It was more than a mean prank. Down right destructive was the sinister work of the enemy who came and infested the newly sown wheat field with weed seed. The enemy, of course, intended to ruin the whole crop. This would certainly cause his opponent to go under. Farmers have enough to contend with-drought and hail storms, insects and plant diseases, unpredictable markets and the high cost of farm equipment-let alone this human enemy who slips in by night and seeks to render the crop useless by sowing tares amongst the wheat. That was a dishonest and evil way to gain the upper hand over a competitor or to exact revenge for some real or perceived wrong. Yet it must have been a common enough practice in the ancient world for Roman laws were enacted to deal with this very practice.

Jesus speaks the parable of the wheat and tares just after He had taught His disciples with another parable, the parable of the sower and the seed- a parable that we'll hear in few weeks. Jesus is the sower who goes out into the world to sow the seed. The seed is God's Word. Our Lord is reckless with that seed. He throws it all around. Some falls on rocky ground. Other seed lands on the well-worn path. Some falls amongst the briars. So much the seed seems wasted. Yet there is seed that falls on good ground and produces a harvest of a hundredfold. Satan tries as he might to hinder the growth of that implanted seed. Like the birds gobble up seed that lays exposed on the pavement, Satan would snatch up the seed of God's Word that is not allowed to penetrate the human heart. He would glad use the briar bushes of earthly cares to choke the life out of the fledging Christian. Nevertheless, the mighty Word of the living God is planted and where that Word is produces faith, there the church is found hidden to the human eye.

Now Satan is clever. How well we know that from the Garden of Eden where he so cunningly deceived Eve. Indeed, Satan is sly and he is on the prowl like a roaring lion eager to devour the unsuspecting. If Satan cannot prevent the sowing of the seed, if Satan cannot block the reception and growth of the seed, he will attempt to destroy the crop.

In keeping with his deceitful character, his first attempt to destroy the crop is by infiltration. Like that enemy who hides his evil deed, under the cover of darkness, satan throws poisonous seeds into the field. These seeds would produce a plant called darnel. It was organically related to wheat and at the early stages of growth one cannot distinguish darnel from wheat, they look so much alike. Once the plants mature, then it is easy to tell them apart. While they are still growing they appear to be identical. Come harvest time, then they will look different, but not while they growing. If the darnel were not separated out from the wheat in the harvest, then they would make the wheat worthless for consumption. But if a farmer attempted to go through the wheat field and pull up the growing darnel he would, no doubt, destroy a lot of wheat in the process. So the farmer in today's parable does not allow his servants to go into the field and try prematurely to save the crop. Instead, he tells them to wait to the time of harvest and then they will be able to separate out the tares for burning and the wheat for the barn.

Our Lord speaks this parable to arm His church against the wiles of the devil. Remember the old saying:

Wherever God erects a House of Prayer
The devil builds a chapel there.
And ‘twill be found upon investigation
The latter has the larger congregation.

Now this parable does not mean that there is no place for discernment and church discipline. When there is an open false teaching that mishandles or contradict God's Word or when those who claim to be Christian persist in open and unrepentant sin, then the church must exercise discipline and exclude such a person from the Lord's Supper and life in this congregation gathered around the Supper. Here God's Word is clear. This parable does not rule out proper church discipline, the use of the Office of the Keys to announce to the unrepentant that they are bound to their sin as long as they refuse the forgiveness of sins won by the crucified Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead Jesus is here providing a warning against all who would attempt to create a church that is based on human perfection rather than faith in the forgiveness of sins won by our Lord on the cross and distributed in preaching and the sacraments. The church is not a community of people who have made themselves righteous, but a congregation of sinners who know their on-going need for the forgiveness of sins. To put it another way, borrowing from the title of an article written by a friend of mine a few years ago, the church is not a gym for the spiritually fit but a hospital for sick sinners.

You are not a member of the church of Jesus Christ because you have made it spiritually. You are a member by His grace. Grace that caused Him to stoop to the cross to save you. Your attention is to be on Him and not on trying to figure out whether that person seated in the next row is wheat or tare. God will do the judging on the last day. Then the weeds will be cast into the fire. Then the wheat will be safely stored away in His barn.

For now, you are to live by faith. Divert your eyes off Jesus Christ and Him crucified and start looking around you at those who bear His name and you will be disappointed. Start judging them and you may destroy not only the one you would judge, but also maybe even yourself.

The bottom line is this: "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." Those are the words of Paul to that congregation at Corinth that was infested with weeds! God is faithful. He is faithful to you. He will not trick you, lie to you, or deceive you. He is faithful. How faithful our God is we know from the cross of Calvary where He paid for your sin with His own body and blood. Body and blood that you are given to eat and drink here today as the pledge of His faithfulness. Where He sows the seed of His Word there will be a crop and not even Satan himself will be able to undo or destroy it. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.