Matthew 13:24-30 records Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares. This parable has incredibly important eschatological meaning, but I believe that it also teaches us much about the heart of God toward man. The earlier parable of the sower teaches us that God sows good seed everywhere, in every person. God does not limit Himself to sowing His Word and His love into those that He knows will receive it, as Peter tells us, He “wills that none would perish” and these parables show us that God is always at work sowing the revelation of Himself into all men. As partners in the harvest, I believe that we must be willing to see that God sows good seed into all men, and so we must be willing to see all men as desired by God.
The parable tells us that while the land owner sowed good seed, an enemy came during the night and sowed seeds of tares into the same land. These poisonous seeds were an attempt to ruin the good crop, to cause damage and even to remove goodness. If God sows good seed into all men, then the truth is that the enemy of our souls sows tares into every man. The distractions, temptations and desires of this world are all tares, they all serve one purpose, to cause damage and even death to the seeds sown by God. What we see in the parable is that the land owner is not distracted or anxious about these tares, he knows the power of the good seed he has planted, he knows that with proper care and attention the good seed will bear fruit and then, at the proper or due time, the harvest will be reaped and the tares will be destroyed.
To be true partners with God in His harvest we cannot get distracted or weary with the tares of this world. We must have our hearts and attention set on the Land Owner and on the good seed He has planted. Our role is to intercede, to declare the wonders of God and to believe and pray for fruit to come forth. There will be a time to reap and remove the tares, but that time is set by God, not us. God loves the harvest so much that He will not allow the good seed to be damaged by our zeal to remove the tares. My prayer today is that we will believe with God in the power of His Word. He has told us that it will not return void, that it endures forever and that He will complete everything that He begins. Let’s not get caught up in what others need to remove, but rather focus on what God has planted! He is a good sower.