WWUTT 2021 The Parable of the Tares and Wheat (Matthew 13:24-43)

Sometimes when Jesus gives a parable, he gives a very clear definition of that parable. We know exactly what he was talking about. But other times when he speaks in a parable, we might have to do a little work to discern the meaning when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it. Visit our website at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

The Parable of the Tares Among the Wheat

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel of Matthew, we've been in the parables of Jesus. So we continue in Matthew chapter 13 today with the parable of the tares among the wheat. I'm going to begin reading in verse 24 and go through verse 43 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. He 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, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.

But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came to him and said, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?

And he said to them, an enemy has done this. The slave said to him, do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said, no, for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

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 and burn them up, but gather the wheat into my barn.

He presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.

He spoke another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three Seda of flour until it was all leavened. All these things, Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables and he was not speaking to them without a parable so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled saying, I will open my mouth in parables.

I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world. Then he left the crowds and went into the house and his disciples came to him and said, explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.

And he answered and said, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man and the field is the world. And as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom and the tares are the sons of the evil one.

And the enemy who sowed them is the devil and the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

The son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom, all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and we'll throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. So I read that far because we have the parable of the wheat and the tares. Then of course, there's a couple of parables in between that and where Jesus gives the explanation of the parable of the tares.

So I went ahead and read through verse 43, but we look at this particular parable and this is a new parable. So what we had just finished up reading was the parable of the sower. That had started in verse one and had gone through verse 23.

And once again, there you have Jesus giving the parable and then he talks with his disciples about the purpose of the parables and then he gives the explanation of that parable. So we have those kind of bookends here as well with the parable of the tares.

Now in the parable of the sower, the seed that was sown represented the message of the kingdom. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, notice that the seed represents something different. It doesn't represent the message of the kingdom, it represents the sons of the kingdom.

That's important to notice, to make those distinctions because just because something was referenced in one parable doesn't mean that that same illustration carries over to the next parable. Every single parable stands on its own, unless it's in a context of several parables, then you have to consider the context.

But a parable is intended, once again, as we considered last week, it's intended to communicate something about the kingdom of heaven. And those who are of Christ will be able to understand what he means by these parables, but those who are not of Christ will not understand it.

As Jesus said to his disciples, to you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. So that's why he speaks in parables, so that his disciples will understand, but that there are others who won't, and the mysteries of the kingdom will remain concealed from them.

This flies in the face of the person who says, well, Jesus gave illustrations and metaphors, and so in the parables that he told, so therefore it is important for us to use illustrations and metaphors so that unbelievers will understand.

Well, there's a difference between using metaphors and using a parable. The specific intention of the parable is to reveal something about the mysteries of the kingdom to Jesus' disciples while concealing it from those who are not meant to understand.

Whereas using a metaphor to help somebody understand something, that's just an illustration, something to that degree. Illustrations are fine, they're good, but don't think that the parables are given for the purpose of helping an unbeliever understand.

In fact, Jesus meant for certain things to remain concealed from those who were not meant to be of the kingdom of God. So here in this particular parable, Jesus says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

And remember what we heard in the explanation to the parable that the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came, we know the enemy is the devil, and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.

Tares meaning weeds, basically. Any kind of plant that you have growing up in your field that you don't want there would be considered a tare. But the basic summary of it is that we can say that they were weeds.

In fact, some translations of this parable, you will see instead of the word tare, you will see the word weed. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, the tares became evident also. In verse 27, the slaves of the landowner came to him and said, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?

How then does it have tares? And he said to them, an enemy has done this. The slave said to him, do you want us then to go and gather them up? But he said, no, for while you were gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

Allow both to grow 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. Now we have the explanation, of course, that we read through so there's little mystery as to what's being talked about here about the wheat and the tares.

At least, you know, we're not left to have to understand this or explain it on our own. But the next parables, the parables that come in between the parable of the tares among the wheat and then the explanation of that parable, we don't have a clear explanation given to these where Jesus does a one-to-one, this represents this and so on.

So we do need to do a little bit of investigating here to understand what these parables in the middle mean. So this is verses 31 to 35. He presented another parable to them saying, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

And this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches. Now you've probably heard some of the controversy that surrounds this particular parable.

There are some who have said that Jesus didn't realize that there were smaller seeds out there in the world than a mustard seed. And so he made this statement about the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds, verse 32.

And so therefore, since Jesus, the son of man, son of God, God incarnate who put on human flesh, did not realize that there were seeds smaller than a mustard seed. Well, he reveals his own imperfectness and so the scriptures are even imperfect and we can't call the Bible inerrant.

You ever heard anybody say this before? It's a common argument. I hear it come up every once in a while. Sometimes when I feel like I'm never gonna hear this argument again, yet it still comes up. Jesus is just very simply giving a parable here.

He's not giving a botany lesson in which he's telling people, now there are seeds even smaller than this. There's a continent you've not yet discovered called South America and there's a little tiny seed there and this such and such a plant.

And so there are smaller seeds out there in the world, but for the sake of this illustration, we're gonna stick with the mustard seed being the smallest of all seeds. This isn't a necessary qualification.

Coming up a little bit later on in Matthew chapter 19 is where Jesus confronts the rich young ruler. And you know there that Jesus says, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, right?

Well, Jesus is simply comparing the largest living creature in Jerusalem at that time, a camel, with the smallest opening, which is the eye of a needle. And just as a camel can't go through the eye of a needle and survive the trip, so a rich man cannot get into the kingdom of heaven by his works or his wealth.

So that's simply the comparison that Jesus is making there. He's doing this in the context of Jerusalem. It's not necessary for him to have to say, oh, there are other plants in the world with seeds smaller than this.

These are the illustrations using the visuals that are around him that Jews would have understood, namely his disciples, okay? So Jesus presents this parable. Let me start at the beginning of this again.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. And this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.

Now, this is a reference to Ezekiel 17, where the Lord says in verse 22, I will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out. I will pluck from the topmost of its young twigs, a tender one, and I will plant it on an exalted and lofty mountain.

On the high mountain of Israel, I will plant it, that it may lift up boughs and yield fruit and become a majestic cedar. And birds of every kind will dwell under it. They will dwell in the shade of its branches.

And all the trees of the field will know that I am Yahweh. I bring down the exalted tree, exalt the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am Yahweh, I have spoken, and I will do it.

And so what Yahweh is talking about here is how he is gonna take a remnant and he is gonna make something great out of it. And this is, again, in reference to the kingdom of God. So that remnant, you might even recognize here as we go on in understanding the gospels and onto Acts and even into the epistles, that you have a small grouping of Jews who become Christians, they become followers of Christ, and then they go out and share the gospel.

And as the gospel goes out and the church grows, it grows and it flourishes. And so you have the advancement of the church, the kingdom of God here on earth, that is the fulfillment of that which God had said through Ezekiel in Ezekiel 17.

Now, there are other places in the Old Testament where God will make reference to birds nesting in branches. He talks about Babylon being that kind of a tree. He talks about the Assyrians being that kind of a tree, but he mentions that he will tear them down, just like he says here in Ezekiel 17.

So he takes the lofty tree and tears it down, and that which is low and humble, he lifts it up and exalts it. And here, this is going to be the growth of the kingdom of God. It's gonna start out as something small, like a mustard seed, and it's gonna grow and become amazing so that birds will come and nest in its branches.

Many will come and be part of the kingdom of God and benefit from the blessings of being part of that kingdom, of being in Christ. That's very simply what's being spoken through the parable here. Now, as we understand a mustard seed in North America in our modern day, it doesn't turn into a mustard tree.

It's really more like an herb or a plant. So again, we have to understand this in the context in which it was given. Jesus talking to his disciples there in Jerusalem or there in Judah. So they would have understood the mustard seed there at that time, 2 ,000 years ago, in that climate that would produce this mustard tree, whereas today here in North America, that's not really what you get out of a mustard seed.

So anyway, going on to the next parable, verse 33, he spoke another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three Seda of flour until it was all leavened. Now, I wanna say that I've heard some who are post-millennial in their eschatology.

So they believe that the world will basically become more and more Christianized until Jesus comes. They've used this parable to explain post-millennialism. So the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three flowers of Seda until it was all leavened.

So therefore, the entire world is gonna be Christianized. But that's, I have to say, out of context with what Jesus is talking about here regarding this parable. Now, I'm not making an argument against post-millennialism here, even though I myself am not post-millennial.

I just think you need to understand the context of the parable. So the previous parable with the mustard tree is something outside. It's something external. It's something that you can observe from without.

The mustard seed becomes a tree and birds come and nest in its branches. But here with this parable, it's something from within. It's not outside, it's inside. It's, you're taking leaven, which a woman hid in three flowers of Seda and then all of the flower was leavened.

So what's really being talked about here is not that the whole world is going to become Christianized. I think you're reading that into the parable instead of understanding what's being said. It's that the kingdom of heaven happens from the inside out.

It's a transformation that takes place in the people that are part of this kingdom. So it's not just something that's gonna be observed from the outside. It's also something that happens on the inside.

That's the context of these two parables. So a person who is a part of the kingdom of God is not just part of that kingdom because you're looking at them and you're going, okay, that person's part of the kingdom.

From the inside, there must be a transformation. And only when a person has been transformed from the inside out, are they truly part of the kingdom of God. So just like we saw previously in the parable of the sower, that you had some plants that would grow up and at least from the outside, we might look at them and think that they are, they're part of the kingdom.

But there were some of those seeds that fell among rocks. And because the plant had no root in itself, it grew up and the sun scorched it and it died. And this represented a person that received the word with joy.

They received the message of the kingdom with joy, but then when persecution or affliction arises, then they immediately fall away. And then you had another plant that grew up. We might look at that plant and think that person's a Christian, but then growing up among the thorns, the thorns represent the worries of the world and the wealth of the world.

And they come and they choke the plant and it turns out to be unfruitful. So that person wasn't really a Christian at all. So again, we had those exterior things or those things that we could recognize from the outside, even in the parable of the sower, but the only true Christian, the true believer was the one where the seed fell in good soil.

And it grew up and produced a harvest, some a hundred fold, some 60 and some 30. So it is with those in the kingdom of God. There are gonna be those that look like from the outside, they are part of the kingdom, but then it turns out they're not really of the kingdom at all.

And this is what's being demonstrated through these parables. The parables of the wheat and the tares, the parable of the mustard seed, you have the observation from without, and then the parable of the leaven, you have the transformation from within.

So among the wheat and the tares, there are gonna be those among us who will look like they are believers, but they're really not believers. Only they won't be judged. They won't receive judgment as being truly unbelievers until that day when the angels come and will gather up the wheat and the tares together.

The tares will be gathered up and will be thrown out to be burned. Whereas the wheat will be gathered up and be put into the barn. So verse 34, all these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and he was not speaking to them without a parable.

So that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled saying, I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world, which is a prophecy that is made in the Psalms.

So now the explanation of the wheat and the tares. Notice how those other two parables go along with this. The parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the leaven. Those two parables help to explain even the wheat and the tares, which is why I don't think you can read eschatology into it.

It's very simply understanding that there will be some among us who are not truly believers, and they may not receive the judgment until that judgment day. So we go on to the explanation of the parable of the tares, verse 36.

Then he left the crowds and went into the house and his disciples came to him and said, explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. And he answered and said, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man.

And the field is the world. And as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom and the tares are the sons of the evil one. So notice that the one who sows the good seed is Christ. And what is the good seed?

They are the sons of the kingdom. The enemy who sowed the tares is the devil and the harvest is the end of the age. And the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

The son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness. So those who claim to be part of the kingdom, but really were not part of the kingdom.

Remember back to the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter seven, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of God. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, in your name did we not prophesy and in your name cast out demons and in your name do many mighty miracles.

And I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These are those people, those who practice lawlessness, the stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness.

They said they were followers of Christ, but they were not really part of his kingdom. And Jesus will throw them into the fiery furnace and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father.

He who has ears, let them hear. In other words, those whom Jesus intends to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Daniel 12 three, those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven.

And those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. My friends examine yourselves. As the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians in second Corinthians 13, test yourselves to see that you are really in the faith.

Are you just going through the motions? Are you just checking a religious box? Are you just thinking that because I'm part of this group that I will be saved because I prayed a prayer, because I was baptized, because I wrote the date down in my Bible, that I am genuinely a part of the kingdom of God and I will be saved on that day.

Or will you be among those whom the angels will gather up and bundle to be thrown into the fiery furnace? You said you were part of the kingdom, but you were really a doer of lawlessness. You did not pursue the will of God.

You did your own will. And maybe they were all secret sins and no one ever saw and no one ever knew, but you still had these things that you loved in your flesh and you continued to go after that instead of after Christ.

I tell you, examine yourself in this so that you will not be burned up on that day, but you will receive the kingdom of God in that day. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we finish up our lesson here, as we have considered these parables today, I pray that we examine our hearts.

Do we love Christ? Do we desire the Lord? Do we do his will? For as said in John 3 36, he who has the son has life, but he who does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

May we turn from every wicked way and pursue righteousness, holiness in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Closing Announcements

Pastor Gabe is the author of several books and Bible studies, available in paperback or for your e-reader. For titles and more information, visit our website at www .wutt .com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's word when we understand the text.