Daily Lesson for Sunday 23rd of February 2025

Jesus tells the story of a landowner who sows only good seeds in his field. However, tares spring up among the wheat. Upon seeing this, the servants of the owner ask him, “ ‘ “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” ’ ” (Matthew 13:27, NKJV). This is similar to the question often asked today concerning the problem of evil: If God created the world entirely good, why is there evil in it?

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The master replies to his servant’s question: “ ‘ “An enemy has done this” ’ ” (Matthew 13:28, NKJV). Jesus later identifies the one “ ‘who sows the good seed’ ” as “ ‘the Son of Man,’ ” who is Jesus Himself (Matthew 13:37, NKJV), and explains that “the field is the world” (Matthew 13:38), and the “ ‘enemy who sowed’ ” the tares is “ ‘the devil’ ” (Matthew 13:39, NKJV), explicitly depicting a cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. Why is there evil in the world? Evil is the result of the enemy (the devil) who opposes the master. “ ‘An enemy has done this’ ” (Matthew 13:28, NKJV).

This answer, however, provokes the follow-up question, “ ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ” In other words, why not uproot the evil immediately? “ ‘ “No, ” ’ ” the master replies, “ ‘ “lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest” ’ ” (Matthew 13:29-30, NKJV; compare with Mark 4:29). According to the parable, God will finally put an end to evil, but uprooting it prematurely would result in irreversible collateral damage that harms the good.

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