Reflections on Matthew 13:24-30
In this passage a farmer planted wheat and one of his enemies cast tares into the field. The farmer chose to let the crops grow together until harvest, when he would gather the wheat and burn the tares.
In our culture we don’t typically think a lot about tares, so we’re tempted to replace the word with "weeds." But I ran into a new concept about tares one day.
On the back of a delivery truck I saw the words "TARE WEIGHT" followed by a number. A lot of us have probably seen this lettering on trucks, trailers, and railroad cars. If we think of "tare" as the empty weight of the truck, we might also think of it as the additional load the truck has to carry to get its useful contents to the destination. So we might consider that the man who sowed good seed had to carry an extra load, those tares the enemy sowed, until harvest time. More accurately, if we consider that the soil had to carry that extra load too, we could just as easily meditate on that other parable about the man whose seed landed on various types of soil. But alas, that is not for today.
I started to reflect in a different way on tares in terms of TARE WEIGHT. So here are some illustrations that might work.
A young woman wanted to do the right thing. She had been told about right and wrong, and she was doing a good job until a fateful day. This is the summary of a dialog she had with a behavioral consultant. I can refer you to a transcript later.)
The consultant asked her if God had said she was not to eat of all the fruit in the garden.
She answered "We are not to eat of this one tree. . . "
And the enemy sowed tares.
She continued "We can’t even touch it . . . "
She added to the pure, simple command of God, not to eat the fruit.
Years later God promised Abraham that he would have more descendants than the stars he could see in the sky.
And Abraham said "I really like this. . . "
And the enemy sowed tares.
Abraham and Sara added to the simple promise of God by arranging the birth of Ishmael through Sara’s servant.
Centuries later God told Moses to speak to a rock to supply water in the wilderness for the Children of Israel.
And the enemy sowed tares.
Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck the rock with his staff. He added to God’s pure, simple command.
God liberated His people from slavery in Egypt. This bondage was hard labor on Pharaoh's public works projects, but more importantly it was bondage to the gods of Egypt. God gave them the simple invitation to have nobody but Him as their God.
And the enemy sowed tares.
While Moses was on the mountain receiving the Covenant, the children made a golden calf. Most likely, this was an image of Sin, the moon god of the Ancient Near East, one of the popular deities of ancient Egypt and familiar to the people.
The enemy is sowing tares about this even today. Many scholars contend that the calf was a mere platform for YHWH to sit on, or possibly a tribute to Moses’ leadership. Anything to gloss over the impact of Scripture and to lessen the severity of idolatry, you think?
God led the children into the Promised Land, after caring for them in the desert and defending them from enemies for so many years. He even parted the waters of the Jordan so they could walk through as their ancestors had done when leaving Egypt.
And the enemy sowed tares.
Gee, those crops looked good. Now the people of Israel remembered YHWH out there in the desert, and He did a great job providing for them in the wilderness. But this farming is really a different life, with its different struggles. Since the needs were different, it seems that YHWH might be out of His element. The locals seemed to have a handle on a god who knew what they needed. Surely Baal was more suited for their farming needs than YHWH.
The religious leaders of Israel wanted the people to be faithful to God’s covenant.
And the enemy sowed tares.
God’s simple commandments, with the ethical demands laid out in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures) often became lost among the myriad of rules and regulations issued by those who started out with great intentions. Adding to a covenant intended to be written on people’s hearts, compliance with the minutiae of rules became a source of oppression. (The fact was not lost on a lot of the leaders, as additional tares showed up in the form of loopholes for those in the know. Jesus pointed out one example, in which a person could get out of providing for his elder parents if he dedicated his wealth to God. We’ve seen some of this in our own time, haven’t we?)
God gave the commandment to rest on the Sabbath, for the people to remember that He Himself rested following the six days of creation.
And the enemy sowed tares.
The Sabbath, made for man’s enjoyment, became an opportunity for oppression as the leaders piled one rule after another onto the rules for observance.
Jesus told a thief on a cross that he would be with him in paradise that very day. The man’s simple declaration of faith was all-sufficient.
And the enemy sowed tares.
Peter, that giant of Church history, wanted Gentile converts to observe the Jewish dietary rules, adding to the simple statement that by grace are we saved.
Paul taught the people of Galatia that by grace are we saved.
And the enemy sowed tares.
Right behind Paul came those who forced many in Galatia to become circumcised, a slap in the face to any who claim that faith in Jesus as Savior is sufficient.
In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion, the temple veil was ripped from top to bottom. A Jew writing to Jews, Matthew had one clear statement to make. No longer is the Holy of Holies off limits to everyone except the High Priest. By the death of Jesus on the cross we are all invited to come into the Presence of God. (Not only that, taking our clue from the prayer our Savior taught us, we are all invited to come into the Presence of YHWH and call Him "Daddy."
And the enemy sowed tares.
For centuries the Church built barriers, in both the architecture and the attitudes of the clergy, to restore that veil between the people and God. The Church kept the teachings in the hands of the scholars and kept the Bible out of the hands of the people. Only through the interpretation of the scholars could the people get to know the Scriptures.
Jesus promised that when two or three are gathered in his name, agreeing in prayer, he will be in the midst of them. The faithful could pray for each other and for themselves. Intercession is one of the most powerful forms of prayer. When we pray for others, we are following the example of the One who prayed even for those who crucified him. The Church taught that we can ask others to pray for us, even those who have gone before us and are now eternally in the Presence of God.
And the enemy sowed tares.
This is not the place where I would address the validity of asking the saints in heaven to pray for us. Rather, this is the place where I'll address the oppressive teaching: the requirement that this practice MUST be followed. Cults of Mary-worship have sprung up throughout the world, even though Mary also depended on her Son for her salvation. Some prayers to Mary have even included petitions for her to protect us from the anger of Jesus toward us. The One who prayed for his executioners, the One who is now our eternal High Priest, is constantly interceding for us. How inconsistent is a rule that we must have someone intervene against the wrath of Jesus!
The Christian Scriptures assure us that the blood of Jesus (more correctly, the fact that Jesus willingly shed his red corpuscles) cleanses us from all sin. By his death our debt is paid in full, and the sin of Adam has been canceled by the righteousness of Jesus for us. The Bible promises us that we are all new creations in Christ.
And the enemy sowed tares.
Oh, how seductive is the doctrine of Purgatory! Our Heavenly Father is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. When Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, the Father turned His face away because He could not look upon His own Son. When Jesus became sin, his Father abandoned him. But what about me? How can the Father, Who hates sin, look upon me, in all my filth as a sinner? Out of love for my God, or at least as a courtesy, it would make sense for me to get scrubbed down. I'd be willing to spend time in a place where I can be made pure before He sees me. But to give way to such a doctrine is to deny the wholeness of the work of Jesus for us. It’s been done. There is nothing we need to do. There is nothing we can do. When we trust Jesus as our Savior, we are presented spotless before the Father. His righteousness becomes our righteousness, his perfection is the only thing the Father sees when He looks upon us.
How wonderful it is that God’s simple command is an invitation is for each of us. God invites you to love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind!
I will close by returning to the Garden in Genesis. The sin was not due to hunger for a particular fruit. Rather, it was that the man and the woman ceased to hunger for God alone. My prayer is for you to have a growing hunger for God, that your appetite will drive you to seek Him as the only way your hunger can be satisfied.
Grace and Peace,
Charles+
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Matthew 13:24-30
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
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