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A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


The Wheat and the Tares – 20 March 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

In order to illustrate or explain basic spiritual principles, Jesus used parables – short stories – to which his listeners could easily relate.

A well-known parable found in Matthew is the one about the wheat and the tares. Jesus used “wheat” as a metaphor for those who were “believers” and “tares” (undesirable weeds found in grain fields) for those who were “unbelievers.”

Matthew 13:24-30

24. He [Jesus] presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

25. "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.

26. "But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

27. "And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?'

28. "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?'

29. "But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them.

30. 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn." ' " ~ New American Standard Bible

Jesus is telling us that there are deceivers in this world who try to lead sensitive, Godly people astray. But there is a day of reckoning for every person, because every person will be known by their fruit (the mature grains of wheat as distinguishable from the tares).

After two thousand years since Jesus walked upon the earth, the spiritual lesson of the parable still applies. Obviously, if Jesus were on the earth today, He would use different metaphors. I can’t help but think that slave-owners in our own country most likely once used the reference to slaves found in this passage of the Bible to justify slavery. This shows that those slave owners were a product of the “tares,” even though they pretended to be “wheat.”

Today many people (“tares”) are using other Bible verses out of context in an attempt to justify the horrible treatment of animals. At the same time, they try to convince others that such cruel treatment is what God desires. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Go on to: Good Advice – 21 March 2007
Return to: Vegan Shopping – 19 March 2007
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