blog-maryBlog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
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.

 


Wheat and Tares – 3 December 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

Today’s Blog title refers to the Bible passage (Matthew 13:24-30, see below) in which Jesus presents one of His parables to His listeners. In reaching out to the masses that He was trying to teach, Jesus used easy to understand parables – short stories that illustrate moral or spiritual principles.

Matthew 13:34-35 says:

34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable,

35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,
"I will open My mouth in parables;
I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world."
~ New American Standard Bible

I think you’ll agree with me that the vast majority of people today, if asked whether they consider themselves to be “wheat” or “tares” would say “wheat,” provided, of course, that they were familiar with the Bible passage and its meaning. So, is it any wonder that the majority also don’t want to include other animals in the equation? Their complicity, if not their outright active participation, in the inherent torture of “food” animals would immediately disqualify them from the ranks of the “wheat.”

When you stop to think about it, it makes sense that Jesus described the way to “life” as narrow and found by only a “few” (the “wheat”) while the way leading to destruction He described as “broad” and entered by “many” (the “tares”). (Matthew 7:13-14, see below)

How do we recognize the “wheat” and the “tares”? Jesus answers this question in Matthew 7:20-23:

20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits.

21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'

23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
~ New American Standard Bible

As reflected in His Creation and heavenly intent, the “will of My Father” is to be kind and to be the companion of animals.

References:

Matthew 13:24-30

24 He 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

Matthew 7:13-14

13 "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.

14 "For the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.
~ New American Standard Bible

Go on to: Mixed Messages – 4 December 2007
Return to: What Is “Normal”? – 2 December 2007
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