The Wheat and the Tares
Matt 13:24-30 & 36-43:
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also. The servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.’ “
Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field." He answered them, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it 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 cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus Himself explains what this parable means, so I am going to simply comment on some different points.
Satan has sown his weeds among the wheat It is called ‘tares’, but the more technical term is ‘darnel’, which is why it is described as such in this version (NAS). Darnel looks just like wheat while it is growing, up until it bares fruit, IE: comes to seed. Now the wheat in this parable are Christians. Note that the darnel did not “appear” until it came to bring forth fruit. It LOOKS just like the wheat. While everything was growing side by side, it looked like everything was going fine at first. These would be people who look like Christians, act like Christians, possibly even “talk” like Christians. However, when they come to “bear fruit”, they are markedly NOT Christians. The bible says we shall know a person by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-23) – “fruits” being the results of their actions, and not necessarily the words that come out of their mouths.
Note also that satan has sown his weeds among the wheat – the greek would imply sown right over what was previously sown. The implication is that the weeds are intermingled with the wheat. Make note that these “weeds” do not choke out the Christian as the weeds did in the previous parable of the sown seeds. They simply grow alongside. So now we have something that looks Christian, acts Christian, but it is NOT Christian. And to top it off, it is so intermixed, that it cannot be removed without damaging the ‘real’ Christians. When the servants ask if they should pull up the weeds, Jesus says not to for fear that you may root up the wheat with them. In trying to “weed out” the fakes, we may, in fact, cause damage to a true believer, either directly by “pulling them out” by accident, or indirectly by tearing up the true believers “roots” as we uproot the weeds. And any plant, when uprooted, dies no matter what the reason for being uprooted.
Then we come to “harvest time”. Both types of people have “ripened” to their fullness, either to salvation or to damnation, but it is not up to us to determine that. The reapers at this time will pull up the weeds first, and they will be cast into the fire. Note that Jesus is not concerned at this point about pulling up the wheat because the wheat is pulled up right away anyway. The wheat, however, is brought into His “barn”, that is, heaven. There is an implication that the weeds will be cast into the fire before the wheat is brought into the barn, thus giving the “wheat” an opportunity to witness the end of the wicked. After this, the righteous will “shine forth”. The language used implies a “bursting forth” of light, so to speak. It is as if the presence of “imposters” has been hindering the light that would have otherwise been shining even more brightly all this time.
He set another parable before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also. The servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?' He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, ‘First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.’ “
Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field." He answered them, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it 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 cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Jesus Himself explains what this parable means, so I am going to simply comment on some different points.
Satan has sown his weeds among the wheat It is called ‘tares’, but the more technical term is ‘darnel’, which is why it is described as such in this version (NAS). Darnel looks just like wheat while it is growing, up until it bares fruit, IE: comes to seed. Now the wheat in this parable are Christians. Note that the darnel did not “appear” until it came to bring forth fruit. It LOOKS just like the wheat. While everything was growing side by side, it looked like everything was going fine at first. These would be people who look like Christians, act like Christians, possibly even “talk” like Christians. However, when they come to “bear fruit”, they are markedly NOT Christians. The bible says we shall know a person by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-23) – “fruits” being the results of their actions, and not necessarily the words that come out of their mouths.
Note also that satan has sown his weeds among the wheat – the greek would imply sown right over what was previously sown. The implication is that the weeds are intermingled with the wheat. Make note that these “weeds” do not choke out the Christian as the weeds did in the previous parable of the sown seeds. They simply grow alongside. So now we have something that looks Christian, acts Christian, but it is NOT Christian. And to top it off, it is so intermixed, that it cannot be removed without damaging the ‘real’ Christians. When the servants ask if they should pull up the weeds, Jesus says not to for fear that you may root up the wheat with them. In trying to “weed out” the fakes, we may, in fact, cause damage to a true believer, either directly by “pulling them out” by accident, or indirectly by tearing up the true believers “roots” as we uproot the weeds. And any plant, when uprooted, dies no matter what the reason for being uprooted.
Then we come to “harvest time”. Both types of people have “ripened” to their fullness, either to salvation or to damnation, but it is not up to us to determine that. The reapers at this time will pull up the weeds first, and they will be cast into the fire. Note that Jesus is not concerned at this point about pulling up the wheat because the wheat is pulled up right away anyway. The wheat, however, is brought into His “barn”, that is, heaven. There is an implication that the weeds will be cast into the fire before the wheat is brought into the barn, thus giving the “wheat” an opportunity to witness the end of the wicked. After this, the righteous will “shine forth”. The language used implies a “bursting forth” of light, so to speak. It is as if the presence of “imposters” has been hindering the light that would have otherwise been shining even more brightly all this time.
posted by MarkD at 12:53 PM
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