Must Every Church Be Full of "Tares"?

Read Matthew 13:24-43

      A Springfield, Missouri church fielded two men’s softball teams in the city’s church league, the _____ Baptist Wheat and the _____ Baptist Tares (church name forgotten).  “Tares,” of course, is King James language for “weeds,” taken from the parable of the weeds in today’s passage in Matthew. 

      It’s almost certain that Jesus had in mind the “bearded darnel,” a weed that is botanically similar to wheat and difficult to distinguish from it when young.  When mixed, the roots of the two species get entangled, but clear differences emerge when heads of grain appear on the wheat.  By the time the plants can be identified, it is impossible to pull out the weeds without destroying the wheat also, so there is nothing to do until harvest time.  The meaning is that  people in the grip of evil will grow right alongside “the sons of the kingdom,” each identifying themselves all the more clearly with the passage of time, until the final judgment. 

      But the field is not the church, but the world (13:38).  Certainly false believers can “sneak in” to the church (Jude 4), but don’t let this parable feed broad suspicion about large numbers of people in any and every church.  Do let it steel your faith and patience in a world we will be sharing with “the sons of the evil one” (13:38) until Jesus’ final judgment comes, and his kingdom in its fullness.