The Parable of the Weeds: Corruption in the Church

"( 24 ) He put another parable before them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ( 25 ) but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weedsamong the wheat and went away. ( 26 ) So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ( 27 ) And the servantsof 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?" ( 28 ) 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?" ( 29 ) But he said, "No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ( 30 ) 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.”’”

Matthew 13:24-30

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"Weeds", as used in this parable, may actually be referring to darnel. In some regions, darnel is referred to as "false wheat" as it bears a close resemblance to wheat. The only way to properly distinguish darnel from real wheat is to wait until the ears of the wheat appear. In the same way, as wheat and darnel are mostly indistinguishable from each other as they grow together, "so also the sons of the kingdom of God and the sons of the kingdom of darkness grown together in the world until ultimately separated by God"

( Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary ) .

In the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus is hinting at corruption within the body of believers. Jesus explains that He is the One who brings up sons and daughters of the kingdom ( good seed ) in the world. Meanwhile, in the same field, the devil works to sow weeds among the wheat. These "weeds" are the sons of the devil and they grow alongside those sown by Jesus. They refer to those in the Church that sow corruption, strife, and hatred instead of peace and the fruits of the Spirit ( v.38-39 ). In some cases, such as with lukewarm believers or with those who live a double life, it may be hard to discern between true believers and those who aren't. However, we can know for certain the difference by looking at their actions. Jesus states that those who love Him will keep His commands ( John 14:15, 23-24 ). If someone claims to know Jesus but doesn't live as Jesus did, it displays that they haven't truly made Jesus the Lord of their lives. At God's appointed time, He will judge the righteous and the wicked, separating those who are true from those who are false. Until then, we must be sure to pray for those who are lukewarm and for those who don't know Jesus. Additionally, we must examine ourselves to make sure we are living up to the example Jesus set for us to live. That way, Jesus won't classify us as darnel at the end of the age.