XXVII Sowing the Tares
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He taught many of His most wonderful lessons by means of Story-pictures, or Parables.
Perhaps you are older than some of your school-fellows, and the little ones gather round you and say “Tell us a story!”
Don’t they love stories? And don’t you love stories?
So did the people to whom our Lord spoke. He often put a word-picture before their eyes, and it sank into their hearts, and they remembered it ever after.
I am going to tell you about one of these Parables which our Lord told to the listening multitudes.
This one was about “The Kingdom of Heaven.” This is the word picture which he put before their eyes.
He said that the Kingdom of Heaven was like a man who had a field, and who sowed it with good seed.
But at night, under cover of the darkness, while men were asleep, there came an enemy into this field.
He carried a basket in his hands, and as he went up and down the field, he looked stealthily round him to make sure that no one was aware of his presence. And then he took handful after handful of seed from his basket and scattered it all over the field. Then he crept away in the darkness.
SOWING THE TARES.
Why did he do it, do you think?
It was because he hated the owner of the field, and wished to destroy his beautiful harvest.
By and by the seeds began to grow, and the little blades came up green all over the field. Then the servants of the master of the field, looking closely at the crop, saw that some of the blades were of good wheat, but some looked like tares, which were of no use to anyone and only injured the wheat. So they hastened to the owner of the field, and they said, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field; how have the tares got there?”
And the owner said, “An enemy has done this.”
Then the servants asked if they might root up the tares at once.
I have read that when the little plants are young, the blades of the wheat and the blades of the tares are so much alike that it is difficult to tell them apart.
So the master of the field answered, “No; you had better not try to pull up the tares, lest you should pull up the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and in time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘Gather together the tares first, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
This is a story, as I said, of “The Kingdom of Heaven.” And it is important to all of us, because we all live in that Kingdom. Our hearts ought to be God’s throne here, we ought to be growing up as His Good Seed, to be gathered into His eternal Home when the Harvest comes!
You may not always live in England—you may go to Canada, or Australia, or France, or Germany!
But in this Kingdom of Heaven you may always abide, till the Harvest-day comes; and happy for you if you do!
God’s Kingdom is a place where His Good Seed grows.
Perhaps your Mother or your Teacher tells you of Jesus our Saviour, and of His love, and you long to be able to serve Him. You would like to be kind and loving to those round you; you are sorry when you do wrong, you are happy when you do right. That is the Good Seed taking root and growing in your heart!
But at other times you feel differently.
You are not so happy; you do not wish to do good things so much; you even find yourself wanting to do wrong things! You find it hard to be loving; you want so much to do something you have been forbidden to do; you are sure no one will see you if you do wrong, and you say to yourself, “After all, it is such a little thing,” or “It is only this once!”
Ah! Those are the tares sown in your heart!
“How did they get there?” the servants asked the Master.
And He answered, “An enemy has done this.”
Satan is our enemy. It is true we cannot see him, but he is near us all the same.
Like the enemy in the Parable, he creeps out when men are asleep—when you are off your guard—when you have forgotten to watch and to pray; and it is he who whispers to you that:
“No one will see.”
“That it is such a little thing.”
“That it is so hard to obey!”
Ah! What must the little Christian boy do when he finds tares in the field of his heart? What must the little Christian girl do when she finds tares in God’s Kingdom in her heart?
I think the best thing to do is to look up to Jesus instantly, and ask Him to conquer the great enemy for you. Say the Holy name Jesus softly to yourself, or out loud if you are alone, Satan, our great enemy, will run away, you will surely find.
He was named JESUS (which means Victory).
“For He shall save His people from their sins.”