Two important points in the Parable of the Wheat & Weeds should speak to us. First, remember where the weeds came from. Jesus clearly says the source of evil among us is Satan—the sower of the weed seeds. Too often in our misguided
efforts at purity we conclude that the source of evil is the people we think are weeds. Consequently we focus our energies and animosity on them, believing we can rid ourselves of evil if we just get rid of certain people.
A second important point is to note who the harvesters are and what their job is. Jesus says that the sorting out of weeds from wheat is a task for angels, not for servants. It seems to me the assumption of this task for ourselves is not only risky but is arrogant. In spite of how confident we are that we understand God’s will, if we are honest, we need to admit that we are not as perceptive as the angels of God. To say we know the mind of God to the extent that we can correctly judge another person’s relationship with God is to put God into a box of our construction—to use God to support our personal agenda.
Since pulling weeds is not our responsibility, is there anything we can do to keep the church pure? Yes. There is one area in which we have significant responsibility for the purity of the church, a place where all of us can contribute safely and effectively to church purity: our own lives. This is the only place where we are qualified to look for weeds and pull them out by the roots when we find them. When we open our lives to God, we are competent to recognize the evil within us that has been sown by the enemy while we were asleep or perhaps while we were busy trying to pull weeds elsewhere. Removing those weeds will, more than anything else, promote purity within the church. (DAVE MILLER)