The Tares

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/yuzbam

My wife tells a story about when she was a young girl. Her father always had a good sized garden and he expected his two daughters to help with taking care of the garden. One day he sent my wife into the garden to weed a row of corn. Unfortunately, she pulled up the corn as well as the weeds.

Sometimes it may be difficult to tell the difference in a good plant and a weed. In the early stages of growth many plants look very similar. The same is true about the wheat plant and a plant called a tare.

The tare was a type of poisonous rye grass. When in the early stages of growth it would be virtually impossible to distinguish between wheat and tares. However, when the grass grows more it is evident that the plant is different from the wheat.

Today’s farmer spends money and time to help prevent weeds and grasses from growing in his crop. Not only will the foreign plants compete for the nutrients of the soil, but when it is harvest time the foreign plants will complicate the process of gathering a clean crop. To make matters worse since both plants are growing simultaneously, their roots are entwined. You can’t pull out the tares without also pulling up the wheat.

Jesus tells a parable about the wheat and tares in Matthew 13:24-30.

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who 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 grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, 'Do you want us then to go and gather them up?' But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

No one purposely includes weeds with their good seeds. God wants everyone in the world to be good, but not everyone will be. Life continues and good coexists with evil. But one day this world will cease to exist and the good and evil of the world will be separated. Jesus provides the explanation of this parable in verses 36-43.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 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!”

The enemy that sowed the tares was the devil, the evil or wicked one. Evil takes root in the lives of many people. But the devil doesn’t have to be around to encourage or nurture it. Evil just keeps on growing. In this parable, Jesus says that the tares were sown and then the evil one went on his way.

When the plants are young you can’t tell the difference between wheat and tares. Likewise, there are also many things in common between the saved and the lost of this world. There are certain amounts of good in all of us. Many people are moral, upright and law-abiding citizens.

But not all are saved. Not all will be obedient to God’s word. And although we can’t eradicate evil in the present world there will be a separation eventually. Paul tells us in Romans 14:12, “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

One day all evil will be punished. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly think that if God doesn’t punish them right away that they are ok. If they do not change, they will be like the tares that grow fully until harvest and then are burned.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we realize that while we are incapable of fully judging the hearts and intents of one another, God is capable and will judge each of us.

Our thought for the day: “Evil does not disappear merely by being ignored.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.