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One might think that the community associated with Jesus would be marked by continual love, kindness, mercy, joy and so on. In reality, we discover that there is lots of evil within the church. Why is this? One answer, to be sure, is that there is a lot of evil still in those who are Christians – we are in the process of sanctification, we haven’t arrived. But in this parable, Jesus offers a further answer. The enemy of God sprinkles his own captives into the midst of the church, who early on are indistinguishable from true followers, and who integrate themselves into the church so well that to expel them would be to cause great hurt among the people. We are to endure them patiently, until Christ sifts them out on Judgment Day.
