The Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares

Matthew 13:24-30 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The landowner’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’ “ ‘An enemy did this!’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and gather them up?’ the slaves asked him. “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you gather up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but store the wheat in my barn. ’ ”

This passage is known as the Parable of the wheat and the weeds (or tares). Remember that in a parable Jesus is using common everyday things as an illustration of a spiritual truth. Here He said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed wheat seeds in his field, but his enemy came and sowed weeds there also. The weed that is referred to here is a tare which is also known as darnel wheat . Darnel wheat is a weed that looks like wheat; it has the same kind of stalk, it is the same color, but it doesn't produce any fruit. Jesus is telling us that in the kingdom of heaven there will be those who appear to be genuine wheat that came from good seed, but at the end of the day they don't produce any fruit. They are just weeds and they will be thrown into the fire and burned.

Jesus explains this parable to His disciples (and to us) in verses 36-43. Here He tells us that He is the one who sows the seed, and the world is the field. He tells us that the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the devil. He tells us that the harvest is the end of the age and that when the reapers gather the wheat they will separate the good from the bad and all those who practice sin will be thrown into the fire and burned, but those who are righteous will shine like the sun in the Fathers kingdom.

So what is this teaching us? One thing it teaches us is that Satan cannot uproot the true Christians, so he plants false Christians in the church in order to try and choke them out. Unlike the parable of the soils where the seed represented the word of God, here the seed represents people. Good seed represents those who have chosen to follow Christ, and the bad seed those who follow sin. Jesus sows His children in the world so that they can bear fruit, but satan also sows his children in the world to stop them. Jesus is telling us that we need to be aware that not all Christians are what they appear to be, some are tares. Jesus is warning us that they are among us, but remember back to Matthew chapter seven - Jesus told us that we can recognize them by their fruit (Matthew 7:20).

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