The Gospel and the Kingdom - Matthew - The Parable of the Wheat and Tares

 

TEXT: Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43– Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵ but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶ But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷ 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?’ ²⁸ 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?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ 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.” ’ ”

³⁶Then 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.” ³⁷ He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰ Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. ⁴¹ 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, ⁴² and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

We considered the Parable of the Sower and the Seed yesterday, today we will consider a similar Parable – The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. We will use the same format as we did yesterday, so -

Let us start by considering the information in this parable.

• ·      The diligence of a sower – (verse 24) – the farmer sows good seed throughout the field.
• ·      The discovery by the sower – (verses 25-28) – he learns his enemy later secretly visited the field and sowed tares (a kind of darnel, resembling wheat except the grains are black) among his wheat.
• ·      The dilemma of the sower – (verse 29) – He knows that if he attempts to pull out the tares, he will also harm the wheat.
• ·      The decision of the sower – (verse 30) – he will wait until harvest time, when he will sort out the tares from the wheat and burn them.

And we conclude this study by considering the interpretation of this parable.

• ·      The sower is Christ (verses 36-37).
• ·      The enemy is the Devil (verse 39a)
• ·      The field is the world (verse 38a)
• ·      The good seed is the believers (verse 38b)
• ·      The tares are unbelievers (verse 38c)
• ·      The harvest is the end of the age (verse 39b)
• ·      The reapers are the angels (verses 39c-41)
• ·      The granary is heaven (verse 43)
• ·      The furnace is hell (verse 42).

Our study yesterday and today leads to two important questions –

1. What kind of soil are you? 
2. Also, are you a wheat or a tare?

From these two lessons, I hope that we have learned that we are commissioned to sow the seed – freely and everywhere. However, we sow the seed, but we have no control over the soils that it lands on. We do the sharing – He does the saving.