The Parable of the Wheet and Tares.
Matthew 13:24-30. I will include it here in full so you can see this clearly.
“24. Yeshua (Jesus) put before them another parable. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25. but while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, then went away. 26. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. 27. The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ 28. He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Then do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29. But he said, ‘No, because if you pull up the weeds, you might uproot some of the wheat at the same time. 30. Let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I will tell the reapers to collect the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” (CJB)*
Now Jesus’ disciples asked for Him to interpret this parable, I include it here also.
“36. Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His talmidim [disciples] approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37. He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38. the field is the world. As for the good seed, these are the people who belong to the Kingdom; and the weeds are the people who belong to the Evil One. 39. The enemy who sows them is the Adversary, the harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. 40. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41. The Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all the things that cause people to sin and all the people who are far from Torah [literally; are lawless]; 42. and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where people will wail and grind their teeth. 43. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let him hear!” (CJB)*
This particular parable has always puzzled me because it did not fit into the end-times narrative that I had learnt over the years. Let me explain this a little more.
I want to go over the particular parts that I feel are important.
The wheat and the Tares are allowed to grow up together. The harvest is at the end of the age. The angels go into the harvest and take out all the weeds, tares which are burnt. The wheat are left to shine forth that they are wheat. Then the harvest is collected.
The end-times narrative I had heard over the years was, everything was going to worst, evil was going to rampant, and finally Jesus was going to come a rescue from it all in the ‘rapture’. Although many of the parables did not agree or disagree with this parable the idea that things were going to get worse as the age comes to an end are mentioned often which, left me believing this narrative.
Only recently in my studies and instruction have I come to different conclusion which, I am presenting here. I needed to change my thinking. This being the case how should Christians be taking their stand and believing?
I will elaborate next Post.
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