The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
3 February 2026 · 2 min read · Understanding the Bible
The parable of the wheat and the tares (weeds) answers a question many people ask: if God is good, why does he let evil grow alongside the good in the world? Jesus' story offers a profound and patient answer. Here's the parable and its meaning.
The story
A farmer sowed good seed in his field, but while everyone slept, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. As both grew up together, the servants asked whether they should pull out the weeds. The farmer said no — pulling the weeds now might uproot the wheat too. 'Let both grow together until the harvest,' he said; then, at harvest time, the two would be separated.
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.
Good and evil grow together
Jesus explained that the field is the world, the good seed represents God's people, and the weeds represent the children of the evil one. The parable answers why good and evil coexist: for now, God permits them to grow side by side. The world is a mixed field, and it will remain so until the end. This explains much of the tangled reality we see around us.
God's patience
The farmer's decision to wait reveals God's patience. He doesn't uproot all evil immediately, partly to protect the wheat and partly to give time for repentance and growth. What can look like God's inaction is often his mercy — allowing time for people to turn to him before the final harvest. His delay is not indifference.
A certain harvest
But the parable is clear that a reckoning is coming. At the harvest — the end of the age — God will separate the two, gathering the wheat into his barn and dealing with the weeds. Evil will not grow unchecked forever; there will be a final sorting, a day when justice is done. The coexistence of good and evil is temporary, not permanent.
The parable of the wheat and the tares explains why good and evil grow together in the world for now, reveals the patience of a God who gives time for repentance, and promises a certain harvest when all will be set right. It calls us to trust God's timing and justice rather than despairing at the evil around us — and to make sure that, when the harvest comes, we are found among the wheat.
