- Matthew 13:24 (NKJV)
There was an important truth about God's kingdom that Jesus wanted to get across to His followers, and He used the following parable to do it:
A man . . . sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. (Matthew 13:24-26 NKJV)
A man plants wheat in his field. But then an enemy sneaks into the field and plants tares (or weeds) along with the wheat. Both begin to grow, and it becomes apparent what happened. The man's servants ask him if he wants them to go through and pull the weeds out. His answer is insightful: "No, because then you might accidentally pull out some of the wheat. Let them both grow together, and at harvest time it will become easier to separate the two" (Matthew 13:27-30). What's that all about?
Culturally, it helps us to know that wheat and weeds looked very similar up to a certain point. But as they would continue to grow, the head of the wheat would become heavier than the weeds and would start to bend, making it more distinguishable from its counterfeit counterpart.
This is Jesus' point concerning the kingdom: Counterfeits are going to pop up from time to time. They look like wheat but they're really weeds. It's difficult to tell the difference at first, but time will reveal the differences between them and those who are the real deal. Our lesson in this is to be patient and observant, to know that we will encounter counterfeits, and the best way to deal with them is to allow time to reveal them for what they are.
............................
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~Mark Twain
No comments:
Post a Comment