Isn't Christ called "the Lamb" (John 1:29)? Isn't Christ also "the Lion" (Revelation 5:5)? Among actual animals, a lamb is simply a lamb, and a lion is a lion. But Christ is both. The first are literally what they are, while Christ is both in a figurative sense. Furthermore, very different things may be called by the same name when speaking figuratively. What could be more different than Christ and the devil? Yet both Christ and the devil are called "a lion."

Christ is called "a lion": "The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed" (Revelation 5:5). The devil is also called a lion: "Do you not know that your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour?" (1 Peter 5:8). Both are called a lion—Christ because of His strength, the devil because of his savagery; Christ for His "prevailing," the devil for his destructiveness.

The devil is also called a serpent, "that ancient serpent" (Revelation 12:9). Are we then commanded to imitate the devil when our Shepherd told us, "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16)?

3. Yesterday I addressed "the wayside," I addressed the "stony ground," I addressed the "thorny places," and I said: Change while you can. Plow up the hard ground, remove the stones from the field, pull out the thorns. Don't keep that hard heart from which God's word quickly passes away and is lost. Don't retain that shallow soil where charity's roots can't take deep hold. Don't let the good seed planted in you by my efforts be choked by worldly desires and concerns. For the Lord is the sower, and we are only His workers.

Be the "good ground" instead. I said yesterday, and I say again today to all of you: Let one produce "a hundred, another sixty, another thirty fold." The amount of fruit varies, but all will have a place in the barn. I said all this yesterday. Today I'm addressing the weeds—but the sheep themselves are the weeds. O evil Christians, who only crowd the Church with your evil lives, reform yourselves before the harvest comes! Don't say, "I have sinned, and what has happened to me?" (Ecclesiastes 5:4). God hasn't lost His power; He's calling you to repentance. I say this to the evil ones who are still Christians; I say this to the weeds. For they are in the field, and it may be that those who are weeds today may be wheat tomorrow. So I will address the wheat as well.

4. O you Christians whose lives are good, you sigh and groan because you're few among many—few among very many. The winter will pass, the summer will come; look, the harvest will soon be here. The angels who can make the separation without making mistakes will come. We in this present time are like those servants who asked, "Do you want us to go and gather them up?" (Matthew 13:28). We wish, if possible, that no evil ones would remain among the good.

But we've been told, "Let both grow together until the harvest" (Matthew 13:30). Why? Because you might make mistakes. Listen to the conclusion: "Lest while you gather up the weeds, you also uproot the wheat with them" (Matthew 13:29). What good would you be doing? Would your eagerness devastate my harvest? The reapers will come, and the Lord has explained who the reapers are: "The reapers are the angels" (Matthew 13:39).

We are only human, but the reapers are angels. If we complete our course, we too will be equal to God's angels (Luke 20:36). But now, when we're frustrated with the wicked, we're still only human. And we should heed the words, "Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Do you think, my brothers and sisters, that these weeds we're discussing aren't sitting up here? Do you think they're all down below, with none up here? May God grant this isn't the case. "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you" (1 Corinthians 4:3). I tell you truly, my beloved, even in these high positions there is both wheat and weeds, and among the laypeople there is wheat and weeds.

Let the good tolerate the bad; let the bad change themselves and imitate the good. Let us all, if possible, reach God. Let us all, through His mercy, escape this world's evil. Let us seek good days, for we're now in evil days. But in these evil days, let us not blaspheme, so that we may reach the good days.