He presented them with another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a person who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went away. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the darnel also appeared.”
Matthew 13:24-26 NET
Jesus often used parables to describe different aspects of the Kingdom of Heaven. One of these, the Parable of the Weeds, is found in Matthew 13:24-30. Jesus’ disciples later asked him what the parable meant, and he explained it to them in Matthew 13:36-43.
In this parable, a man sowed his field with wheat seeds. But then an enemy came along and sowed darnel–or weeds– in the field. Darnel looks very much like wheat as it grows. So much so that it is often called false wheat. Only when the ears of grain appear can darnel be easily distinguished from wheat. But while wheat is a nutritious grain, darnel is poisonous.
We often understand this parable to identify the weeds as people who do not profess Jesus as Lord, the people of this world.
But I wonder how much darnel is growing within the church. Those who have the outward appearance of being the people of the kingdom. But whose fruit tells us something different. People whose fruit, rather than being beneficial to the body of Christ, is detrimental to its health.
This parable ends with the harvesting of the field. The darnel will be uprooted and thrown into a fiery furnace. But the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father.
Are you a fruitful stalk of wheat in the Lord’s field? Or false wheat, hiding in the field and producing a toxic fruit? If the latter, it is not too late to repent, take Jesus as your true Lord, and produce the fruit of righteousness.
