YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
We have now discussed seven of Jesus parables, five and then a review of the five and now two more. These last two, the Parable of the Unjust Steward and The Parable of the Tares, have each taken two posts to complete as they are long and complex and the ideas that we have written and read here are far from the orthodox understandings of these parables. It is interesting to note that while the Master used parables to teach the people, they are not used much by the churches. From our perspective we should see that there is a wealth of wisdom tucked into each of these parables when they are viewed from the proper perspective and I dare say that there is yet much more that can be uncovered. However, if we look them as their story lines go or in the traditional ways of seeing them we will miss much of the true intent of the Master. One can look at any of the commentaries written about these two parables in particular and find that our ideas are so much clearer and so much more applicable to life than are the rather mundane interpretations of those who comment on the Bible. For an example, let us look at the common interpretations of our last venture, the Parable of the Tares.
- A Commentary on the New Testament From the Talmud and Hebraica by John Lightfoot: After making the point that both the tares, which are called darnel or rye, and the wheat are both wheat, he says: So that that field, in this parable, was sown by the lord with good wheat; by the enemy, with bad and degenerate wheat; but all of it was sown with wheat, one or the other. These words do not so barely mean good and bad men, as good and bad Christians; both distinguished from other men, namely, from heathens, as wheat is distinguished from other seeds: but they are distinguished also among themselves, as good wheat is distinguished from that which is degenerate. So chapter 25, all those ten women, expecting the bridegroom, are virgins; but are distinguished into wise and foolish. This last part is a comparison to the Parable of the Ten Virgins. We can see here that Mr. Lightfoot is talking purely of men, good and bad. This commentary does not address Jesus explanation at all.
- Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown (The verses are in bold type and commentary in italics): Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field—Happily for us, these exquisite parables are, with like charming simplicity and clearness, expounded to us by the Great Preacher Himself. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his …. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also–the growth in both cases running parallel, as antagonistic principles are seen to do. So the servants of the householder came–that is, Christ’s ministers. and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?–This well expresses the surprise, disappointment, and anxiety of Christ’s faithful servants and people at the discovery of “false brethren” among the members of the Church. He said unto them, An enemy hath done this–Kind words these from a good Husbandman, honorably clearing His faithful servants of the wrong done to his field. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?–Compare with this the question of James and John ( Luke 9:54 ), “Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume” those Samaritans? In this kind of zeal there is usually a large mixture of carnal heat. (See James 1:20 ). But he said, Nay–“It will be done in due time, but not now, nor is it your business.” lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them–Nothing could more clearly or forcibly teach the difficulty of distinguishing the two classes, and the high probability that in the attempt to do so these will be confounded. Let both grow together–that is, in the visible Church until the harvest–till the one have ripened for full salvation, the and in the time of harvest I will say to the… Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them—“in the fire“ (Matthew 13:40 ). but gather the wheat into my barn—Christ, as the Judge, will separate the two classes (as in Matthew 25:32 ). It will be observed that the tares are burned before the wheat is housed; in the exposition of the parable ( Matthew 13:41 Matthew 13:43 ) the same order is observed: and the same in Matthew 25:46 –as if, in some literal sense, “with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked”. This commentary continues with some thoughts on Jesus’ explanation: Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field, &c.–In the parable of the Sower, “the seed is the word of God” ( Luke 8:11 ). But here that word has been received into the heart, and has converted him that received it into a new creature, a “child of the kingdom,” according to that saying of James ( James 1:18 ), “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures.” It is worthy of notice that this vast field of the world is here said to be Christ’s own–“His field,” says the parable. (See Psalms 2:8 ). The tares are the children of the wicked one–As this sowing could only be “while men slept,” no blame seems intended, and certainly none is charged upon “the servants”; it is probably just the dress of the parable. The enemy that sowed them is the devil–emphatically “His enemy” ( Matthew 13:25 ). (See Genesis 3:15 , 1 John 3:8 ). By “tares” is meant, not what in our husbandry is so called, but some noxious plant, probably darnel.“The tares are the children of the wicked one”; and by their being sown “among the wheat” is meant their being deposited within the territory of the visible Church. As they resemble the children of the kingdom, so they are produced, it seems, by a similar process of “sowing”–the seeds of evil being scattered and lodging in the soil of those hearts upon which falls the seed of the world. The enemy, after sowing his “tares,” “went his way”–his dark work soon done, but taking time to develop its true character. The harvest is the end of the world–the period of Christ’s second coming, and of the judicial separation of the righteous and the wicked. Till then, no attempt is to be made to effect such separation. But to stretch this so far as to justify allowing openly scandalous persons to remain in the communion of the Church, is to wrest the teaching of this parable to other than its proper design, and go in the teeth of apostolic injunctions ( 1 Corinthians 5 ). And the reapers are the angels–But whose angels are they? “The Son of man shall send forth His angels” ( Matthew 13:41 ). Compare 1 Peter 3:22 , “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom–to which they never really belonged. They usurped their place and name and outward privileges; but “the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners [abide] in the congregation of the righteous” ( Psalms 1:5 ). all things that offend–all those who have proved a stumbling-block to others and them which do iniquity–The former class, as the worst, are mentioned first. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire–rather, “the furnace of fire”: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth–What terrific strength of language–the “casting” or “flinging” expressive of indignation, abhorrence, contempt (compare Psalms 9:17, Daniel 12:2 ): “the furnace of fire” denoting the fierceness of the torment: the “wailing” signifying the anguish this causes; while the “gnashing of teeth” is a graphic way of expressing the despair in which its remedilessness issues (see Matthew 8:12 )! Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father–as if they had been under a cloud during the present association with ungodly pretenders to their character, and claimants of their privileges, and obstructors of their course. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear–(See Mark 4:9 ).
This is rather lengthy and so we will stop here with these two commentaries on the Parable of the Tares and perhaps address additional commentaries in future posts. These commentaries above are typical of those of the mainstream church which do not really explain this parable as a teaching from the Master to the people and then to His disciples about the Kingdom of God. From our perspective, the whole point is missed in these many words.
We now continue with our next parables starting with the Parable of the Growing Seed or, as Vincent calls it, the Parable of the Seed Growing Secretly****. This one, in its essence, is similar to the last one we discussed in that the Kingdom of God is likened to seed planted and grown. Here however, is only good seed. The parable goes thus: “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4;26-29). Remembering the parameters from the last parable we should see that the ground, like the field, is our personality consciousness and the man is our true self, the Inner Man, the Soul, the Christ Within. The man (the Soul) casts the seed (the thoughts of the Kingdom and His Presence) into the ground (the conscious personality). This is done in most every life or lifetime that a Soul spends in incarnation, the Soul or Spirit being ever in the Kingdom tries to get the attention of his physical presence which is immersed to a greater or lesser degree in the ways of the world. Now the conscious personality may feel the urging of the Inner Man or not and generally would not know what the urge is. The parable tells us that it is the seed springing forth and in Jesus words “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” which signifies our spiritual growth from that seed, from acknowledging its presence. From his conscious personality “he knoweth not how” but as the seed grows within all becomes steadily clearer and when the “full corn in the ear” is ready we know that it is time to bear our fruit, become disciples and follow the Master with our all and so the sickle to separate us from our old conscious selves into a new man born again. This parable is the story of what happened for me and for many of you. How long it takes for that seed to come to fruit is dependent only on our conscious desire to be in the Presence of God and that desire grows as the seed plant matures and we attend to it. If we are taken back by the world of things and desires we may never bear that fruit.
In this parable and in many others is found the true journey of man from life in the flesh to life in the Spirit; starting with the seed which, in another parable, is likened to the Word of God. What is the Word of God? Today we think it is the scripture that we read but is this so? In Jesus’ time there were the Books of the Law or of Moses, the Psalms or Books of Wisdom and the Prophets. Was this the Word of God that Jesus referred to when He likened the seed to the Word or is there something yet deeper than this? In some of today’s churches a big deal is made over ‘getting a word‘ from God and many people believe in this kind of God talking to us. The reality here should be seen to be that God is talking to us all and most all the time but we, living life in flesh, are not listening. We should hear Him as the prompting of the Spirit, the voice of our conscience and the ‘still small voice’. Of course we must remember that these Words of God are then filtered through our personality mechanisms; through our mental and emotional equipment and are colored too by our education and our beliefs. Is this the Word of God that the Master speaks of? In most all of our posts we have been establishing that it is. Yes it is good to read scripture and spiritual works of all kinds because they keep us, our personality consciousness, focused on the things of God. The Word however is what we receive from our own link to the Lord and that is our Soul, the Christ Within, the Inner Man. We can liken the Word of God from our Soul to make it like our own John the Baptist; a voice crying out in the wilderness of the flesh in which we live…..”Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” as it is written in the three synoptic gospels or “Make straight the way of the Lord” as it is recorded in the Gospel of John. Either way, this is the message from our Soul to our personality consciousness and while the personality most always knows that this is the way it should go, it is so distracted by the world that it generally does not hear the call at all.
Here then is the idea of this simple parable and the basis of the one that we will cover next: The Kingdom of God is like the man (which is the Inner Man) casting the seed (which is His word, His prompting and so the Word of God) into the ground (which is the personality consciousness). The man (Inner Man) sleeps and rises, night and day, (waiting in patience; Vincent says the tense makes this a continual process****) should the seed (the Word of God) spring and grow up (take root in the personality consciousness); the sower (the Inner Man) knows not how this will happen because, and the Master adds a comment here saying, that the earth (the personality consciousness) brings forth fruit of itself (reflecting back to the patience and the waiting day and night; there is nothing else to be done…..this is the freewill of man in form). Should is a keyword here as to signify what must be done; The Soul should cast the seed and the Soul should wait patiently and should the seed take root and grow the Soul should then awake and watch as first the blade, then the ear then the fruit in the ear grows from the seed. This is the way to the Kingdom: from the planting of the seed the Christ Within waits. Finally it takes root and springs up and this is now the time where the personality takes notice of the Soul. There is then much interaction and steadily more attention through the stages of blade and ear and fruit. It is the fruit of the Life of the True Man, the Spirit, the Soul, the Christ Within, the Inner Man, to have the personality consciousness focused on the Truth, on the Kingdom of God. The fruit is being born again as a Soul actively working in form; the fruit is becoming a true and functioning disciple of the Christ. The last phrase “putteth in the sickle” should, according to Vincent, be translated as sendeth forth which is as the verb is used in other verses where the Master is sending forth His disciples. This can be seen in this saying by Jesus: “I sent you to reap” (John: 4:38). The context then becomes more readily understandable from the perspective of the Soul who, seeing the fruit, sends forth the disciple to His work.
We must remember that the idea of a parable from the Master is to take some lifelike event and cast it to be a Spiritual Event and to do so as closely as is possible using language. The idea of the sickle for example gives the impression of cutting but the impression should be just reaping as it is in the citation from John’s Gospel. The Greek word therizo translated reap there has a meaning also of cutting: to reap, harvest; proverbial expression for sowing and reaping; cut off, destroy; as crops are cut down with a sickle**. So we should see here that the idea for us is that we, the True Self, gathers the fruit to himself; the consciousness being now in the Presence of God and in the Kingdom which has ever been within. And, we can say here in the words of the Apostle Paul who, speaking of Christ says, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Can we not say this about the journey of the Christ Within as well?
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:9).
Today’s Quote of the Day keeps with the ideas on seed that we have been been pursuing. In today’s post we liken the seed to the Word of God and the Word from our own Souls, our Christ Within. Is this not what the Apostle John is saying here? Born of God is Born Again and this saying, viewing man as the personality consciousness, tells us that our seed, the word that we hear from our own Soul stays with us when we are born of God.
- ** New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
