In Matthew 13, Jesus continues to teach the crowd in parables.

Matthew 13:24-30

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.

In this parable, the field refers to the world, wheat refers to believers, and the tares refer to unbelievers. Satan is the enemy who sows the tares. Tares is the word ZIZANION in the Greek, and it means weed, but a specific type of weed that cannot be distinguished from wheat.

When Jesus talks about the enemy sowing tares AMONG the wheat, we need to make the application to what is happening today. Jesus is talking about people that appear to be believers, but are not! There are many people today who attend church, are involved in religion, but are not really believers. We can’t always tell the difference!

26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

You couldn’t tell whether the plant was wheat or tare until they were mature. The same is true today. Now the slaves of the landowner (God) notice the weeds:

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."'"

The disciples approached Jesus after this series of messages, and asked Him to explain this particular parable to them. Here is Jesus’ response:

Matthew 13:36-42

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."

37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

Just like in the other parable of the seeds, the seeds refer to the Word of God. For unbelievers, Jesus was scattering the seed, or message, of salvation. For believers, the seed is the Word of God being taught.

38 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;

39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

41 "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,

42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus is speaking here of the end of the Age of Israel, when He will return to rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years, but that’s a whole ‘nother study!

Be aware from this parable that Satan will place unbelievers among believers, and we won’t be able to tell the difference. Satan loves to distract believers from the Truth of the Word of God, and he will use these “tares” to do it.