“24 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.”’” – Mt 13

This is a parable about good versus bad seed. One seed produced good fruit, i.e. wheat, and one has no fruit. This second seed is a counterfeit as it looks like the plant from the good seed, but there’s no wheat or good fruit. This is the work of Satan who disguises himself asn angel of light in the deceitful work to fool men, 2 Cor. 11:14,15. Satan is the father of lies and is the author of confusion, Jn 8:44; 1 Cor. 14:33.  Many have been misled by the vain doctrines of demons and by the false gospels they tell.

People must wonder what are the tares?  Are they false teachers in the church? This can’t be. A counterfeit is designed to look like the real thing. The counterfeit is not the church and it’s not an erring christian in the church.  Why?  It’s simple. Because Jesus said to leave them alone and allow them to grow, v.30.  To uproot the tares would also do harm to the wheat.  If the tares were in the church, we know that discipline must be exercised so that the church is not brought down by the influence. Church discipline would root out anything like a tare in the church.  So Jesus must be talking about something that’s very similar to the church but is itself outside of the church. The tares are outside the church but similar enough to fool many people.

Question:  What or Who do you believe are the tares? _____________________