Biblical meaning for they need to be uprooted?

Answer 1

Matthew 15:12-14 - Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." [NKJV]

The Pharisees were offended because Jesus had just condemned their hypocrisy in verses 3-9; specifically, that they had no problem setting aside the commandments of God in favor of their own traditions.

It is these traditions, or "commandments of men," that Jesus figuratively likens to a "plant which My heavenly Father has not planted."

Notice that Jesus didn't say they "need to be uprooted;" He said they "will be uprooted."

God sees "traditionalism" the same way a good gardener sees a weed; useless, unproductive, and harmful to the intended crop - fit only to be rooted up and destroyed. This stands as dire warning to those who would displace commandment with tradition.

A similar teaching (in more literal terms) is found in Christ's explanation of the parable of the "wheat and the tares" in Matthew 13:40-43:

"Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

[Quotes from NKJV]