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The Parable of the Tares
v. 24. Another parable put He forth unto them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.
v. 25. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
An important point: The parable is set forth, is presented, as spiritual food, for instruction of the soul. The kingdom of heaven, the Church of Christ, strictly speaking, includes only such as are united under His leadership by the bonds of a common, sincere faith in Him. But the Lord here, as often, describes the Church as it appears in the world, as we deal with it in concrete form. His picture is again taken from the work of the farmer. A man will certainly sow only the best seed obtainable in his field if he wants a large and heavy crop. That was also the custom of this husbandman. But during the time when men, that is, the average-honest man, usually slept, his enemy came with a certain malignant seed, a degenerate form of wheat, whose stalks and spikes closely resemble the true grain (bastard wheat, or darnel), and deliberately and maliciously sowed this weed-seed in the midst of the wheat as thickly as though there were nothing there. Having done his spiteful deed, he went his way. The damage, he knew, could hardly be discovered until it would be too late to remedy matters.