The Wheat and the Tares

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.


Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire;  so shall it be in the end of this world.

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Classification: The church of the future - the mingling within it of good and evil, the final judgment.

Narrative: Wikipedia: "The word translated 'tares' in the King James Version is zizania, plural of zizanion. This word is thought to mean darnel, a ryegrass which looks much like wheat in its early stages of growth. Roman law prohibited sowing darnel among the wheat of an enemy, suggesting that the scenario presented here is realistic."

Interpretation: The one who sows the good seed - The Savior
The Field - the World
The good seed - children of God
The Tares - children of the adversary
The enemy - the devil
the Harvest - End of the World
Reapers - Angels of God

Application: Because this parable has been around for so long, and has been a popular parable, it has had many applications over the years. A quote from St. Augustine states, "O you Christians, whose lives are good, you sigh and groan as being few among many, few among very many. The winter will pass away, the summer will come; lo! The harvest will soon be here. The angels will come who can make the separation, and who cannot make mistakes...I tell you of a truth, my Beloved, even in these high seats there is both wheat and tares, and among the laity there is wheat and tares. Let the good tolerate the bad; let the bad change themselves, and imitate the good. Let us all, if it may be so, attain to God; let us all through His mercy escape the evil of this world. Let us seek after good days, for we are now in evil days; but in the evil days let us not blaspheme, that so we may be able to arrive at the good days."

Many early Christian leaders pointed out who they thought were wheat and who they thought were tares(self righteously assuming, of course, that they were wheat) but didn't do anything about it because they were sure that the angels would soon come and burn the tares. This path was not taken by all leaders, however. Some took it upon themselves to burn the tares known as heretics or unbelievers. Martin Luther gave a great sermon about this. He said, "From this observe what raging and furious people we have been these many years, in that we desired to force others to believe; The Turks with the sword, heretics with fire, the Jews with death, and thus outroot the tares by our own power, as if we were the ones who could reign over hearts and spirits, and make them pious and right, which God's words alone must do. But by murder we separate the people from the Word, so that it cannot possibly work upon them and we bring thus, with one stroke a double murder upon ourselves, as far as it lies in our power, namely, in that we murder the body for time and the soul for eternity, and afterwards say we did God a service by our actions, and wish to merit something special in heaven."

The application for this parable remains the same now as it did on the day Jesus spoke these words. It is not our job to root out the tares! It is not for us to decide who is wheat and who is weed. As the kindergarten teacher would say to the tattling child, "You worry about you." Our job is to do all we can to make sure we are trying to be wheat. Our job is to help those around us and those within our stewardship do all they can to be wheat. Let the Lord and His angels take care of the tares. The best part of this parable is that if we feel that we are being tares we can change and become wheat. In yesterday morning's session Elder Ulisses Soares stated, "Christ faced extreme physical and spiritual suffering, giving us the opportunity to change our spiritual character and become like Him. I bear my witness that Jesus Christ is our Savior. I testify to you that thanks to His love it is possible to change. It is possible to leave our weaknesses behind. It is possible to reject the evil influences in our lives, control our anger, become meek, and develop the attributes of our Savior. He showed us the way. He gave us the perfect example and commanded to each one of us to become as He is. His invitation to us is to follow Him, follow His example, and become like Him."

The enemy sowing seeds circa 1540