36 Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

At the request of His disciples, Jesus clarifies what the parable of the wheat and tares meant (vs. 24-30). Why did He not just tell the plain truth clearly the first time? The answer is that parables revealed those who wanted to learn truth the and those who didn’t. Those with open hearts were drawn to Christ; the Pharisees, with few exceptions, were not. As Simeon predicted, “… this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel…and a sword will pierce…to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

The Lord in this story is the sower. The seed, as distinguished from an earlier parable, represents the people whom Jesus sends out into the world (“the field”). The devil sows the tares, which represent evil people mixed in among those sent into the world. Jesus calls them stumbling blocks and people who are lawless. Certainly, Judas was a “tare” among the disciples. But the religious leaders were tares, who were stumbling blocks for the nation.

The focus of the story is on the ultimate destination of true believers and false believers. The latter will suffer what is described as an extremely painful, despondent punishment. Called hell in other parts of the NT narrative, this destination is a real place characterized by the burning of fire. There is no indication that Jesus meant this to be other than a literal description. He does not describe utter annihilation as some today teach, for “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” indicating a living consciousness of the experience. Someone has said that if there’s no literal fire, there will be something worse.

On the other hand, those who are the true seed, the genuine followers of Christ who are seeding the kingdom of heaven into a lost world, will shine forth with the wonderful, life changing message of the King.

Lord, I want to reflect Your glory as a smooth, polished mirror to the world in darkness desperately needing light. Help me not be a stumbling block.