Tares Among Us

 

“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.” ’ ”” Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭24‬-‭30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I cried when I read this. I cried because I thought the field is quite obviously the church. I saw the Christ followers as the wheat. And the heretics, false teachers, and deceivers seemed to be the tares in this parable.

I did not know what tares were, based on the context I assumed they were some type of weed. Bible Study Tools .com has this to say of "tares" here:

"Easton's Bible Dictionary - Tares

Tares [N] [S] the bearded darnel, mentioned only in Matthew 13:25-30 . It is the Lolium temulentum, a species of rye-grass, the seeds of which are a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest resemblance to wheat till the ear appears, and only then the difference is discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and Palestine."

Here is a link to the whole article - it's gives multiple views / definitions of what tares are, and explains why they are so dangerous to the wheat crop. They initially look like the wheat!

https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/tares/ 

In Matthew 13:36-43 Jesus explains the parable of the tares to His disciples. I cried some more. Jesus says the field is the world - I had thought it was the church when I first read the parable. Why am I crying? It is clear that the tares of the world have infiltrated the church. After studying the Book of Jude last week, I feel like this parable hits harder. Jesus warned over and over that we must watch for the enemy among us, that we must protect our hearts from the false teachings the deceivers are spouting, and we must be on guard at all times for the devil is prowling around waiting to devour us.

As we come to understand the surface can initially appear the same in the sons and daughters of God as it does in the sons and daughters of the enemy, then we also come to understand why Jesus tells this parable. In order that we, God's people, should be allowed to keep growing, the weeds have to also be allowed to grow. The reason it is so important for us to be rooted in Christ - to be rooted in His true Word - is because there are tares among us, trying to poison our souls. This is sad but it also contains hope.

The hope we have, as believers in Christ, as heirs to the kingdom of heaven, is that we will be harvested by our Father when the time is right. Our Father sees us, sees the enemy among us. He is caring for us as we battle to maintain our roots in God's holy Word. He sees us as we strive to grow among the weeds that hope to choke out our faith progress. He is with us as we fight for our spiritual lives amidst a world that hopes to steal our souls away from our Father. 

This is why the Old Testament and the New Testament both hold many reminders from God that He is always with us, that He will never leave us. Likewise, He reminds us in His Word that He is a God who is faithful, just, and who keeps His promises! I'm not sure about you, but I know there are people in my life that I have let down. There are also people who have let me down. None of us are perfect. We have all fallen short. But God!! God is gracious and merciful. Christ has saved us from our dreadful fate! Jesus is the perfect Lamb of God Who ultimately shows us that truly God's Word is true, is good, and is perfect.

So, the enemy can sow his tares. The tares can infiltrate our towns, our schools, and even our churches. But the enemy cannot win - because Christ already defeated him. Hold fast to this hope and this truth! 

To God be all the glory, forever and ever.