Matthew 13:28

Matthew 13:28, in plain English

An enemy did this, the master replies. The servants eagerly ask: should we go pull up the weeds right now?

Why it's here

Evil is real and it has a source -- the enemy. But the question of what to do about it right now is where things get interesting.

Who's speaking

The master and servants dialogue within the parable.

Where it sits in the story

The master identifies the problem -- an enemy. But when the servants want to fix it immediately, he surprises them with patience.

The scholarly reading

The master identifies the source: 'an enemy did this' (echthros anthropos touto epoiesen). The servants offer to remove the weeds, but the master's response will counsel patience.

Language and setting

The identification of an enemy as the source of evil within God's good creation provides a dualistic but subordinate explanation: evil exists through opposition, not through God's will, yet God remains sovereign over the outcome.

Voice

The master responds within the parable.

Significance

The master's answer is direct: an enemy is responsible. Evil did not originate with God but infiltrated through opposition. The servants' eagerness to uproot immediately must be restrained.

26When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.

27The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

28‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

29‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them.

30Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Read all of Matthew 13 — A farmer scatters seed, a woman hides yeast, a merchant finds a pearl. Jesus teaches in parables — and not everyone is meant to understand.