The Wheat And Tares

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

One despair of a serious gardener is to find weeds growing side by side with their plants.  The gardener hates to go out and view their beautiful flowers and find an ugly weed poking up!  The same with the nice rows of carrots and peas, and there in the midst is a string of weeds.  I’m not much of a gardener, and occasionally it can be difficult to tell weeds from a good plant, especially when they first come up through the ground.  We have to be very careful to not mistakenly pull a good plant when going after those weeds!  In our Scripture passage today from the Gospel of Matthew, we read a parable that Jesus told about good plants and weeds.  Let’s take a look at the lesson that He wishes to teach His followers.

The parable begins with a farmer having planted wheat in his garden.  However, overnight an enemy comes in and plants a bunch of tares or weeds in among the good plants (vs. 24-25).  As the plants grow, the farmhands notice that there are tares in among the good grains of wheat, and they ask the farmer if he wants them to pull them out (vs. 26-28).  The farmer instructs his help to hold off pulling out the tares until it is time to harvest the crop, as he didn’t want any of the good wheat to accidentally get pulled out in the process of ridding the field of the tares (vs. 29-30).

After the crowds left, Jesus tells His disciples the meaning of this parable.  The good wheat represents Christians, those who have accepted Jesus as Savior and are following Him.  The tares are unbelievers.  What is a “tare”?  Tares were the plant “darnel”, which looks very similar to wheat until both plants are fully mature.  Jesus is telling us here that sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a true Christian and someone who might be posing as a Christian, but is really an unbeliever.  Frequently we can tell a weed from a good plant right away, and often we can spot an unbeliever right away, too, just by the way they act.  However, that isn’t always the case.  A weed can look quite similar to a good plant for quite awhile, and sometimes some people may look and act “Christian”, but really are not.

Satan tries to deceive the church by mingling his followers with believers, and sometimes it is difficult to spot them.  The devil actively sows his followers in the church.  In churches today there are both true believers and the unsaved, who pose as true believers. They may be spreading dissension, spreading subtle false doctrine among the believers.  However, God is intent on preserving His people until the harvest, and He will make the separation (vs. 40-43).

Satan’s purposes are always to damage and destroy God’s purposes, just like the weeds overpower the good plants, robbing them of nutrients, water, and sunlight.  As believers we need to be on the lookout for these “tares” in the church. The weeds try to get believers to follow their errors, and we should be aware and prepared, checking every teaching with Scripture.  We are instructed, though, not to weed them out ourselves, as it is often difficult to really spot the tare.  There are weak believers, who might look like a “tare”, but are still a true “plant of wheat”.  God knows their heart.  True converts and believers produce fruitful lives.  If there is no fruit, there is no true root.  There are pretenders in the Body of Christ.  We must not let them influence our faith.  Instead, we should be influencing theirs.

Weeds (the unbelievers) and wheat (the believers) must live side by side in this world.  God allows the unbelievers to remain in the world for a while.  At the harvest time, when Jesus returns, the tares will all be uprooted and thrown away into the furnace of fire (vs. 41-43).  God’s Day of Judgment is coming.  On that day there will be sorrow, there will be pain, but it will be too late for them.  Be ready for that day by making sure your faith is sincere.