The Parable of the Weeds, Part 1

Scripture: Matthew 13:24-25

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 

Insights:  This second parable was an absolute must for the disciples after hearing the parable of the sower.  The reason is because the Old Testament prophets did not envision this mysterious church age and neither did the disciples.  They thought when the Messiah came He would devastatingly judge, punish, put out and destroy the evil individuals.  Jesus, however, just told them a parable that depicted three kinds of lost soil and one kind of good soil.  The disciples needed more understanding about this comingled kingdom.  It was from this foundation that Jesus spoke the second parable which is about judgment.  Jesus likens this mysterious kingdom age as to a man that sowed seed in HIS field.  He OWNED the field.  He was not renting it or borrowing it, he owned it.  This man also did not sow just mediocre or average seed, but good seed.  We also recognize this man’s wealth because he has a large crew of workers that helped him sow seed into the field.  These men were not lazy when the parable describes them a sleep.  Rather, they worked a hard day’s labor and deserved to rest for the night with sleep.  It is, however, while they are a sleep that the land owner’s enemy came in and sowed tares or weeds among the wheat.  The Greek expression used here is very strong in nature and implies that the enemy did not just sow a little bit of weeds, but literally sowed these weeds throughout the ENTIRE field.  There was not a single area of the field that had not been infected by this enemy’s evil activity of sowing weeds.  As I have stated before, I am no farmer and I most definitely do not understand agriculture, but what the commentaries tell me is that this particular weed is indistinguishable from the good seed until it has grown and the truth of its real condition is observed.  If one wanted to ruin his neighbor’s crop, this was definitely the way to do it.  It was also common enough that the Roman government had a law against it which prescribed a certain kind of punishment if one were caught sowing weeds in another man’s field.  We will finish the rest of the parable tomorrow and for the rest of the week unpack the explanation. 

Questions:

1. Are you encouraged to know the man in the parable OWNS the field?
2. Does your life bear the marks of good seed or tares?

Prayer: Father, the world is full of tares and we do have a vicious enemy.  In the midst of this great evil help me keep my eyes focused and centered on You.  You are my only hope.  Amen.