Friday February 9, 2024
Matthew 13:30
“Let both grow together until the harvest.”
There is a peculiar note of sadness in this parable of the wheat and the tares.
With a few powerful strokes Jesus portrays the disappointments to which His great work of saving souls is subject here in this world, and will be to the very end of time. The field is the world. He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The good seed means the children of the kingdom. The tares are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world.
A mighty drama!
When the servants saw the havoc that had been wrought, they wanted to proceed at once to gather up the tares. But the householder said: “No, for then you will damage the wheat also. Let them grow together until the harvest.”
Indeed! The disciples of Jesus no doubt often felt a desire to do away with the worst enemies of the kingdom. When the Samaritans closed their city and their homes to Jesus, James and John asked for permission to bid fire come down from heaven to consume these sinful people. But Jesus said: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are. For the Son of man came not to destroy people but to save them.”
It is possible for us also to observe how the enemies of God blaspheme the Lord and lead people astray in large numbers, until we too wish that God would strike them down.
But then He dismisses us with these words: “I am not come to destroy people. Let them stand until the harvest. And pray for them, that they might be saved. They, too, have an immortal soul for which I have died.”
However, He does take note of our inner distress and comforts us by saying: There is a time coming when I shall put all my enemies under my feet, when every knee shall bow, when none shall tempt another person any more.
Lord, we await Thy day!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
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