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WHY PARABLES?
ICEBREAKER
As an icebreaker for this week, I have a picture riddle for you. This picture represents a word. A word that describes something that we're going to talk about this week. If you want to try and figure it out on your own, you can pause the video here, but I'm going to start giving you hints which will get progressively easier to see if they'll help you.
And hopefully that was enough for you to get it, but the word riddle is parables. Right. See, it's a pair of bulls, get it. And that may be a bit of a lame start to today’s study, but I hope you’re excited to learn from this very unique and powerful way that Jesus often taught people. And what is a parable? A parable is a simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. An earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Although, you may wonder what the difference is between a parable and a fable. Well, a fable typically uses talking animals, or inanimate objects to teach the lesson, while parables usually use human characters to do the same. And Jesus really loved to use this method to teach truth. Mark 4:33-34 tells us that “And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it. But without a parable spake he not unto them . . .
TRANSITION
Which leads us to a really important question—a question that Jesus’s own disciples had for him, and maybe one that you have as well. What’s that question? Find it in Matthew 13:10.
They asked: Why speakest thou unto them in parables? That’s a good question isn’t it. Why stories? Why not just come out and say what you mean Jesus? And I’ve often had seminary students ask that very same question when it comes to the scriptures in general—let alone parables. Why do the scriptures use all that flowery language and symbols and metaphors. Why don’t they just come out and say what they mean? Why does it have to be so hard to understand? That’s a good question. What do parables accomplish, and metaphor and figurative language, that simple and direct speech lacks? Jesus had something to say about that.
SEARCH
Let’s read Matthew 13:10-16 looking for the answer to that question. And be sure to read verse 12 from the footnotes with the Joseph Smith Translation changes. There’s a significant change there.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever receiveth, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever continueth not to receive, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Hearing, Seeing, and Understanding
So, what do you think? Why parables? Because seeing they see not, and hearing, they hear not. What does that mean? How is it possible to see but not see? To hear, but not hear? I imagine that every parent out there knows exactly how this works. Ever had your children hear, but not HEAR you? Like when you ask them to clean their room. Or maybe you’ve had this experience before—when you’re reading a book, and you read an entire page, and then you get to the bottom, and you stop, and realize that you’ve been totally oblivious to the meaning of the words on the page. I mean, you’ve been reading the words, in the sense that your eyes have been following the page and reciting the words in your head, but your mind was somewhere else? You were seeing the words on the page, but you didn’t SEE the words. There was no understanding of them. There was no conscious effort put forth to understand them.
Or how’s this for an example. I remember a funny reaction I got from a student one year in seminary. You all know how much I love C.S. Lewis. And I remember I quoted something from the Chronicles of Narnia in a class and made a comment about how a particular episode in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe taught a very profound truth about the nature of Jesus Christ. And this girl in my class just gasped and said, “Wait, hold on, Aslan is Jesus?!” And I said, “Yes, in fact, that was C.S. Lewis’s whole purpose in writing those stories. It was to teach gospel principles with a fresh perspective, through a fantasy story.” And as she started to think back on that story, she was just like, “Oh my gosh. You’re right! That is the Jesus story. I just thought it was a fun kids book.” That is a good example of this idea. See, that young lady had seen and heard the story, but she hadn’t SEEN or HEARD the message of it. Do you get what Jesus is saying here?
That’s part of the purpose of teaching in parables. I’m sure there were people in Jesus’s day that totally missed his message. Maybe they were just simply entertained by the parable of the Good Samaritan. “Oh, what a nice little story.” Maybe they heard him give the parable of the sower here and walked away saying, “Wow, that Jesus must be a really good farmer. That reminds me, I need to go home and work in my field.” And Jesus would maybe look on saying, “Hmmm. They missed it. They didn’t see or hear.” Hopefully we don’t make the same mistake.
Perhaps the clearest explanation for the purpose of parables comes from the Bible Dictionary. Whoever wrote this description hit the nail on the head. I’ll just read one portion of it. It says:
From our Lord’s words we learn the reason for this method [teaching in parables]. It was to veil the meaning. The parable conveys to the hearer religious truth exactly in proportion to his faith and intelligence; to the dull and uninspired it is a mere story, “seeing they see not,” while to the instructed and spiritual it reveals the mysteries or secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Thus it is that the parable exhibits the condition of all true knowledge. Only he who seeks finds.
Thomas Paine put it another way in one of my favorite quotes of all time that can apply to many things: “What we obtain too cheaply we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; . . .”
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. 1, 1776.
More Reasons
Some other brief thoughts on parables. A parable is capable of teaching many truths at once. The Spirit can take a variety of different tailored messages to the hearts of those that study them with an eye towards personal application. They invite personal revelation as the Holy Ghost becomes the teacher. Studying parables is meant to be a revelatory experience, not just a straight lecture from Jesus. They can convey various messages to an individual depending on age and circumstance.
Another reason for parables? They’re just more fun, more interesting, more entertaining even. They add color and intrigue and beauty to sometimes complex or abstract gospel doctrines and principles.
I mean, would you rather hear a professor give a philosophical lecture on theories of character growth and the tendency of people to feel more secure in the area of their origin, or watch the movie The Wizard of Oz and feel the power of Dorothy’s words as she repeats the line “There’s no place like home”?
Which is more effective in helping children understand the importance of hard work and planning. A discourse on the virtues of project management and concentrated industrious effort? Or reading them the story of the three little pigs?
I know which I prefer.
The Reward
Before we move on from this, one more thing Jesus wants us to understand about parables. The value of putting forth that effort. According to verses 11 and 15 in that block of scripture we just read, what’s the promise of seeking to hear and see? You get to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. Greater knowledge, insight, divine guidance, and inspired counsel to live your life better, with more wisdom.
And, though expressed in the negative here in verse 15 as a rhetorical device, Jesus reveals what he intended us to experience through his parables. When we make the effort to SEE with our spiritual eyes, and HEAR with our spiritual ears, and understand with our hearts, then we will be converted and healed. They will strengthen our faith and heal our spiritual infirmities.
TRUTH
If my eyes, ears, and heart are open, then I will understand heavenly truths, be converted, and healed. Or, more simply put. If I seek, then I will find.
PRACTICE
And before we dig deep into one of Christ’s most famous parables, you could stop and do a quick activity to help introduce your students to a number of parables found here in Matthew 13. It’s a matching activity that invites your students to match the parable with a picture. What verses match which picture. Perhaps you could make it a speed challenge to see who can complete it correctly the quickest. Here are the answers.
Matthew 13:44 The picture of the treasure chest in the field
Matthew 13:45-46 The picture of the pearl
Matthew 13:47-51 The picture of the net
Matthew 13:52 The picture of the man taking things out of a treasure chest
Luke 13:6-10 The picture of the tree
Luke 13:34 The picture of the chicken (which I understand that this last one isn’t necessarily a parable, but a metaphor, but same idea, right?)
Now when that’s completed. Invite them to choose just one of those parables that they would like to dig a little deeper into. Which intrigues them most? Then invite them to really seek to HEAR, and SEE, and UNDERSTAND that parable. What do they think Jesus was trying to teach us by using those particular symbols? Then perhaps you could have them share their findings with a partner or with the class.
CONCLUSION
And so, now I’d like to make a promise to you. That whatever effort you put in to studying and understanding the parables of Jesus, will be rewarded fourfold. When we dig deep into these amazing stories of Jesus, they will yield up to us their treasures. They teach us so much in a very short amount of text. The word-to-insight ratio of parables is off the charts. And so I hope that you’re excited to dive into them today and in the weeks to come. Jesus tells a lot of them, and they’re phenomenal. Hear, See, Understand, Be Converted, Be Healed. Parables are a profound pattern for personal perspective.
So let’s start off with a bang here. Two really extraordinary and insightful parables. The parable of the sower and the parable of the wheat and tares. They’re what I would refer to as parables with training wheels because Jesus actually gives us a little help with their interpretation.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
ICEBREAKER
For an icebreaker to the parable of the sower, I would want the lesson to be very visual in nature. Because that’s what parables are all about—the visual. So I would bring in some props, a number of different gardening tools and ask my students before I brought them out what I might need if I was going to try and grow a fruit tree in my yard from scratch. Or a patch of strawberries, or some berry bushes. What would I need? Then let them brainstorm and if you happen to have the objects they mention, bring them out. And so I would bring in a shovel, a rake, a watering can, some work gloves for pulling out weeds maybe, fertilizer, some pruners, a basket for hopefully gathering fruit eventually, and don’t forget the seeds. You can’t plant a garden or an orchard without seeds. And there’s something else they’re going to need that they might forget. Soil. You need a place to plant those seeds. And do you think it matters where you plant those seeds? Yes. The type of soil you use is going to help determine the health and growth of your plant. Then I would bring out four different large mason jars with different types of soil displayed in them. One with a piece of concrete in it. One with soil that’s full of large rocks. One with dirt and a bunch of thorns and weeds. And then one with deep dark rich soil in it. Ask them which of the four would probably yield the best results.
TRANSITION
Interestingly enough, the scriptures frequently use plants and trees in them to teach spiritual lessons. For example, in Lehi’s dream, a tree was used to represent the blessings of membership in God’s kingdom. Alma used the metaphor of seeds and trees to teach an important lesson about faith and testimony. Jacob used an orchard to represent the spiritual history of the earth. And we all know that God used a tree in the Garden of Eden as a pivotal part of his plan. Well, Jesus used the plant imagery in a number of his parables. Today we’ll take a look at two of those parables. The parable of the sower, and the parable of the wheat and the tares. First, the parable of the sower.
SEARCH
Whenever I encounter a parable in the scriptures, I like to follow three basic steps as I study it. They are:
List the elements of the parable
Identify what they may represent
Ponder spiritual application
So first, identify the elements within the parable. Let’s do that here. Here’s the parable.
3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
What elements of the parable did you identify?
The Sower
The Seed
The Birds
The Wayside
The Stony Soil
The Sun
The Roots
The Thorns
The Good Ground
The Fruit
Now how do we interpret those elements of the parable? Well, we’re fortunate in that Jesus actually helped us with this one. So if you jump to verses 18-23 you’ll see that Jesus offers us some insight into the meaning of the different symbols of the parable. And to help us grasp that meaning better, we’re going to use this thinking map to record our findings. So what you’ll do is read verses 18-23 and try to fill in the boxes with the dotted lines first. What does each element represent? Some of them Jesus gives us directly, and the verses where you’ll find them are identified in the box’s label. Others, Jesus doesn’t give us a direct interpretation but invites us to ponder their significance. So first, try to fill in each of the boxes with the dotted lines with your interpretations. Then, take some time to ponder those other boxes as well. Don’t worry if you can’t fill them all out but give it a try. For each of the soils, consider the state of the plant itself in each. What would you observe if you were to see the plant in those soils? Then, for fun. I invite you to ponder what the gardening solution might be in each of the four soils. In terms of growing plants, what would a good gardener do to remedy the problem found in each soil? Then, ponder what that would look like spiritually. For example, if you had packed or stony ground where you wanted to plant, what could you do. And what could that represent spiritually?
The Seed
The first symbol we need to identify is the seed itself. What is it? According to verse 19, the seed is the word of the kingdom. The gospel. Truth. Spiritual guidance. Doctrine. Counsel. This is the seed.
The Sower
Who is the sower then? Jesus doesn’t specifically reveal the identity of the sower, does he? But with a little pondering we could probably come up with a few likely possibilities. Certainly we could assign Jesus that role as one who sows the seeds of truth in people’s hearts. But the sower could also be missionaries, prophets and apostles, parents, teachers, the Holy Ghost, and we could even place ourselves in that role if WE are the ones seeking to spread the seed of God’s word. Anyone who aims to disperse or teach the truth could be identified as a sower.
The Ground
And now, one of the most important symbols for us to consider, the nature of the soils themselves. The ground. There are four types of ground or soil mentioned here. What do they represent? Different kinds of people? Hmmm, maybe, in part. But let’s be careful here, I don’t believe that the intent of the parable was to invite us to judge our neighbor and compartmentalize everyone into four simple categories of receptivity. You’ve got your wayside people, stony people, thorn ridden people, and good ground people. Well, I’m a member of the Church, therefore I must be the good ground. I feel bad for all those wayside, stony people out there. No, I believe there’s a much deeper, more personally meaningful way to look at this parable. I believe that Jesus is inviting us to look inward, at ourselves. To ask, “Is it I?” at every soil and every symbol. And if I’m being honest with myself, I see evidence of each soil inside myself. I believe the parable calls us to consider OUR OWN reactions to the word of God.
So what does the ground itself represent? Our hearts. That’s the word used at the end of verse 19. “Sown in his heart”. It’s our spiritual receptivity to the gospel—our reaction to every gospel truth that we encounter. We’re invited to consider the kind of soil does God’s word finds in our hearts when it’s tossed to us. And that reaction may vary throughout our life, or indeed, perhaps within a week or even a day. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I think I have “Wayside” experiences at church or “Stony” experiences with certain gospel principles or commandments and “good ground” experiences with others. During my scripture study, general conference weekend, or just life in general, I know that thorns have often pushed their way into the soil of my heart from time to time. And this parable can help me in each of those instances. So I invite us to study this parable with an introspective eye.
And granted, keep in mind that there are various ways that we can interpret and apply this parable. That’s the power of parables. This isn’t THE way to interpret it. Joseph Smith, for example, interpreted it as a chronology of the spiritual history of God’s church combined with the other parables in the chapter. And missionaries might apply it in yet another way. But I’ve found that this looking inward approach can yield a lot of personal meaning. So I’ll approach it that way.
The Wayside
Now to the four soils. And as I discuss each soil, as a teacher, I would bring out the mason jar with the representation of that soil inside it. Our first soil to examine is the wayside. The wayside would have been a heavily trafficked pathway or trail passing through or near the field. Packed down earth. What’s going to happen to a seed that’s tossed on that kind of ground? It would just bounce off and kind of just sit there on the top. And as the seed sits there, what happens to it? It gets eaten by birds. So what kind of heart or reaction to truth would this be referring to? Jesus tells us that it represents times when we choose not to understand the word. When we hear it, but don’t understand it. But why don’t we understand it? Is it because we find the words of the scriptures confusing? Is it because somebody’s church or conference talk goes over our heads because we’re not as familiar with the gospel as they are? No. I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. We just need to refer back to the previous 10 verses in Matthew 13 that we’ve already looked at for the answer. It’s when our ears are dull of hearing, and our eyes have closed. This is describing what I would call “apathy”. This is when we CHOOSE not to truly hear. We may hear the words, but we don’t want to put forth the effort to truly listen or understand or apply. It’s when God’s word just goes in one ear and out the other. The seed never even gets planted in the wayside soil. There is no plant. And so, since it’s just sitting there, unplanted in our hearts, who jumps on that opportunity? The birds. And what do the birds represent? The wicked one. The adversary. Satan, or the servants of Satan that do uphold his work. They come and catch away that which was sown in our heart.
And for each of the soils I think we need to ask ourselves if we can relate. Have we ever had any wayside moments? Times when we allow the distractions of the world to keep the word from even entering into our hearts. Times when we just skim through the scriptures to get it done without stopping to ponder or apply? Times when general conference is on in the background, but our minds are elsewhere? Times when we tune out the talks and lessons of sacrament meeting or Sunday School? These are wayside moments. And the wicked one gives a sigh of relief as he snatches it away before it can even be planted.
Stony Places
Now the stony soil. What kind of reaction does that represent? It’s when we hear the word, and with joy receive it. Ah, so great, the seed actually gets planted and starts to grow in the stony soil. But what problems does it encounter? Everything’s fine until the sun comes out. Then what happens to it? It withers and dies. Why? Is it because sun is bad for plants? Is it the sun’s fault that the plant dies. No. In fact, the last time I checked, plants NEED sun in order to grow. Sun is only a problem when . . .the plant has no deepness of earth, or no root in itself, or, Luke adds that the plant withers because “it lacked moisture”. Those are the real problems in this scenario not the sun.
What does this look like spiritually? It’s when we hear AND understand the word. We allow it to be planted in our hearts. We receive the truth with joy. But what’s the problem? We don’t put down roots on that principle. Our desire to live it doesn’t run deep. We fail to water it with the living water of Christ. This is “surface” conversion to a principle or when we build our foundation on something other than the Rock of our Redeemer? Are we “converted unto the Lord”, or unto the missionaries who first taught us, a specific church leader, a church program, or a community? Is it just social conversion. This kind of testimony has no root. Or could this be the equivalent of not acting on gospel principles. Building our houses upon the sand. We hear his words, understand them, even believe them, but don’t do. And when we approach his word and teachings in this way, what happens when the sun comes up? What does the sun represent? Tribulation and persecution. Then in Luke’s version, he adds a third: times of temptation. What happens to the seed of truth when it encounters opposition like that, and it hasn’t been rooted deep in the soil of our desires or watered sufficiently? Those experiences turn out to be too much for us. Our belief dies. It withers and we abandon our short-lived commitment to it.
Have we ever had any stony moments? Times when we get all excited about getting better at living some gospel principle—but then it doesn’t last? Times when tribulation and persecution or times of temptation cause us to abandon our commitment to a principle of the gospel? Does our conversion rest on Christ, or on somebody or something else? Are there commandments and standards we believe are right but just don’t live. If so, we’ve got some stony ground to take care of.
Thorn-ridden Soil
Now the thorny soil. What happens to the plant here? It gets planted. It grows. It survives in the sun. It may even have roots. But what’s the problem? No fruit. Which was the whole purpose of planting these seeds in the first place. With these weeds, and thorns competing for the same soil, there’s just not enough nutrients for the plant to produce fruit. The thorns choke it. What do the thorns represent? The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. Mark adds “the lusts of other things.”
So we ask ourselves now, “Do I have any thorns in my life?” Do the cares and lusts of the world keep us from truly enjoying the fruits of discipleship? This is a more subtle danger, because we may look at the plant of our faith and say, It’s alive! I believe. I do the right things. But then we divide our energy and desires between God and Mammon. Between the gospel and material things. Our lusts consume us. In those cases, we never really taste the fruits that God intends us to enjoy.
Good Ground
Which leaves us with one more type of soil. The good ground. What happens here? The seed gets planted. It puts down roots. There is deepness of earth to it. It receives adequate moisture. The thorns and weeds are plucked out whenever they start to poke through. Therefore, what happens? It grows and bears fruit. What does the good ground represent? The times when we hear the word, understand it (and then Joseph Smith adds another key word to this one in the JST) and endureth. So we endure the tribulation and the persecution, and the times of temptation, and we don’t allow the thorns of lusts and cares to choke us. And then we bear fruit. What are the fruits of hearing and understanding and believing? Name some. Joy for sure, peace, guidance, knowledge, rewarding relationships, fulfillment, health. There are family fruits, eternal marriage fruits, missionary fruits, parenting fruits. And then there are still fruits to be tasted in the future aren’t there? What are some future fruits of the gospel that you look forward to? Resurrection? That’s got to taste good. Meeting the Savior in person, meeting loved ones that have died, eternal life, godhood. Our Heavenly Father runs quite the fruit stand.
Now what do you make of the 100, 60, and 30 fold yields? What may that teach us about "good ground"? I’m not sure. Perhaps there are varying degrees of conversion and application of the truth perhaps. The more someone applies a seed of truth, the greater the yield? Mark does something interesting and switches the order to 30, 60, 100 in ascending order. What could that signify? Maybe that represents different harvests within a person’s lifetime. As time goes on, the fruits of gospel living increase every year, just like a tree produces more and more each year as it grows and matures. Life just keeps getting better on the path of righteousness.
So, have you had any “good ground” experiences in your life? What are some of the fruits you have tasted thus far? These are the times when we recognize the goodness of living the gospel. Those moments of happiness, revelation, comfort, fulfillment, protection from evil, and strength to endure. The gospel is a fruitful one. There are great blessings to enjoy as we live it, and future blessings to come.
Cultivating our Soil
Now remember on our thinking map that I’ve included two boxes labeled, “Gardening solution” and “Spiritual solution”. This can be a fun exercise. Think of these soils in terms of actual gardening and how a gardener might remedy them. Then ponder how that could be applied spiritually. Because, Satan is going to try and stop us at every point of the growing process. If he can stop us from hearing the word of God at all, he’ll do it. If he can’t stop you from hearing the word, he’ll try to stop you from believing it. If he can’t stop you from believing it, he’ll try to stop you from living it, If he can’t stop you from living it, He’ll try to scorch your faith when tribulation, persecution, and temptation arises. And if that doesn’t work, he’ll try to choke your faith with cares, materialism, and lusts. So we’ve got to be vigilant at every step of the process.
What would be the gardening solution to wayside ground then? Break it up. Take a shovel or a rake and chop up the packed down earth. Give the seed a chance to get into the soil. What does that look like spiritually? Get rid of the distractions that are standing between you and the word. Fight the apathy. Recognize our need to put forth effort to understand God’s word. And, you know, sometimes the only thing that works is for God to send down a shovel of consequence or adversity to wake us up. We’ve got to break down the hardness of our hearts so that truth can penetrate them once more.
What the solution to stony ground? Remove the rocks. Dig deeper. Provide more moisture in that ground. What does that look like spiritually? Get rid of the rocks of superficiality or hypocrisy. Water your ground with desire and committment and deep study. Analyze your “why” and purify your motives.
What’s the solution to thorns? Rip them out! Grab them by the root and yank. You can’t just tear weeds out from the top or they’ll just come back. We’ve got to try and pull them out at the roots. What does that look like spiritually? Strike at the root of your cares, lusts, and materialism. Realize there is much more to life than money and things and seek to focus on what which matters most. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven rather than treasures on earth. And, we’ve got to seek to control our lusts and put our natural man or woman in its place.
And if there was a specific gardening problem in the good soil, perhaps it’s suggested in the different yields. Some may reap 100, others 60, and others 30. The more deeply we apply God’s word in our lives, the more fruit we enjoy. So perhaps it’s not necessarily a problem in this soil, per se, but an encouragement to live the gospel as deeply and fully as possible. The greater the devotion, the greater the harvest.
TRUTH
Now it’s hard to just identify one specific truth to this parable because there are so many. But we could highlight a few of the major ideas into one. If I hear, understand, and believe the truth, root my testimony deep, allow persecution and trial to help me grow rather than diminish my faith, and pluck materialism, lust, and worldly concerns out of my life, then I will abundantly enjoy the fruits of the gospel.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
Then, I don’t know how much we really need to include a specific “Liken the Scriptures” section right here. We’ve kind of been doing that the whole time as we’ve been studying. But before we leave this parable, perhaps a more general question to consider.
While we’ve studied this parable, have you felt the Spirit prompting you to do anything? Will you do it?
CONCLUSION
The parable of the sower, then, is an excellent reminder of our continued need for vigilance in receiving the good seed of God’s word in our lives. The enemy is ever watchful for opportunities to stunt our growth and restrict the fruits we enjoy. If one tactic doesn’t work, he’ll regroup and try another. On the other hand, the sowers continue to offer us the opportunity to plant, cultivate, and reap. Still, we alone can determine what happens to the plant of our spiritual receptiveness. Just like the enemy is always on the lookout for an opportunity to hinder growth, we too must be consistently vigilant in caring for plant and analyzing the quality of our soil. Like any gardener will tell you, caring for a plant is not a one-time task. It requires daily nurturing,
care, and attention to grow fruit from year to year. It’s a process, and we’re going to need to analyze the health of our soil regularly. There will be times when our ground begins to get packed down, and we’re going to need pull out the shovel of humility to break it up. There will be times when our soil begins to dry out and we’ll need to water it with the living water of Christ or our own tears of penitence. There will be times when we’re going to need to weed out some lusts and earthly cares from our souls. And I believe that as we do this, and lovingly and carefully cultivate the soil of our souls, then I believe that I can promise us that our gardens will be fruitful and will provide us with plentiful harvests now and on into the eternities. And by the way, once you do get a chance to taste the fruits of your labors, be sure to enjoy them, you deserve it!
THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND TARES (Matthew 13:36-43)
ICEBREAKER For an icebreaker to this next parable, we’re going to do a quick weed identification challenge. What you do is you’re going to give your students exactly one minute to study the following slide as closely as possible. Tell them that you are going to give them a quiz afterwards to see how well they remember which weed is which. After that, you show them some pictures of the weeds and invite them to do their best to identify which weed is being depicted. For example, this weed is which? That is Field Bind Weed. How about this one? That is Ragweed. This one? Puncture Vine. And this? It’s called Kochia. And one more? This is London Rocket. Now more than likely your students are going to struggle to identify which weed is which. And that’s kind of the point.
TRANSITION
The moral of the activity? Weed identification is not easy. Unless you have a lot of experience with and knowledge about those particular kinds of weeds, it’s very easy to mistake them for the wrong plant. Well, the Savior told a parable about weeds and weed identification. Really! And the name of the weed that makes an appearance in this parable was called a tare. And the difficulty of identifying tares is a big part of this parables spiritual interpretation. You’ll find this parable in Matthew 13:24-30. Let’s take a look at it.
SEARCH
For a bit of variety, I might have my students watch the Church’s Bible video of Jesus telling this parable. And I’ll provide a link in the video description for you. And as they watch, invite them to pay close attention to the different elements of the parable, because following the video we’re going to try and list them all on the board.
And in the parable you have:
The sower of the seed:
• The field:
The wheat:
The Enemy:
The tares:
The Reapers
The Harvest:
The Burning
Now, the second step of the process. What do each of these elements represent? And here, Jesus gives us a little help again. In Matthew 13:36-43 he tells us what the symbols in the parable represent. What interpretations does the Lord give us for the different elements in the parable? And actually, if you wanted to, you could also show them the video that depicts Jesus explaining the parable. There’s one of those to. A link is in the video description.
And here are his interpretations:
The sower of the seed is “The Son of Man” or Jesus himself
The field is the world
The good seed or the wheat are the children of the kingdom or the righteous.
The enemy is the devil
The bad seed or tares are the children of the wicked one, the wicked.
The reapers are the angels
Therefore the harvest, is the saving and gathering of the righteous at the second coming.
And the burning of the field is the destruction of the wicked at the second coming.
Now for the spiritual applications of this parable. This is a fairly straightforward description of the latter days isn’t it? We have wicked people and righteous people all growing together. Satan, our enemy, has done a great job of sowing wickedness, persecution, apostasy, and the influence of Babylon all around us. That may be one possible spiritual application of this parable. We must learn to live as wheat while still surrounded by tares, to live righteous in a wicked world, or live in the world but not be of it. That’s one possible application. Also, it’s a parable about the Second Coming. Eventually, at some point in the future, the righteous will be spared and the wicked destroyed. Pretty simple. But there's more to this parable. To me, the greatest value and, where I feel we find the most personal application of this section, comes in the specific harvesting instructions offered in verses 28-30. What are they?
The reapers are warned not to pluck up the tares too quickly for fear that some of the wheat will be destroyed in the process. So they are to allow both the wheat and the tares to grow together until the time of the harvest when they are fully ripe. Then, first, according to a significant change in the JST, the wheat is gathered out from the tares, then the tares can be bound and burned. It’s the opposite order of what is suggested in the text of the King James version.
Now what on earth is this all about? What do you think the Lord is trying to teach us with these instructions?
First, apparently it's not easy to tell the difference between a stalk of wheat and a tare when they’re young. This is actually true of these plants. Biblical scholars believe that the weed Jesus is referring to here as a tare was something called a Darnell weed. And if you were to just harvest your field with tares or Darnell wheat in it and try to bake bread out of the resulting flour you got, it would taste Tare-able. So you can't just leave them. You have to do something about the problem. At some point, you’ve got to take the tares out. But here’s the problem. This is a picture of an immature stalk of wheat compared to an immature tare. And they look very similar don't they. It would be quite difficult to tell the difference with any degree of certainty. Now here's what they look like when they're full grown. Now you can tell the difference, can't you?
But remember, we're not talking about plants here, but people. What is this teaching us in terms of people?
Why would he say, don't pull out what you think looks like a tare and burn it too quickly because you might actually be destroying wheat? OR how might overzealous judgment of the spiritual state of others damage our mission as disciples of Christ? The fact of the matter is that there may be people out there that look like tares on the outside, but really, deep down on the inside they're a piece of wheat. If we're too quick to pluck them out and burn them, we might actually be damaging and losing their precious potential.
To me this is a lesson on not judging people too quickly or conclusively as we seek to gather in the last days. There are many individuals out there that at first glance may not appear to be wheat. But before we "condemn" them to the fire. Before we judge them as not being "church material", before we deem them as a hopeless spiritual cause, give them a chance, give them some more time to grow, continue working with them. If we just start pulling and burning, we might make a grave error. Do you remember Jacob 5 from our study of the Book of Mormon? The allegory of the olive trees? How did the master of the vineyard work with his plants? He tried everything in his power to try to get those plants to bring forth good fruit. He often said "It grieveth me that I should lose this tree" and he worked with them, and nourished them, and dug about them, and pruned them, and all kinds of things before he ever got to the point of burning. That's a really good illustration of how we should seek to treat people.
For example. My Grandma Wilcox. If you were to meet her in her early twenties, you would probably say she looked very much like a tare. She was pretty wild when she was young. But if the people around her had pulled her out and burned her (so to speak), if they had lost hope in her, if they had judged and condemned her, if they had failed to give her the chance and encouragement to change, we may have lost one of the greatest stalks of wheat I know of. In fact, my life may have turned out very differently as a result. My Grandma was one of the most faithful, Christlike, dedicated members of the Church I've ever known. Wheat through and through. There was just a short time in her life when she looked like a tare.
Another brief example I'd like to share. A time when I made that mistake of judging a person as a tare. And this is a painful one for me to share. I’m not proud of it. While on my mission in Brazil, we met a young woman named Aparecida who allowed us to come into her home to teach her. She had two young children, both from different fathers, and she was not living with either of men at the time. We visited her a few times and, like good missionaries, invited her to be baptized, and she said yes. Now this is where I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't take that commitment as seriously as I should. Unfortunately, I had had the experience many times already with people accepting baptism but then would never actually follow through with it. They would say yes to please us, but when it came right down to it, they would eventually tell us that they weren't really interested, or they would just never show up to church. This happened almost weekly, and perhaps I'd become a bit jaded. Well, I judged that young woman. My spiritually immature 19-year-old mind had come to the conclusion that she was a tare. That she was not really the type of person that was serious about becoming a member of the church. But we continued to teach her the discussions. When it came to the final one, we finished up and were about to leave, and she looked up at us and said, "So when's my baptism?" And I had that brief moment of surprise, and then said, "Oh, of course, yes, we'll do that this next Sunday if you like", and she told us that she very much was looking forward to being baptized. And she was. Aparecida was baptized that week and began faithfully attending church from that point on. I felt chastised by the Spirit after that experience. "Don't judge" it seemed to say. Or in terms of the parable, "Don't pluck out the tares lest you damage the wheat". Aparecida was wheat, and I had judged her as a tare. Thankfully, the Lord wasn't going to allow my unfair judgment to get in the way of his work in the life of this young woman.
Now, do you know of any examples of someone who may have looked like a tare at some point in their lives, but really turned out to be wheat?
Therefore, since it's so difficult to tell the difference, how do we go about the work of gathering in the last days? According to verse 30 we go out looking for the wheat first. We gather wheat to be bundled and saved, not tares to be burned. That's the JST change there. How do you think that changes things? We go out looking for wheat. We treat everyone as if they are wheat. We assume that regardless of their outside appearance, they may really wheat on the inside. Because I'm afraid that if we go out looking for tares, then we might bypass countless opportunities to bless and influence people. If we walk around saying things like “That person would never join the church, I mean, look at their lifestyle, they're a tare. What’s the use in trying? Look, they drink and smoke, look, they have tattoos and piercings, look, they are too wrapped up in their own religion, why bother trying”. At the worst we condemn them as hopeless, cast them out, ignore them, or make them our enemy, and at best we miss out on an opportunity to gather.
But if I treat everyone as potential wheat? What could happen? They may change. Or at least they'll know that they are welcome. They’ll feel accepted. They'll be more open to hear our message, maybe at some future time. Now they may not be wheat, in the end, but at least we've given them a chance, the benefit of the doubt. I love this quote by Goethe that I feel applies here:
“Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.” – Goethe
TRUTH
As we seek to gather the righteous from amongst the wicked in the latter-days, we must be careful not to dismiss people’s potential as disciples of Christ.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES Is there anyone you know of right now that you might be tempted to judge as a tare?
How could you treat them more like wheat?
CONCLUSION With that, I pray we can always assume that those we meet and interact with are wheat, even if they seem to bear a tare's facade. That we will see the "wheat" in everyone and never give up hope on them. Never make final judgments on people. You may very well be surprised someday to learn that they were wheat the whole time. Hopefully we can be humble enough to admit that we're not always the best judges of potential. I pray that we can all look for the best in people and that many, many may be gathered and bundled into the barn of our Lord.
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