The Year of our Lord, Jesus Christ
Matthew 13:26
But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
A tare is an invasive and injurious plant that looks like wheat. If it brings forth fruit, it is not wheat. In the parable of the tares this plant is contrasted with wheat. The good seed is the Word of God. The wheat represents the saved. The tares represent the lost. The man who sows the seed is the Lord, the enemy is the devil. The kingdom of God is the realm of all Christendom (all denominations, para church organizations, and bodies… basically anything that calls itself Christian).
The tares grow up with the wheat, in many ways the tares look like the wheat, but the tares bring forth no wheat. While this parable is not about bringing forth fruit it must be remembered that God’s people are commissioned to go and bring forth fruit. Just as Jesus said in John 15:16: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: …
The one central purpose of this parable is to clearly state that now today, in the “Church Age,” there are both wheat plants and tares. Why then is anyone amazed at the reports of tares being tares? Today a tare may not be so easy to identify. But one day! Well, the Lord says it like this Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:30
It is no wonder then that the harvest is a fearful thing for the tare but cannot happen soon enough for the wheat. From now until then the tares and the wheat will grow together. This is the teaching of the parable of the tares.
Until Next Time,
William T. Howe, Ph.D.
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