Matthew 13:30
"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest
I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares,
and bind them in bundles to burn the:
but gather the wheat into my barn"
Jesus used the grain because it was in just the right phase of growth to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the tares had done the same, and there a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but when both are less developed, the best eye will often fail to detect them. I know that I could not do it at all with any confidence. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other. They would not only mistake good grain for them, but very commonly the roots of the two are so intertwined that it is impossible to separate them without plucking up both. So both must be left to grow together until the time of harvest.
The whole series of pictures within this parable teaches us that there is always a hostile power in the world, seeking and waiting to destroy the good seed. Our experience is that both kinds of influence act upon our lives, the influence which helps the seed of the word to flourish and to grow, and the influence which seeks to destroy the good seed before it can produce fruit at all. The lesson is that we must be for ever on our guard.
It teaches us how hard it is to distinguish between those who are in the Kingdom and those who are not. A man may appear to be good and may in fact be bad; and a man may appear to be bad and may yet be good. We are much too quick to classify people and label them good or bad without knowing all the facts.
It teaches us not to be so quick with our judgments. If the reapers had had their way, they would have tried to tear out the darnel (rye grass or cockle) and they would have torn out the wheat as well. Judgment had to wait until the harvest came. A man in the end will be judged, not by any single act or stage in his life, but by his whole life. Judgment cannot come until the end. A man may make a great mistake, and then redeem himself and, by the grace of God, atone for it by making the rest of life a lovely thing. A man may live an honorable life and then in the end wreck it all by a sudden collapse into sin. No one who sees only part of a thing can judge the whole; and no one who knows only part of a man's life can judge the whole man.
It teaches us that judgment does come in the end. Judgment is not hasty, but judgment comes. It may be that, humanly speaking, in this life the sinner seems to escape the consequences, but there is a life to come. It may be that, humanly speaking, goodness never seems to enter into its reward, but there is a new world to redress the balance of the old.
It teaches us that the only person with the right to judge is God. It is God alone who can discern the good and the bad; it is God alone who sees all of a man and all of his life. It is God alone who can judge. So, ultimately this parable is two things; it is a warning not to judge people at all, and it is a warning that in the end there comes the judgment of God.
Amen!!
Reading: (Matt. 13:24-30)
Ref: (HGSB, BSB)
May God Bless You
And Your Family
Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.
The Cross Life Ministry
