Parable of the Weeds

Today, we visit the second chronological parable Jesus shared—the story of the wheat and the tares, or weeds. For the sake of the one, the other is allowed to grow as well.

I want to start out first by telling you that I am NOT a gardener! The only plants I manage to keep alive are hanging plants on my porch that my mother-in-law gives me each year for Mother’s Day. They take a glass of water a day, two during the hot days, and plucking off the dead blooms. That’s it. No weeding. No manicuring. No transplanting. Just water and go on about the day.

This being said, I have been tasked with weeding the garden from time to time. My mother-in-law takes great care in pointing out what are weeds and what aren’t. This way, I don’t pull up her vegetables in my efforts to help. And, yes, it has been known to happen. I stick with weeding the tomato’s as it is easy to tell it apart from weeds.

Any farmer knows that weeds are going to sprout among the crops. Even with the most careful of preparation, weeds still find their way in among the crops. I remember one year when my ex-husband planted a garden. When it started growing I told him that he needed to weed it. He said that the plants would kill the weeds as they grew and he didn’t want to disturb them in their natural process.

Well, the produce did grow but it was sickly. The watermelons he planted were literally flat! All their nutrients had been stolen by the strong weed population. Granted, he didn’t prepare the garden very well. He simply broke up the grass with a spade and stuck his garden seeds in. Not even starts; just seeds. Those little seeds didn’t stand a chance against the already established grasses.

My mother-in-law’s garden is nothing like that. She has raised beds with iron wire on the bottom, protecting them from burrowing rodents, potting soil with fertilizer mixed in, and healthy starts for everything but beans. Even with all her preparations, she still gets some weeds and critters that plague her garden.

The farmer in the parable didn’t have raised beds with special netting under it. He had an open field. Special care was done in preparing the soil and ensuring that he had quality seed. Good farming practices were also employed during planting. Everything done that should guarantee a plentiful harvest.

But his field was susceptible to tampering. There was no guard posted around it. And an enemy deliberately snuck in and mixed bad seed with good.

The seeds sown in the field looked just like the real thing, until time came to produce fruit. No useful ‘fruit’ came from the weeds. Another distinction between the two is that wheat bends under the weight of the grain. The tares’ produce ‘fruit’ too, in that it makes seed to replenish the ground. But these seeds are tiny and the stalks stand tall.

When harvest time comes, it is important to separate the two kinds of crops. If you gather both at the same time, the wheat will be tainted with toxic seeds. The fact that the wheat is bending low, makes the gathering of the tares much easier. They are taken first, disposed of by fire, and then the wheat can be harvested.

I was struck by a thought. The seed brings forth ONLY what it comes from. Wheat doesn’t change into tares because of lack of care while growing. And tares don’t sprout wheat seeds just because it is standing in a wheat field.

When we ‘plant seeds’ in our hearts, we need to pay attention to the seed’s source. Planting the wrong, or diluted seed, brings about a bad harvest and a LOT of extra work.

Living in this world just about guarantees that there will be some tares planted in your heart’s soil, no matter how carefully we prepare it and protect it. Learning to recognize the ‘fruit’ is critical for cleaning it out of our hearts.

The enemy is also very good at making evil look good. God gives us time to observe the growth and the end result before pulling it up.

The most dangerous ‘seed distribution channel’ is the one that claims to have ‘pure’ seed, but mixes tares seed in among it. Be on guard when taking in the ‘seeds’ of faith and godly living. Make sure you are getting your supply ‘direct from the Creator.’ Don’t take someone else’s word for how good the ‘seed’ is.

Father God, watch over the ‘seed’ I plant in my heart and the hearts of those who read of our time together. Let them see YOUR truth. Take out anything that is NOT of You.

This is far from what I had planned for going through Jesus’ parables. But I will let You lead me where He will. Keep me walking and searching Lord.

P.S. I have been very slow in writing lately. I apologize for this. One big reason is that I continue to care for my husband. He is living in a world of constantly shifting delusions and hallucinations. He pulls me in after him, and I have to walk through the ‘mine field’ of his mind, trying to keep him calm. It seems like, every time I sit down to write, he starts needing help and reassurance.

Also, the fact that he is up a LOT in the night, makes me look for sleep whenever I can get it. Bear with me while we walk this road together. I don’t know how much longer we will be walking it together this side of Heaven. However long it is, we will walk it together!