The Wheat and the Tares

Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 86, which is a section where the Lord explains the parable of the wheat and the tares from Matthew 13. Oddly enough, yesterday's Sunday school lesson was on parables found in Matthew 13 and we talked about this very thing. We even read from this section.

The parable is of course about a sower who plants a field of wheat and when the sowing is done lies down to rest and an enemy comes and plants tares among the wheat. When the sowers see this they wish to pluck up the tares but the master of the field prevents them from doing so because it will destroy the wheat also. I don't know if you have ever looked at a picture of what tares look like, or wheat if you have not seen a wheat stalk before, but they do look very similar and before the wheat grains appear I can see how one would have a hard time telling them apart.

Now, the wheat and the tares are the people of the world. The wheat are those that accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, the tares are those that don't and are usually referred to as the bad people of the world. I think of them as those living the telestial law. Yesterday in the Sunday School class the teacher asked why the Lord does not want to gather up the tares before it's time and what thoughts we had on the subject. I raised my hand and answered that this parable has always reminded me of something Joseph Smith once said. He said that the Lord had told him that he could have anything that he wanted and the Lord would give it to him. But he was afraid to ask for the life of his enemies because he, meaning Joseph, did not know which of his enemies would repent of their sins and forsake their evil ways.

Now, the Lord knows us, He knows which of us are going to repent and which of us are not. But do we know that? No. Would we be satisfied with His explanation to us that it was pointless for us to continue any further that we are not going to change? Well let me ask you this, is a 3 year old satisfied with his/her parents explanation to not touch the stove because it is hot? A few are, but 90% of them have to touch the stove for themselves. We are like that 3 year old. I think there are very, very few of us that would be satisfied to have Heavenly Father tell us the end result if it were not to our liking.

Now there is another reason too. Even if at the end of the day we were not going to repent and change our ways, we still need the experiences down here because they are going to change who we are. Everyone is a product of their environment plus their natural personality. I say that because you can put two people in the exact same environment and they will turn out completely different. For example, have you ever met a person who was adopted and it really messed with their head and even as an adult they couldn't get over the fact that they were adopted? Have you ever met one that wasn't that way that you would never have known they were adopted except it came up somewhere once? I'm sure you have because they are all out there and both groups are very common.

Despite our natural personalities, our experiences shape who we are and define us. That is another reason why, even though there are some Heavenly Father could have said it is pointless for you to go down to earth because they would squander their time here and would learn nothing, we all need this experience that way we can all declare Heavenly Father's ways are just. Just like with Abraham, we don't need to learn anything about sacrifice and all the things God is asking us to do is to teach us things about US. God knows if we will do as He asks, we're the ones that are still debating it. Hopefully we choose soon so we can be a more profitable servant and enjoy serving in the kingdom. Until tomorrow.