Not Even a Whisper

After the parable of the sower, Matthew remembers another agrarian based parable taught by Jesus.  This second parable found in the first gospel is known as the parable of the weeds among the wheat.  Older and more traditional readers know it as the parable of the wheat and tares.  Like the parable of the sower, this one, too, lends itself to an allegoric interpretation and is one explained by Jesus.  (Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43)   Verse 37 spells it out.  "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the Kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil..."

 

This Kingdom of Heaven parable is one which teaches us that even though Jesus has come and evil was overcome at the cross, it is still present in the world and will be until what the Scripture refers to as the end of the age.  It is not hard to figure.  In the world in which we live, we see evidence of how Christ is at work in the lives of so many, but we also see that the power of evil is still present seeking to undermine the good of the Kingdom of God. 

Good and evil exist alongside each other.  It has been that way since the beginning.  It was certainly that way in the time of Christ and it remains the same in our own day.  The parable makes it clear that evil is not going to be eradicated within the lifespan of humanity, but that there will come a day when the prayer we pray Sunday after Sunday will indeed come to pass.  "Our Father....thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven..."   The thing for which we pray in the prayer first prayed by Jesus will not come to pass today or tomorrow, but it will come to pass.  As surely as Jesus passed through the manger, to the cross, and out of the empty tomb that day will finally come when evil will not even be left with a whisper.  It will be no more.