Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” — Matthew 13:24-30, NASB

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. — Matthew 13:36-43, NASB

This parable appears only in Matthew and refers to God’s end time judgments. It is similar to the parable of the dragnet in that it illustrates separate fates for believers and nonbelievers, but uniquely focuses on the coexistence of believers and nonbelievers in the present world. Christ himself explains the analogy in verses 13:36-43 and this is one of the very few parables in which He does, underscoring the importance of its message.

Coexistence until judgment is the underlying theme. As the landowner restrains his workers from gathering up the tares when they first appear, therefore allowing them to grow up together before harvest, so God wills that the righteous and the wicked live together on the earth until the final judgments. Both are allowed to develop fully—fruitful or harmful according to their nature—before being gathered up. Judgment is reserved for the end of the age, and then only by God. Believers are not to condemn the unregenerate, but to set the proper example and spread the gospel.

It is notable that God has perfect knowledge of Satan’s attempt to sabotage the crop (“An enemy has done this!”). The sowing of tares among someone’s wheat for revenge was actually a fairly common occurrence at the time so it is unsurprising that the landowner would come quickly to that conclusion. In His infinite wisdom, God allows Satan—the constant enemy of believers—to influence the entire world and accuse God’s own before Him day and night.

The practical agricultural purpose in allowing both crops to finish growing becomes evident when “tares” is defined. Translated from the Greek zizania, the tares of the parable are generally held to be darnel, a type of weed that is indistinguishable from wheat in its early growth stages but more easily identified when fully mature. Aside from the difficulty in identifying and separating the two crops at an early juncture, weeding out the darnel would also uproot the wheat because the roots of each would be intertwined. For these reasons, cultivation before harvest is counterproductive.

Darnel produces no useful grain and is known to harbor the ergot fungus, making it toxic. It also hinders the growth of good crops and adversely affects their fruitfulness by infringing on available space and soil nutrients. The ungodly likewise are a stumbling block to true believers, yet God’s benevolence extends to both while they inhabit the earth; He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.

In the same way that immature wheat and darnel are indistinguishable, good and evil are not always apparent in the individual person. We can’t truly know someone else’s heart and it is not our place to make that determination. Through the parable Jesus reinforces that the believer’s focus is to be on spreading the gospel and reflecting God in our everyday life. It is up to God to judge humanity, and by His holy standard alone.

The parable and explanatory verses close with glimpses of the fates awaiting both saved and unsaved persons. The landowner’s barn, representing safety and preservation, is a metaphor for eternal fellowship with God. This is the reward and final destiny for all true believers.

In His explanation Jesus simply refers to Old Testament scripture (Psalm 37:6, Daniel 12:3) in describing the destiny of the righteous. He explains in greater detail however the condemnation and eternal punishment of the wicked, consistent with His tendency throughout the gospels to highlight the horrors of hell more often than the blessings of heaven.

Through the parable of the wheat and the tares, our Lord paints a clear and vivid picture of His judgment and the ultimate cost of the decisions we are led to make in this life. Certainly all should heed its warning, but many will fail to do so. In His infinite wisdom, God intends for believers and nonbelievers, good and evil, to coexist at this point in time, with all the challenges that that entails. The example of the darnel hindering the wheat by its presence in the same field should remind us of the thorny soil in the parable of the sower. Satan’s influence and the lure of this world surround the Christian, and it is imperative that believers take refuge in the promise of the gospel and remain vigilant in faith.

Image:
Webbe, William J. (1830-1904)