Who's Who

Matt. 13:24-30

Who’s Who

In the thirteenth chapter of Matt, Jesus gives no less than eight parables. In these earthly stories with heavenly meanings, Jesus speaks about God’s plan of salvation, the work of Satan, the fickle nature of the human heart and the greatness of the Kingdom of Heaven. After Jesus had finished telling the first four Parables, the disciples came to him to ask him a question look at what verse 36 (read vs. 36). They did not ask about the sower, the soils or the seed; they did not ask about the mustard seed or the leaven. When they asked Jesus to explain a parable, they asked about they one that is the focus of our attention this evening; the parable of the wheat and the tare. Why did they choose this one over all the others? Why were they so concerned with the wheat and the tare? Well the Bible does not tell us why. Nevertheless, I am going to use my spiritual imagination tonight. My guess is that this parable contained some elements that really troubled these 12 men. There was something about this parable that really rubbed them the wrong way. In addition, I want to be honest, even when I read the parable it bothered me also. By way of introduction, let us examine this parable by using Christ’s own explanation of it, and notice some reasons why this parable, of all the eight he told that day, caught the attention of the disciples.

A farmer plants a wheat field. He uses good seed and plants the crop expecting a good harvest. However, while he and his servants slept, his enemy entered his field and planted tares among the wheat. What are tares? The word tare in its original Greek language is Zizanion, and is translated in the modern English language Bearded Darnel. The definition of Bearded darnel is, troublesome weed. So what the enemy did was crept into a good field with good soil where good seed had been planted, and installed some tare. It never ceases to amaze me how the devil can come into a good city, and find a good church with good Christians and place in there a chaotic choir member, or a messy missionary, a devilish deacon and even at times a punkish or pimpish preacher. The enemy crept in the field with the mindset to destroy the crop. Now you have to understand that in the early stages of its development tare looks exactly like wheat. And the wheat looks just like the tare. It is only when the plant have matured and the kernels have formed in the head of the genuine wheat plant can you tell one from the other. The bottom line is that the wheat bares fruit in the head while the tare only contains little black seeds in the head that only produces more tares. I heard Dr. Forrest E. Harris preach a excellent sermon during our convocation. In this sermon he said that the students were nothing more than just weed. I think I would have to disagree with him right, you see I am still in my early stages. I haven’t really matured yet; the growth process has just begun with in me. But give me a little time, allow me to get a degree under my belt, let me read a few more books, let me get some credit hours toward my masters, and you will soon see Dr. Harris I to bare fruit. The bible says count nothing before it’s time. I know it looks like I’m the class clown, but just give me some time I am still growing, I know it looks like I am not allowing my self to be theologically challenged but just give me some time I am still growing. I know it looks like I run with the wrong crew but just give me and my crew some time we are still growing. In the words of Steve Harvey God aint through with us yet. So, the field looks good, the farmer is getting excited about harvesting a bumper crop. It seems that there is more wheat growing than he expected. However, as the harvest grew nearer, it became apparent that there was some tare among the wheat. The servants discover the tares and come in to tell the master about the problem. You see, they were able to tell the difference because as the wheat develops, and the kernels grow inside the head of the wheat, the weight of the kernels causes the wheat head to bend, they appear to be bowing toward the earth. But because the tare has no substance in its head they stand straight up. The servants see the problem and offer to pull the tare up. The master knows that if they pull the tare up they will also take the risk of pulling up some wheat, because the root of the tare has intertwined with the roots of the wheat. He gives this counsel, let them grow together until harvest then he will send in the reapers and gather up the dried out tare and then burn them, but when he returns he will gather the wheat and store it in the barn.