The Parable of Wheat and Weeds

Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43

On January 20, 2025, our nation elected a new President, one who during his campaign pledged to improve our nation’s economy, accomplishing things like lowering the cost of eggs for the American households. On Election Day, the avg. cost of eggs was approx. $6.00 nationwide. A week later, this cost had not lowered but risen to $7.00 per dozen, prompting some people to quickly accuse the President of failing to fulfill his promise.

But sweeping, widescale change doesn’t happen overnight. Though some things change quickly, many things do not. Most change occurs gradually over time as a new government or regime establishes itself, enacts new policies, and implements its agenda in a widescale way. The real test of whether our new President fulfills his promise of lowering the cost of eggs will occur over time ?

Now, this humorous example from recent headlines resembles what Jesus taught us through his second parable about God’s kingdom. We can summarize his teaching by saying this: though God’s kingdom began with the coming of Christ our King, it is at an early stage of existence and has not yet fully been established. Knowing this helps us to temper our immediate expectations, to resist the urge to bring about spiritual change through force, and to persevere with patience towards a brighter future.

Here is the parable Jesus told. A wealthy landowner planted wheat seed throughout his fields. This was not a private, family farm, it was a large, commercial farm. We know this because he hired numerous servants to work the fields for him. But we also know that he owned all the fields and the storage barn, too.

This man had purchased good seed for his fields, meaning it was not low-quality, low-grade seed with potential for poor yield and weeds. This seed had been carefully developed, filtered, and examined, so we know there was no problem with the seed.

After the seed had been planted, someone who disliked this landowner spread weed seed throughout the fields. This seed was most likely darnel see (also called poison darnel, darnel ryegrass or cockle), which some also call “wheat’s evil twin.” This grain is poisonous, and in large enough doses can kill a person. When people consume this seed in smaller doses, they can get dizzy, off-balance, and nauseous. Its Latin name comes from the word for “drunk.”

What made this grain especially difficult is that it looks similar to wheat in the early stages of growth. In addition, when growing alongside a regular wheat crop, its roots entangle themselves around the roots of the wheat plants, making it impossible to remove them without also damaging or ruining the good wheat.

In the parable, Jesus described the surprise of this landowner’s servants when they realized that this poisonous darnel had been growing throughout the wheat crop. When they spoke to the landowner about this problem, he assured them that this didn’t happen because they planted bad seed but because an enemy had mixed it in.

He also instructed them not to remove the poisonous plants because doing so would damage the good crop. So, he insisted that they must let the plants grow up alongside each other until harvest time. At harvest, then, he would instruct the reapers to separate the darnel from the wheat. They would bundle and burn the darnel seed but store the good wheat safely in his barn.

So, what does this parable mean?

This was the second of only two kingdom parables of which Jesus gave a detailed explanation. All the others he leaves us to interpret on our own. So, here is how he interpreted this parable for his followers:

• The landowner represents the Son of Man, who is Jesus Christ himself.
• The fields that he owned represent the world.
• The good seed planted in his fields represent the sons of God’s kingdom (believers).
• The bad seed also planted in his fields represents the sons of the devil (nonbelievers).
• The time of harvest represents the end of this era in history.
• The reapers represent angels who gather and cast nonbelievers into the Lake of Fire.

With these explanations in mind, let’s take a closer look into how we should understand this parable and why it is important to understand. In summary, this parable teaches that though God’s kingdom began with the coming of Christ our King, it is at an early stage of existence and has not yet fully been established. Knowing this helps us to temper our immediate expectations, to resist the urge to bring about spiritual change through force, and to persevere with patience towards a brighter future.

God’s kingdom covers the whole world.

Since we know the fields in this parable represent the entire world, we know it is speaking about all the people in the world, not just some of them. This is important to understand, for some well-meaning people believe God’s kingdom today is limited to God’s people alone, which is the church. But God’s kingdom is not merely the church. If it were, then this parable would teach us something about believers and nonbelievers coexisting specifically within the church.

People who interpret the parable this way (and many do so) conclude that we shouldn’t concern ourselves with knowing who is in the church and who is not. For such people, believer’s baptism and church membership are not important are not important, because we should accept that the church today will be comprised of both believers and nonbelievers.

While it’s true that we can never truly know with complete certainty whether a person’s faith is Christ is genuine or not, the New Testament (NT) does show that a person who claims to understand and believe in Christ must be able to explain the gospel accurately and must obey Christ publicly through baptism in order to be acknowledged as a follower of Christ, and only such people may be recognized as members of the church.

What’s more, the NT also teaches clearly that the church should remove from its membership anyone who turns away from their profession of faith in Christ by either (1) rejecting the truth of the gospel or (2) behaving in a persistently sinful or divisive way. When these developments occur in the life of a believer and member of a church, the church should not say “oh well, no big deal, it happens, I hope they get things turned around.” Rather, the church should remove that person from membership, treating them as a nonbeliever instead. (This, of course, should happen after a process of conversation, interaction, and attempt at repentance and restoration.)

That said, nowhere in the Bible does “the world” mean “the church,” and nowhere does the Bible use “the church” to speak of “the world.” So, the only possible way to understand this parable, then, is to equate “the world” with realm or domain of “the kingdom of God.” When we do this, we realize that Jesus views the entire world as the realm over which he rules today. He is the King of the whole world, not just in the future and eternity, but today. The world. not just the church, is his field and kingdom. That said, his kingdom is in a developing, growing phase or stage, not its final, complete and final state.

Believers & nonbelievers coexist in the world.

So, if God’s kingdom is the world, then why are there so many nonbelievers and evil people around?

From this parable, we see that the good seed represents the sons of God’s kingdom (believers) and bad seed represents the sons of the devil (nonbelievers), people who believe on and follow Christ and people whose lives are governed by Satan, respectively. This means that in the present form of God’s kingdom, there are both kinds of people, people who believe on Christ and submit to him as King and those who do not.

The difficult detail here is that it’s not always easy to tell the difference between both kinds of people. At least in early stages of people’s lives, some people seem to be genuine followers of Christ, even though they are not. Such people may speak favorably about Christ and behave in what seems to be a nice, charitable, moral way. Such people may even be religious and may even associate with Christianity, perhaps even in a church.

This confusing mixture of people does not mean Christ has failed to establish his kingdom or is unable to properly control and manage his kingdom. It simply means that Satan is hard at work as an enemy of God’s kingdom, attempting to deceive, poison, and undermine God’s kingdom.

Consider Judas Iscariot, for instance, who appeared to be a genuine believer. Only at the end of his life did he prove otherwise. Then there’s Demas, a former co-worker of the Apostle Paul who later abandoned Paul because he “loved this present world” instead (2 Tim 4:10). Then, there were people of whom the Apostle John said this (1 Jn 2:19):

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

At this early phase of God’s kingdom, in which Christ reigns over the world as king, there is a coexistence of believers and nonbelievers in the world, a coexistence in which it is not always easy to tell whether a person is a believer or nonbeliever, at least for a while.
And people are not always who they seem to be. This should not confuse us or cause us to think that Christ is not king or God’s kingdom is not real. We should recognize, instead, that this is how it will be in the early stages of God’s kingdom. Believers and nonbelievers will coexist together and will be sorted out at a later point in time.

Believers should not try to remove nonbelievers from the world.

If we formed a logical conclusion from this parable, we could conclude that we should remove nonbelievers from the world since a person doesn’t properly belong in God’s kingdom unless they believe on Christ and since such people only contribute more evil and unbelief into the world, not righteousness.

A biblical example of this approach is how God commanded Joshua to remove the unbelieving Canaanites from the land which God had given to Israel. As Israel moved in to settle the land, they were supposed to kill and expel all Canaanites from the land. Though this is what God told Joshua and the Israelites to do, that is not what we’re supposed to do today.

An example from church history would be how the Roman Catholic church waged war on people with other religious beliefs. They did this through the bloody military campaigns called the Crusades, in which they waged war against Muslims and other people groups. They also did this in later years through the Inquisition, in which interrogated, tortured, and executed Christians who disagreed with Roman Catholic doctrines and practices.

But even some of the Protestant Reformers did this in their communities. John Calvin, for instance, was responsible for the arrest and conviction of a man named Servetus on account of some of his questionable doctrinal teachings. Servetus was eventually executed by being burnt at the stake.

Then there was the case of a man named John Rogers, who helped William Tyndale translate the Bible into English. He refused to help an Anabaptist woman named Joan Bocher who had been sentenced to death for her unusual doctrinal teaching, arguing she should be burnt at the stake for her teachings. Ironically, Rogers himself was burnt at the stake five years later by Queen Mary of England for speaking against the Catholic Church.
Even Martin Luther himself misunderstood Christ’s teaching here. In his writings, he specifically endorsed and signed off on the belief that people who opposed infant baptism (among other doctrinal differences) should be executed. For instance, he signed his name in support of a document which says this:

In the case of Anabaptist tenets … for there is no doubt that in such cases the stiffnecked recalcitrants are sure to be punished as sedition-mongers. Also when it is a case of only upholding some spiritual tenet, such as infant baptism, … then, because these articles are also important. . . we conclude that in these cases also the stubborn sectaries must be put to death. (cited in Johannes Janssen, History of the German People from the Close of the Middle Ages, 16 volumes, translated by A.M. Christie, St. Louis: B. Herder, 1910 [orig. 1891]; Vol. X, 222-223)

Friends, this is not the nature of God’s kingdom today. We or the government are not called to execute people with whom we disagree doctrinally, whether that be justified or unjustified disagreements. In fact, he forbids it. In another place, he said (John 18:36):

My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.

In doing so, as he mentions, we may inadvertently kill or cause hurt and difficulty for other genuine believers, too. So, rather than seeking to remove nonbelievers from the world through force and governmental action, we should instead seek to coexist alongside them, seeking to win them to Christ along the way.

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:1-4)

Rather than seek to remove nonbelievers from the world, we should seek to lead them to salvation in Christ and a clear knowledge and exposure to the truth of God through our lives and witness among them. Rather than remove them, we should seek to win them to Christ. This is our calling in this early stage of God’s kingdom. We are called to go into the world and make disciples, teaching people to become believing, obedient followers of Christ – inviting people to become children of God’s kingdom by believing on Jesus Christ as God and Savior.

God will remove nonbelievers from the world in the future judgment.

While we are called to coexist with nonbelievers today, we must also realize that this will not always be the case in God’s kingdom. There is coming a day when “this age” will end with “a harvest.” At this time, there will be a clear change of course in which nonbelievers will be gathered together for what the Bible calls “The Great White Throne Judgment.”

I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-15)

At this time, God himself will judge every nonbeliever who has ever existed in the world, and the verdict for everyone who appears at that judgment will be “guilty.” In Christ’s parable about this, he describes these people as people who offend and practice lawlessness – which is people who hurt others and break God’s law. And as Christ himself also taught in this parable, there will be some surprises – people who seemed to be genuine wheat but were actually poisonous darnel grass.

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt 7:21-23)

At this judgment, the final verdict of all nonbelievers will be settled in just and final way and each one will be cast into the Lake of Fire, a place of eternal fire and punishment. This punishment will be real and experiential, not merely psychological, for Christ explains that “there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” But what about believers?

In 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the famous sermon entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This was a highly influential sermon he preached in Massachusetts about how nonbelievers would experience God’s wrath after death in a real, horrible, fiery hell. In this sermon, he emphasized mankind’s opportunity and need to confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness and salvation now before it is too late. Here’s an excerpt:

Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do. Every one lays out matters in his own mind how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell; but each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment; he says within himself, that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as not to fail.

While it is not our business to remove nonbelievers from God’s kingdom, it is our responsibility to call and encourage people to turn away from their sins to believe on Jesus Christ as their God and Savior. If we will do this, then we may help more people be saved from the fires of God’s judgment that is coming.

Believers will experience God’s kingdom fully after the judgment.

Unlike nonbelievers, believers will be granted free and full access to God’s kingdom forever. As Jesus explains, they will be gathered “into God’s barn” and will “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” In other words, they will be permanently placed into God’s kingdom and will enjoy a bright and happy life there forever.

This refers to the new heaven and earth that God will make, restoring this world to a perfect and wonderful state, entirely freed forever from the effects and presence of evil (including Satan and evil people) and blessed by God’s immediate and permanent presence on the Earth. Even our bodies will be renewed and given a special nature that will be more glorious and bright than our current nature, though it will also be the same body we have today, only resurrected and improved in an indescribable way.

At that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. (Dan 12:1-3)

Here we see Daniel’s emphasis again upon our future in the everlasting kingdom that is coming, while also emphasizing the need to “turn many to righteousness” not, today, while we have that chance. Only because there are nonbelievers living in God’s kingdom now are we able and even obligated to do this.

So, we can conclude that there will be no utopia now in this early stage of God’s kingdom. Until the final judgment, believers must coexist with nonbelievers in a patient, persevering way. As Bible teacher John Butler says,

The main point was to show the character of the kingdom in the fact that both good and evil will exist side by side until the end of the age, and that at the end of the age, good and evil will be duly separated and judged by God.

It is only that future judgment seat of God that will be the defining mark, line, and turning point in history – that once-for-all fork-in-the-road in which nonbelievers are cast away into the Lake of Fire and believers are given entrance into the new heaven and earth, that full and final version of God’s kingdom which is perfect and righteous in every way and in which believers will live for eternity.

Just as we expect gradual changes in our world, such as the slow process of economic reform, we must also temper our expectations for immediate spiritual transformation. This parable reminds us that it's not our role to forcibly separate the good from the bad in this world; instead, we are called to live among all, sharing the Gospel with patience and love. The ultimate sorting and judgment will come at the end of the age, when God himself will separate the wheat from the weeds, ensuring that His kingdom will finally be free from all evil. Until then, let us live with hope, patience, and an active faith, working towards the salvation of all while trusting in the timing and justice of our Lord and King.

To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. (2 Pet 3:18)

Discussion Questions

Taking a Patient Approach

• Patience in Spiritual Growth: The parable teaches that change in God’s kingdom happens gradually. How does this apply to your own spiritual growth and expectations? Are you sometimes impatient with your progress in faith? Why or why not?
• Tempering Expectations: The sermon discussed how we must temper our expectations for immediate spiritual change. Have you ever felt discouraged when things in the world (or in your own life) don’t improve as quickly as you hope? How can the understanding of God’s kingdom in its early stage help you navigate this?

Living Out the Gospel in a Mixed World

• Coexisting with Nonbelievers: The parable shows that believers and nonbelievers coexist in the world until the final judgment. How do you personally balance living out your faith while surrounded by people who do not share your beliefs? What challenges or opportunities does this present?
• Engaging with Nonbelievers: Jesus didn’t call us to remove nonbelievers from the world but to coexist and share the Gospel with them. How can you practically live out your calling to be a witness to Christ in a world filled with both believers and nonbelievers?
• The Role of the Church: According to the sermon, the Church should not embrace people who clearly reject Christ or live in persistent sin. Why do you think it’s important for the Church to maintain a distinction between believers and nonbelievers? How can this understanding help you make wise decisions in church involvement and relationships?
• Patience in Evangelism: Just as the landowner in the parable instructed the servants to wait until the harvest to separate the good from the bad, how does this principle apply to evangelism today? How can you be patient and trust in God’s timing when sharing your faith with others?

Facing the Reality of Judgment

• Judgment and Accountability: The sermon emphasizes that God will one day judge everyone. How does the reality of the coming judgment influence your perspective on how you live today? Does it affect how you approach relationships, your work, or your daily choices?
• Encouraging Others Toward Christ: The parable suggests that the ultimate harvest will involve the separation of believers from nonbelievers. How does this motivate you to be more intentional about leading others to Christ? What specific steps can you take in your daily life to invite others into the kingdom of God?

Hope for the Future

• Living with Hope: The sermon mentioned the future kingdom of God, where believers will “shine forth as the sun.” How can focusing on the eternal hope of God’s future kingdom help you endure difficulties in the present? How does this truth shape your perspective on challenges like suffering, injustice, or personal struggles?
• Trusting in God's Timing: Just as economic or political change often takes time, the establishment of God’s kingdom is also a gradual process. How can you learn to trust God’s timing in the midst of frustrations or setbacks? In what areas of your life might you need to trust His plan and be patient?

Reflecting on Personal Application

• Personal Reflection: How have you seen both “wheat” and “weeds” in your own life or in the lives of others? How do you respond to situations where it’s hard to tell who truly follows Christ and who doesn’t? What would it look like to approach such situations with grace and patience?
• Kingdom Building: The sermon ended by urging believers to work actively toward the salvation of others. What does “building God’s kingdom” look like in your everyday life? How can you contribute to this mission in practical ways within your family, workplace, or community?