The Tares Of The Field

The Tares of the Field

Mat 13:24-30, 36-43

As I was reading through the parable we’re dealing with today, a very well-known passage of scripture came to mind. Gen 1:1-2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. When the creation story came to mind, something began to stir within, the beginnings of a notion or spiritual enlightenment began to flicker. In the beginning God created the world, right? On the first day He brought forth light. The second day He brought forth the expanse which separated the waters above from the waters below.

On the third day He assigned boundaries to the waters below the heavens and brought forth dry land. He also brought forth plant life such as grass, fruit bearing plants and trees. The fourth day the heavens were filled with stars, constellations and our own Sun and moon. On the fifth day, living creatures came forth. The beasts of the earth, the skies, and the seas.

Now up to this point, each day that God looked upon His handiwork, He let it be known that “It was good.” Everything that God creates is good! But when we get to the sixth day and the creation of man in His own image, this day’s creation wasn’t simply “good”, it was “very good!”

Very good! Life was abundant, man and woman walked and talked with God in their garden home. There was no death. There was no hatred. There was no sin or evil in the world. All was good until the serpent entered the picture and questioned God’s word, “Yea hath God said?” and it was at that point that the downward turn of man began. The evil one deceived us and we died.

Now the light bulb moment I had is that the creation story and the subsequent growth and spreading of mankind throughout the earth lines up very well with the Lord’s parable of the Wheat and the Tares. You see, what God created was good, but then the enemy came and through stealth and deception spread discord and corruption. Just before man was driven from the garden the Lord emphasized the enormity the situation when He said to the serpent Gen 3:15 …I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."

To the woman He said Gen 3:16 …"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, in pain you will bring forth children; yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

And then finally, to the man He said Gen 3:17-19 …"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. (18) "Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; (19) By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Cursed ground, thorns and thistles, sweat of our face, toil and labor all our life, does any of that sound familiar in connection with both last week and this week’s parables? And then, after our parents were driven from the garden, mankind began to multiply on the earth, and two specific lines of humanity began to take shape, and those lines grew and expanded to this very day. Two lines of man, beginning with Adam and Eve and the children they produced one of which we call the godly line of Seth and the other is the ungodly line of Cain, and from those two men came all that we have today.

Now if you will, turn in your bibles to the gospel of Matthew, chapter 13. We’ll read verses 24-30 and then we’ll jump down to 36-43 where I’m hoping you’ll be able to see the connection I’m making. Or if you wish, you can just follow along with me the projection.

Mat 13:24-30 Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. (25) "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. (26) "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. (27) "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?' (28) "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?' (29) "But he *said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. (30) 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the 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."'"