Sunday: An Enemy Has Done This
Daily Lesson for Sunday 23rd of February 2025
Read Matthew 13:24-27. How does the parable help us understand evil in our world?
Jesus tells the story of a landowner who sows only good seeds in his field. However, tares spring up among the wheat. Upon seeing this, the servants of the owner ask him, “ ‘ “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” ’ ” (Matthew 13:27, NKJV). This is similar to the question often asked today concerning the problem of evil: If God created the world entirely good, why is there evil in it?
Read Matthew 13:28-30 in light of Christ’s explanation in Matthew 13:37-40. How does this also shed light on the nature of the cosmic conflict?
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The master replies to his servant’s question: “ ‘ “An enemy has done this” ’ ” (Matthew 13:28, NKJV). Jesus later identifies the one “ ‘who sows the good seed’ ” as “ ‘the Son of Man,’ ” who is Jesus Himself (Matthew 13:37, NKJV), and explains that “the field is the world” (Matthew 13:38), and the “ ‘enemy who sowed’ ” the tares is “ ‘the devil’ ” (Matthew 13:39, NKJV), explicitly depicting a cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. Why is there evil in the world? Evil is the result of the enemy (the devil) who opposes the master. “ ‘An enemy has done this’ ” (Matthew 13:28, NKJV).
This answer, however, provokes the follow-up question, “ ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ” In other words, why not uproot the evil immediately? “ ‘ “No, ” ’ ” the master replies, “ ‘ “lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest” ’ ” (Matthew 13:29-30, NKJV; compare with Mark 4:29). According to the parable, God will finally put an end to evil, but uprooting it prematurely would result in irreversible collateral damage that harms the good.
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What are some of the dangers in seeking to uproot the tares from the wheat now? At the same time, why does this not mean simply ignoring the evil that we encounter? |
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Jesus was an extraordinary storyteller. Addressing the question, "If God is good, why is there evil in the world?", He used farming imagery (wheat and tares) to answer the question. This question has troubled mankind through the ages including the Jewish people who believed that the coming of the Messiah could eradicate evil and establish a pure and righteous kingdom. The parable of wheat and tares teaches several important lessons regarding evil and God’s kingdom.
1. The parable identifies who introduced evil into God’s creation (world) but not the source of it. The parable clearly states that what God created was good till Satan introduced evil. The origin of evil is a mystery. The Bible continues to state that Lucifer was created perfect till iniquity was found in him (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 28:12-17, Revelation 12:7-9).
2. The existence of evil is not the will of God. The enemy did it (Mattew 12:28). This was Satan’s deceptive work (James 1:13).
3. The devil (Satan uses deceptive means (tares). At the initial stage, tares look identical to wheat. The devil is cunning and deceptive, and he uses counterfeits (2 Corinthians 11:13-14). This calls for discernment. Not all that looks good is genuinely from God.
4. The Master (God) allowing wheat and tares to grow together until the harvest time is not indecisiveness. This reflects God’s justice and mercy (2 Peter 3:9). We are being admonished not to act immaturely and harshly against perceived evil but to exercise patience and follow God’s counsel.
5. The great conflict will ultimately be brought to an end where God’s justice and mercy will meet. This is our blessed hope and victory. Till then, let us look at the Cross of Calvary where God’s justice and mercy were demonstrated.
The enemy came at night (Matthew 13:25) and introduced seeds of evil while men and women were asleep. Why at night? Night represents spiritual darkness, spiritual vulnerability, and spiritual deception. Satan operates in a spiritual dark world (John 3:19-20). When we are in spiritual darkness, we are extremely vulnerable (1 Peter 5:8). At all times we ought to be in the light, the Word of God, "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path." - Psalm 119:105.
What are some things Satan, the enemy, can do and has done?
(1) Today's lesson shows that he sows weed seed, false doctrine, false worldviews, lies and doubt about God's true character. Tomorrow's lesson goes into that more...
Is there anything else Satan has done, and continues to do, to hurt humans, and thereby also hurt God?
(2) Satan can sow sickness and is behind dis-ease. Jesus said that the bent over woman was bound by Satan for 18 years (Luke 13:16). Another example of bodily harm is Paul's "thorn in the flesh", which he describes as "a messenger of Satan to harass me" (2 Cor. 12:7 NIV). Interestingly, in that same verse we see an example of how God used that evil done by Satan for Paul's own good "to keep me from being conceited". That's an example of Rom. 8:28 in action. Satan wanted to destroy Paul's faith with suffering and also with pride, because Paul had been given some amazing visions that no one else had been shown, but God designed to keep Paul from getting conceited... and Paul let God use the suffering to remind him of his very human weakness and dependence upon God, and to strengthen his faith over time (2 Cor. 12:8-10).
(3) Another Biblical example of what Satan can do to bruise the heel of God's seed (believers in Jesus) is that he sometimes throws them in prison (Rev. 2:10). This he does to hinder us from running with the "gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15). I'm thinking of John the Baptist, for example. Well, his gospel message was more fiery than peaceful, you could say (Matt. 3:7), but John pointed people to the gentle Lamb of God and Satan wanted that stopped so he used King Herod and Herodias to imprison John, and finally behead him (Mark 6:17-28)! He puts evil into the hearts of those who are not submitted to Jesus ....just as he also did with Judas Iscariot (John 13:2,27), one of Jesus' closest friends who betrayed Him into captivity and a type of imprisonment, death.
People under the control of Satan lie about Christians and betray Christians and reject Christians and do all sorts of things to bring suffering to us when we have resolved to follow Christ no matter what. However, again we can see God's providence working through this to show God's character. I'm thinking now of Paul and Silas, singing in chains in prison with bleeding wounds all over their bodies from the unjust whipping, and then after the earthquake they were more concerned about the jailer's salvation than they were about their own lives and comfort! (Acts 16:25-40). What a testimony of God's true self-sacrificing love.
So Satan can do terrible damage and cause tremendous suffering, but he is on a long leash held by our sovereign God. A leash with a choke collar for a now-evil creature and spiritual "top predator" (roaring lion) totally out of control. And we also can stop Satan in his tracks through Christ in us by being "sober, watchful, resisting, standing firm in the faith of Jesus with the worldwide community of believers" (1 Peter 5:8-9). The tares and wheat are to remain together in the world and in the Church, but God wants us to let Him remove the tares growing in our own heart soil right now. One way I can think of to do this is to pray for more faith to deeply digest and believe God's Word and promises, taking up the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God (Eph. 6:17), and thrusting that in Satan's face. Looks like in Wednesday's lesson we'll see this technique modeled by Jesus Himself.
In agrarian societies of Bible times, communities were dependent upon their crops for survival. An enemy would either wait until the new seed was planted then sow weed seeds among the crop seeds thus reducing the harvest. Another tactic enemies would use is to wait until just before harvest, then burn down the fields of the community.
Satan still uses these tactics in principle, by either sowing error into truth, or leading a person into outright sin and rebellion, thus negating the power and testimony of the individual or church community.
Protect the garden of your soul with prayer, Bible study, and witnessing. Fallow soil of the heart encourages "weeds and soil diseases" which will choke out the harvest.
To answer the lesson’s question, I believe the greatest danger for Christians in “seeking to uproot the tares” today is the temptation to become judgmental — deciding for ourselves what is good and right. We must remember that only God truly knows our hearts as He works out His will in our lives.
For me, a powerful illustration of this truth is the transformation of Saul into Paul. Saul was zealous in his desire to please God, yet his actions were ultimately misguided. It was only when God intervened, as recounted in Acts 9, that he was awakened to the Truth and underwent a profound change. He remained zeoulous in his work, though, through having seen the Light, he was able to change the ways to show it.
Do we really want to sit in the judgment seat, labeling one person’s acts as those of a “tear” and another’s as that of “wheat”? How could Saul, with all his fervent love for God, have so gravely misapplied his intentions? Was it not because the Holy Spirit needed to reach him and convert him to open his eyes to see the true consequences of his actions?
Reflecting on our own journey as Christians, haven’t all of us experienced the time when we acted like 'tares' in God’s field? The entire field - the whole earth - is in need of the husbandman’s care. Every soul waits for the time of harvest - one found to be 'wheat', the other as a 'tear' to then be uprooted.
Please explain the question
At the same time, why does this not mean simple ignoring the evil that we encounter?
One of the things I did when I read the parable was I looked up "tares" to see what they looked like. Most of the photos showed one of the ryegrass species which is similar but different to wheat. It takes a trained eye to be able to tell the difference consistently. I think the lessons from the parable are:
I think that there is a lot of advice about how we should treat those who we perceive as sinners, much of it summarised in the expression, "Be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves." To extend the metaphor a little. My lawn was infested with a weed we call Richardia. Getting rid of it took a lot of research before I ultimately found a successful strategy for managing it. Just ripping it out resulted in the loss of good lawn grass even when the difference is fairly obvious. We need to be very careful to follow God's best gardening practice when it comes to manage the mixture of saints and sinners we have in our church communities.
Thanks, Maurice. I hope other readers will follow your example of "looking up" details that help clarify Scripture.
The fact that tares looked nearly identical to the farmer's crop until the harvest - when differences became obvious - is crucial to interpreting the parable.
We cannot see the heart, which only God can read. Thus we are not at liberty to judge people's intentions or motives. But at "the harvest" the intentions of the heart are revealed - either for good or for evil. Paul appears to refer to such in 1 Cor. 4:5
Christ did not warn against uprooting weeds like thistles - weeds which are obviously different from the seed the farmer sowed. In the same way, open sin in the church needs to be dealt with when it is discovered, or the church will become demoralized. In fact, the story of Achan illustrates how God's blessings may be forfeited by not dealing with such sin. Paul also gave some pretty stern counsel on that topic. See 1 Cor. 5:4-5 and consult the whole chapter for context.
Evil can be outside and/or inside. To worry about what's outside we need first to address what's inside. The most difficult task is to see oneself. Let God/Love get rid of evil inside.