I think it is interesting that the man tells his servants not to pick out the weeds until the harvest and think this is an interesting topic to put into modern day realities.
Can you expand on this? I'm interested to see how you view it relating to present day realities.
And I agree it does!
I struggle with this to some degree because in a field the wheat is always wheat and the weeds are always weeds. Is this true in life too? If the weeds and wheat represent people (and maybe I have that totally wrong) is it not possible for good to become bad and vice versa?
There are debates about what the wheat and weeds represent:
- believers and non-believers in the church community
- the kingdom of God in the midst of an evil world
- the mixture of good and evil in each one of us
I think its talking about number two - reminding us that we shouldn't be surprised if evil continues in the world until the final judgement even when God's kingdom is present. But it does remind us that judgement will come.
And it isn't saying anything about whether people can move from one "camp" to another - that isn't the focus of the parable. And parables in general say the things they are intended to say and leave some questions untouched - and I think this is one of them
I think the issue this parable is addressing is about false teachers (maybe false believers too?) And how such people are part of the world but we need to distinguish these people from those who are true teachers. It is up to us to work out who we need to listen to and 'follow'. But I may be totally on the wrong track!
I think the issue this parable is addressing is about false teachers (maybe false believers too?) And how such people are part of the world but we need to distinguish these people from those who are true teachers. It is up to us to work out who we need to listen to and 'follow'. But I may be totally on the wrong track!
I think the issue this parable is addressing is about false teachers (maybe false believers too?) And how such people are part of the world but we need to distinguish these people from those who are true teachers. It is up to us to work out who we need to listen to and 'follow'. But I may be totally on the wrong track!
Fascinating. I haven't heard that expressed before about this parable - although there are warnings elsewhere (Matt 7:15-20) about false prophets / teachers and being on our guard to recognise them - so would be very interested if you could expand on your thinking here.
