Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.
At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

-Matthew 13:24-30 (NIV)

This is a familiar parable that Jesus taught and there have been many conversations about its meaning. I’m not a Bible scholar but taking a closer look at the picture above, you can clearly see that the tares are standing tall while the wheat is hunched over.  Do your own research, but a baby tare and a baby wheat stalk looks exactly the same. In fact they’re indistinguishable. The only way to tell the difference is when they both mature in the Spring (harvest).

The tares don’t bear any fruit and lack substance but the wheat bears fruit (grain) and is hunched over due to the weight. I see symbolism here: the wheat is bowing (humility) and the tares are standing tall (pride). In their infancy they were indistinguishable, but time revealed their true nature.

Something to think about…