Pluck Not the Tares While the Blade is Yet Tender

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, “a man sowed good seed in his field” but after this “his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” The servants eventually saw the tares growing with the wheat and said, “Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?” Learning it was an enemy that had done this, they offered, “Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?” The man gave an interesting answer: “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 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” (Matt. 13:24-30). The disciples asked for an interpretation of this parable, and the Savior spoke of it in terms of the world as a whole: the sower was the Son of man, the good seed were the righteous, the tares were the wicked, and eventually at the end of the world the wicked would be destroyed by fire when the angels came to reap. The Lord in this dispensation used the parable again in the context of the end of the world, saying, “Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also. Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned” (Doctrine and Covenants 86:5-7). The Church as a whole is nurturing the wheat, but the tares are rampant as wickedness has a hold on many hearts in the world. One of the key messages is that this wickedness will not disappear until that final day when the Lord decides to burn the field—we have to deal with the spiritual tares for now as we seek to bring forth the wheat of the last days.

                Perhaps this parable can also teach us something important about parenting. Though in the Savior’s explanation the wheat are one set of people and the tares are another, we might be justified in saying that we each have wheat and tares growing in us. During our lives we should each be seeking to rid ourselves of our sins (tares) and nourish righteousness (the wheat). This is certainly true of children as we see them grow up developing both righteous and sinful tendencies. The Lord’s admonition as we see both growing is to “pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender… lest you destroy the wheat also.” In other words, we should not try to correct or punish every wrong behavior or sinful deed that are children do. If we take too aggressive an approach to helping them reject wickedness, we might just “destroy the wheat also.” Of course that does not meant to accept all sinful behavior, but rather we have to be careful that our discipline and corrections and teachings don’t focus so much on what they do wrong that they lose the desire to do right. This principle was perhaps best explained in the allegory of the olive tree as the Lord sought to remove the bad from the tree: “Wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and the top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad, and the bad be hewn down and cast into the fire” (Jacob 5:66). As our children develop spiritual strength line upon line, we can gradually help them to reject negative habits and keep more fully the commandments of God. We must not seek to perfect them in a day but rather over time as they build their faith we can help them reject the various tares of their lives little by little. We clear away the bad in small measures only as the good shall grow. Surely that is how the Lord works with each of us—He does not demand us to correct all of our sins in a day, but has said to us instead, “Ye are not able to abide the presence of God now, neither the ministering of angels; wherefore, continue in patience until ye are perfected” (Doctrine and Covenants 67:13). It takes patience over a whole lifetime—and longer—to become like Him. We must remember this principle as we work on our own spiritual progression and help our children and others to grow in the gospel: the presence of tares is expected and we need patience as we work to overcome them until the day that the Lord is ready to remove them all.