CHRIST told another parable. It was of a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while the servants slept, an enemy came and sowed tares, or weeds, and then went away so that the servants knew nothing of it.

When the wheat grew, the tares also grew. When the servants noticed the tares, they asked the owner what it meant, as they sowed only good seed. He answered that an enemy had sown the tares. But he said that they should let both grow till the harvest, and that then the tares would be gathered and burned, but the wheat gathered into the barn.

Jesus explained this: The field, he said, means the world; the owner means Jesus himself; the wheat means the persons who become Christians; the tares are sowed by Satan; and the weeds are wicked men.

The wicked men and Christians are together here in this world, but at the judgment-day the righteous will go to heaven and the wicked will be punished.