<P> A minority of Christians think that Jesus's interpretation of the parable needs an interpretation of its own . To prove this claim, they point to the phrase with which Jesus followed his exposition of the parable, namely, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," which occurs after biblical passages with a hidden meaning (see Luke 14: 34 - 35 and Mark 4: 1 - 9). According to non-literal readings of Jesus's explanation, "the children of the evil one" and "the children of the kingdom "are something else than humans . The following is an abridged version of Origen's commentary on Jesus's interpretation of the parable: </P> <P> Good things in the human soul are the offspring of the kingdom of God and have been sown by God the Word so that wholesome words about anything are children of the kingdom . But while men are asleep who do not act according to the command of Jesus, "Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation," (Matthew 26: 41) the devil sows tares--that is, evil opinions--over and among natural conceptions . And according to this the whole world might be called a field, for in the whole world the Son of man sowed the good seed, but the wicked one tares--that is, evil words . And at the end of things there will be a harvest, in order that the angels may gather up the bad opinions that have grown upon the soul, and may give them over to fire . Then those who become conscious that they have received the seeds of the evil one in themselves shall wail and be angry against themselves; for this is the gnashing of teeth . (Acts 7: 54) Then above all shall the righteous shine, no longer differently as at the first, but all "as one sun in the kingdom of their Father ." (Matthew 13: 43) Daniel, knowing that the multitudes of the righteous differ in glory, have said this, "And the intelligent shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and from among the multitudes of the righteous as the stars for ever and ever ." (Daniel 12: 3) And in the passage, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory: so also is the resurrection of the dead," (1Corinthians 15: 41 - 42) the Apostle says the same thing . I think, then, that at the beginning of the blessedness enjoyed by those who are being saved the difference connected with the light takes place . Perhaps the saying, "Let your light shine before men," (Matthew 5: 16) can be written upon the table of the heart in a threefold way; so that even now the light of the disciples of Jesus shines before the rest of men, and after death before the resurrection, and after the resurrection until "all shall attain unto a full - grown man," (Ephesians 4: 13) and all become one sun . </P> <P> The parable seems to have been interpreted in a similar way by Athenagoras who incidentally stated that "false opinions are an aftergrowth from another sowing", and by St. Gregory Nazianzen who exhorted those who were going to be baptized: "Only be not ignorant of the measure of grace; only let not the enemy, while you sleep, maliciously sow tares ." Moreover, St. Gregory of Nyssa relates how his sister St. Macrina cited the parable as a scriptural support for her idea that God gave humans a passionate nature for a good purpose and that passions become vices when we fail to use our reason properly . In her opinion, the "impulses of the soul, each one of which, if only they are cultured for good, necessarily puts forth the fruit of virtue within us," are the good seed, among which "the bad seed of the error of judgment as to the true Beauty" has been scattered . From the bad seed, "the growth of delusion" springs up by which the true Beauty "has been thrown into the shade ." Due to this, "the seed of anger does not steel us to be brave, but only arms us to fight with our own people; and the power of loving deserts its intellectual objects and becomes completely mad for the immoderate enjoyment of pleasures of sense; and so in like manner our other affections put forth the worse instead of the better growths ." But "the wise Husbandman" leaves the growth of the "error as to Beauty" to remain amongst his seed, "so as to secure our not being altogether stripped of better hopes" by our passions having been rooted out along with it . For "if love is taken from us, how shall we be united to God? If anger is to be extinguished, what arms shall we possess against the adversary? Therefore the Husbandman leaves those bastard seeds within us, not for them always to overwhelm the more precious crop, but in order that the land itself (for so, in his allegory, he calls the heart) by its native inherent power, which is that of reasoning, may wither up the one growth and may render the other fruitful and abundant: but if that is not done, then he commissions the fire to mark the distinction in the crops ." </P> <P> The Parable of the Tares has often been cited in support of various degrees of religious toleration . </P>

The wheat and the tares in the bible