Wheat and Tares and Church Discipline

Matthew 13:24-30 (ESV)
He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, [25] but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. [26] So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. [27] And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?' [28] He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' [29] But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. [30] Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.' "

This is the toughest of parables, well perhaps not the toughest. But it is one ignored. The Reformed see church discipline as a mark of the church. A church that isn’t excommunicating isn’t a church. Lutherans don’t see church discipline as a mark of the church, but we rightly have it. (We replace this with infighting as a mark of the church. O.K. not really but sometimes you get that impression.)
Church discipline is a tough one. And this parable is tackling the issue. Saints and sinners are going to coexist in the church. The saints being sinners themselves this should be fairly obvious. But we like to signal out special sins. Perhaps there always has to be a bit of discipline. Paul advocates some in 1 Corinthians. Yet it should never be a witch hunt. The pastor must warn where he hears of open and manifest sin. But you can’t root up the weeds without taking out the wheat.
It is inevitable. Yet gentle pasturing and correction can turn weeds into wheat, just as aggressive discipline can turn the wheat into weeds. The pastor’s aren’t supposed to be hall monitors, they are to preach the gospel, to gently correct where it needs to be done.
On the wider surface, perhaps this was why Lutheran’s were so hesitant to break with Rome. There is a tendency today in Lutheran circles to breed a separatist spirit. At the drop of the hat, at the first sign that there may be something not quite right, people want to break away and form their own synods. We find it in conservative as well as liberal. It boggles my mind as it seems with as many Lutheran synods out there, there has to be one that you can find enough agreement with to join. But this spirit isn’t right. You can disagree with brothers on a good many things without having to break fellowship with them all together, even with brother pastors there is reason for gentle correction (I should take my own medicine there.) Where there is agreement on the gospel and sacraments there is enough for unity.
This isn’t to say we don’t need to aggressively pursue doctrinal purity. We must! But there is a spirit of gentleness and charity with which this should be pursued. It takes time. It takes perhaps even heated debate, but it takes most of all, patience and teaching, and a willingness to be corrected even as you are willing to correct. For it is when pastors split from pastors, when pastors fight with pastors, that the wheat and the weeds both get trampled, even as they grow together in the church.