Tares in the Field

Matthew 13: 24-30 (NASB) Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 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?’ 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?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.  Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of 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.”’”

There has been known to be contention between pastors and myself over this passage. Pastors look at this passage with the compassion of a pastor and say, “Who knows, the tare may become a grain of wheat.” Or “The passage says, ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest.’” Very valid points, especially from a pastor’s point of hope. Pastors wish for all to come to Christ, it’s what’s in their hearts. And before you jump to the conclusion that I don’t want all to come to Christ let me explain what I’m trying to say.

Jesus explained the parable of the tares to His disciples when they were alone. He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 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.” Too often pastors see the field as their church body and not as the whole world. A pastor’s world becomes quite finite. It consists almost completely of his congregation and their connections. That is the pastor’s world. But in spiritual reality the church is not the world at all. They are those who have left the world behind them. They are separate from each other.

Here in Nebraska there is a lot of farmland. Where we live, corn is king. Every early summer as you drive past the fields you see the little rows of corn coming through the soil and you think “Ah, summer at last.” But you can also spot the weeds (our tares). They are quite large already and quite ugly. The main problem with our weeds is that they choke out the young corn that are near them. Once the rows of corn are established the weeds are hard to see until harvest where they are left exposed for all to again see. It is the young corn that concerns me. Weeds will destroy the young crop if they get too close to each other.

Here is our spiritual comparison. We must keep the new believers away from the weeds. It is a natural function of life for weeds to destroy young plants. When we allow weeds to join our church because we think we can change them, we endanger our new believers. We are too lax in our protection of those who need it. We always think we can influence the corrupt but it is the corrupt that influences us. The World and the Spirit are completely different from each other. Let’s keep it that way!