The Parable of the Wheat and Tares in the Bible

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, told by Jesus in Matthew 13, addresses the mystery of why good and evil coexist in the world and within the visible community of God's people until the final judgment. Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field (Matthew 13:24). But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares (weeds) among the wheat, and went away (Matthew 13:25). When both grew up together, the servants asked whether they should pull up the weeds. The master answered no, lest in gathering the tares they uproot the wheat with them. Instead he said, "Let both grow together until the harvest" (Matthew 13:30), when the reapers would gather the tares first to be burned, and then the wheat into his barn. Later Jesus explained the parable to his disciples. The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (Matthew 13:37); the field is the world, the good seed represents the children of the kingdom, and the tares are the children of the evil one (Matthew 13:38). The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels (Matthew 13:39). Just as the tares are gathered and burned, so it will be at the end of the age (Matthew 13:40), when everything that causes sin will be removed from God's kingdom. The parable teaches patience and restraint in the present age. God permits the righteous and the wicked to grow side by side, not because He is indifferent to evil, but because final separation belongs to Him alone and to His appointed time. It warns against presuming to execute a premature judgment that God reserves for the harvest, and it offers comfort that justice will surely come. For believers, it is a call to remain faithful wheat, bearing the fruit of the kingdom, while trusting the Lord of the harvest to deal righteously with all in the end.