Rooted together

The parable of the tares illustrates a significant question: why is there evil in us?

"...And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them.'" Matthew 13:28-29

This is not just a question about evil in the world; the question is about our very nature. We try to look at ourselves in terms of a single personality; we try to explain what we do in terms of experience and influence. We interpret the new birth as being a new birth in this single personality. But the reality of what believers do is difficult to explain if this single personality has been completely transformed. We are forced to rely on escape clauses: "they must not have been saved".

The picture that Jesus gives in the parable of the sower is that our human existance is the soil. (Adam was named for the dirt he came from.) Rebirth is spiritual. A spiritual seed, received by the soil, grows into something spiritual. In the parable of the tares, Jesus added another piece. Some evil can grow in the soil as well. Who "I" am is not well expressed by the dirt alone; I am much more than that. I have in me a son of the kingdom; something in me came from God's hand, and is growing under His care. But I have in me also sons of the evil one. In whatever I have accepted a lie, something is growing, something evil.

How can someone who is born again become addicted to something: drugs, gambling, porn, alcohol, gossip, depression? Simple: he received a lie, and then allowed it to grow. Sin is not a consumer commodity to be used as we please, and then discarded. Sin is a living spirit that will grow if it is given a chance. We will do what we never intended. The monsters in the news that do inhuman things may not be monsters. Those who thought they knew them are sometimes completely surprised by what happened. Some may have been good people in other areas of their life, but they have let something grow. What we allowed in something little has become something monsterous.

"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much." Luke 16:10

A very little deception can become the entry point for something very evil.

Should God remove this evil in us? The parable of the tares points out that He is choosing not to uproot it; the fix would destroy what He planted in us. These things are rooted together in us.

The tares are our responsibility. Jesus faced the lies of the evil one; He withstood each temptation. We are the soil; what we allow to grow is our choice. Nothing can grow that we have not allowed. We must be carried away by our own longings; we must buy the lie.

"But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." James 1:14-15

It is what we receive that determines what grows in us. The word has already been sown in our heart; we can choose to allow it to grow in us.

"Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls."
James 1:21

We do not live in a fairy tale world of "good Christian men"; we live in a "little shop of horrors" world. In this world, evil grows in ways we never intended. A good, devout, responsible man can murder his twin daughters for no apparent reason.

It is not the dirt that bears fruit; it is what grows in it.