Some of you may have seen the well-known painting by Pieter Breughel that shows a farmer out in the field sowing seeds. It’s an ordinary looking picture, although it is a little dark. As we look at it, we notice the prominence of stars in the sky. It’s nighttime. He’s planting under the cover of night. The title of the painting is The Parable of the Tares, the parable we have read this morning.
It’s an odd parable. Would someone sneak out in the dark of night to plant weeds in an enemy’s field? If someone did that, where would they go to get weed seeds anyway?
Imagine going to Home Depot and picking up all your supplies and then remembering, "Oh, yes, and I also need 50 pounds. of weeds!" Weeds?
Most of Jesus’ parables are about natural, everyday experiences ― a seed growing by itself, searching for a lost coin, separating sheep from goats. But this one is unusual. People didn’t ordinarily go out in their enemies’ fields and sow weeds.
In this parable a farmer plants seed in his field. Before long, the hired workers come in and ask the farmer, "You planted good seed, didn’t you?"
"Yes, of course. What’s the problem?"
"Well, there are weeds growing everywhere in the field."
"The enemy has done this," says the farmer.
"Do you want us to pull up the weeds, then?"
"No, if you do that now, you won’t be able to tell the weeds from the wheat, an
