How to interpret parables. The tares
It is my opinion
that parables serve to clarify, in a general form, one sole issue, and therefore, they cannot be scrutinized in
detail in order to attribute a revealing significance to each
facet of a parable, simile or vision. A good example of this is the
parable of tares. To my way of thinking, this parable is only
teaching that God for some reason allows the believers to coexist with the lost
for a time, but that later, when the appropriate moment approaches,
He will separate the ones from the others, throwing the reprobates to
Hell.
However,
if we begin to rummage around each fact of a parable, in each word, in each
image, we would arrive at the most contradictory conclusions. That is why my way of analyzing the
parables is in a general form, for
one sole teaching. Let’s see what happens when we
decide to take each detail of the parable of the tares, as if it were something
revealing.
“24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying: The
kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while men
slept, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went
his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and
brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto
him: Sir, didst
not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them: An enemy
hath done this. The servants said unto him: Wilt thou
then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said: Nay; lest
while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 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 them; but
gather the wheat into my barn.”
(Matthew
13:24-30)
“36 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. 37 He answered and said unto them: He that
soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world; the good
seed are the children of the kingdom; but the
tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 the enemy that sowed them is the Devil; the
harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the
fire; so shall
it be in the end of this world. 41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they
shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them
which do iniquity; 42 and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him
hear.”
(Matthew 13:36-43)
If we take
each detail as something revealing, the first thing that would come to mind is that according to verses 25
and 39, the Devil had the power to
create bad people and place them on Earth,
which is absolutely absurd. Satan
can tempt the people that God created,
suggest to them to depart from the things of God, but he cannot create bad people in order to mix them in with the
ones God created.
The second thing we would have to think according to verse 25 is that the angels that
look after the Earth fell asleep and did not see Satan when he was bringing the
bad ones he created. This is also
absurd, because even if the angels
would have been careless, God was
not going to be careless.
The third thing is that according to verse 30, we would have to think that the ingathering or rapture would be
not to take the Christians, but to
first take the bad ones. Following
in this erroneous manner of interpretation,
we would have to think that the good ones remain on Earth, which already is a Kingdom,
according to verse 43. Upon saying
in verse 41 “they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
offend.....” it would make us think that Jesus already considered
the world as his Kingdom when the “tares” are gathered. And that instead of taking us outside of this world, it would be the enemies that would be
taken away. Verses 40 to 43
specifically clarifies that at the end of the world, the reprobates would be collected and the believers would remain
in the Kingdom.
Is
this what this parable is attempting to teach us? No; the only
thing that is to be taught with this parable is that the ones who love God and
the ones that hate Him are going to coexist for a long time and will later be
separated. No other teaching can be gathered from that parable.
As I already said, I don’t believe that every facet of a parable,
vision or simile that has been used in a complete and general form,
should be taken in order to conclude details which does not appear to have been
the goal or intention of that parable, vision or simile.
That
foolishness of taking parables apart detail by detail is evident in the case of the
disloyal butler, the one about the widow and the unjust judge,
the one about the friend in the middle of the night, and others.
If we were to take them detail by detail, its teachings would be
contradictory to the gospel. In
the first, it would justify the bad behavior of the disloyal servant; in the second we would come to the
conclusion that if we bother God with our petitions, in the same manner
as the widow did with the unjust judge, God would respond, not
because He love us, but so that we do not bother him any more;
and in the third we would teach again that God grants our
petitions so that we don’t bother Him anymore. We will see more of it later.