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The Parable Of

THE WHEAT AND THE TARES

Matthew 13:24-30

     Denise was having a moment of clarity as she spoke to her mother on the phone.  Her mother had instilled seeds of virtue in her at an early age.  By the time she started school, she knew right from wrong; at least she thought she did.  However, when she entered High School, the division line was not so clear.

     She was one of the few people who made it into the elite “Popular” crowd with ease, although she remembered being unpleasant company at home.  Looking back on it, she had been unpleasant to the “Others” at school as well.  Somehow, her peers had planted new seeds, and her personality changed as a result.

     Instead of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, it became “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.”

     Instead of “The early bird catches the worm”, it became “Better late than never.”

     Instead of “Turn the other cheek”, it became “Turnabout is fair play.”

     Instead of “You are judged by the company you keep”, it became “One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.”

     Instead of “Share and share alike”, it became “Every man for himself.”

     Instead of  “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game”, it became “Winner takes all.”

     When Denise had her own daughter, she instinctively instilled the same seeds of virtue that her mother had instilled in her.  But things were different for her teenager, who wasn’t one of the popular girls.  Through her daughter’s eyes, she saw herself as the bully that was now taunting her own child.  Now, Denise was living to regret her old behavior.  Somehow, though, Denise had finally become the grown-up her mother always wanted her to be.

     Still, now that her mother had become a grandmother, she continued to sow new seeds in Denise; seeds born of an even more mature perspective.

     Instead of “Lets let bygones be bygones”, it became “History repeats itself.”

     Instead of “Blood is thicker than water”, it became “You only hurt the ones you love.”

     Instead of “Don’t look back”, it became “Hindsight is always 20-20.”

     Instead of “Things will never be the same”, it became “Never say never.”

     Instead of Don’t wear out your welcome”, it became “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.”

     Instead of “All’s well that ends well”, it became “All good things must come to an end.”

     Instead of “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”, it became “Another day older, another day wiser.”

     “Oh, well”, Denise said as she hung up the phone, “Some things never change”

THE WHEAT AND THE TARES   (Matthew 13:24-30)

     “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares (weeds) among the wheat and went his way.  But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.  So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your fields?  How then does it have tares?’  He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’  The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’  But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”