God in Sandals: Transformational Encounters With the Word Made FleshMinta

The Wheat and the Tares

In a second parable on sowing, an enemy came and sowed tares* while the farmer and his men were sleeping (Matt. 13:24–30). What measures can we take, if any, to prevent bad seed being sown along with the good? Why are tares difficult to detect? What solution did the landowner suggest?

Tares look just like wheat. Only at the time of harvest, because of their fruit, can one be distinguished from the other. Similarly, in the church, there are people who seem to be committed Christians. When it comes to evaluating their commitment, we should not judge them by their words.

Just like those who lived during Isaiah’s lifetime, it is easy to honor the Lord with our words while our hearts are slipping further and further from Him (Isa. 29:13). We should rather pay attention to people’s attitudes and behavior, which speak of the nature of the heart.

In the parable, an enemy came and planted tares during the night while the workers were resting. If the men had guarded the field all night, they could have prevented the intruder’s meddling, but realistically, no farmer can spend his life guarding his land.

The fact is that in every Christian group, there are people who have been planted by the Enemy. The apostle John warned the early believers that some who had departed the church “were not really of us” (1 John 2:19) to help them understand that such occurrences were normal.

Part of each disciple’s training includes dealing not only with the opposition that comes from outside the church but also that which arises from within. Christ lived with Judas; Paul also learned to deal with betrayal from some who were close to him in ministry.

When the farm workers saw the tares among the wheat, they went to the owner with a suggestion: “Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?” (Matt. 13:28). This is an important question, for we need to know if we are supposed to denounce whatever we believe to be impure and unworthy within the body of Christ.

But the landowner tells them not to do this: “For while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them” (13:29). The fact is that the tare roots intermingle with those of the wheat, and it is impossible to remove one plant without damaging the other.

In the same way, our zeal to keep the church holy and pure may cause us to hurt the very people we want to protect. There is a time designated for dealing with the tares, reserved for the reapers.

Meanwhile, we are called to live in holiness so that the devil can accuse us of nothing. Thus, our testimony should shame the tares. May our best contribution be always to show “a still more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31).

* A tare is “an injurious weed resembling wheat when young” (Oxford Languages).