The Lord's Sermons
- Sermon 51 -
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Trinity. The Parable of the Tares in the Field
St. Matthew XIII, 19-30: "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 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? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 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." "
(May 2, 1872)
The parables of this chapter contain the whole history of My teaching and also the history of My creation from beginning to end. The history of My teaching, because they show you upon what different ground My teaching and My words fall; and the history of My creation, because they clearly reveal to you how the Divine Word of the highest spiritual consecration, rising from level to level, finds its expression in the millions of worlds. And as the impression which My Word makes upon millions of people is different with each individual, thus also the evolutionary process of each world is different from that of the others.
These parables, as I told them once to the people of Israel, were taken from ordinary life so that the listeners could easily understand them. But in spite of this, they did not comprehend in the parable which was chosen for this Sunday, who among them was compared to the good ground, who to the stony places and who to the wayside upon which some seeds had fallen.
This parable shows that I do want to convert people through acts and words, but that the good seed, since the world with its pleasures mixes with it, grows only sporadically in some places and does not generally bring forth the fruit that should result through the words from My mouth. It also reveals that the end, the harvest, will separate the good from the bad, and that the good will receive their just reward. The obstinate and evil, however, will have to experience the long road of matter until they have thrown off all impurities and can join the harmony prevailing in My heavenly kingdom of the spirit as a spiritual note.
Since the fall of Lucifer, in the whole of creation that which is good or light, which is the spiritual, has its opposite in that which is evil or heavy - the material or physical.
The immense multitude of apostatized spirits, who had fallen with Lucifer and were bound in matter as its carriers, classify all the created worlds according to their spiritual content, and that is why the worlds are more or less light or heavy from a moral and spiritual viewpoint. This means that on all the globes the great principle of the highest attributes of My own Inner Self is expressed as the greatest love with all the qualities arising therefrom.
The sole purpose of My coming to your earth and teaching My disciples was to reveal to all created beings My spiritual kingdom, its laws and its fundamental principles. When I taught on your earth I did not say anything new but always the same, which since the beginning of creation I had impressed upon all My spirits, namely, what their ultimate goal is to be and what they must strive for. Even into matter with its imprisoned spirits I put the impulse to strive for perfection, thus to spiritualize the external, the components of matter, until the latter, in harmony with its inner nature, can finally rise to higher potencies in the evolution of life, from a heavy rock up to man who is conscious of himself and who then -conscious of his mission - must spiritualize his own material nature until ultimately, when his outer nature has become equally spiritual with his inner man, he is ready to be received into My Kingdom.
The parables about the sowing of the seed correspond to the progress through these phases, for the seed sown, fallen upon various kinds of ground, will bring forth various fruit depending on the elements it finds there for its growth. The setting free of the human nature, that is, man's free will, brings about this different conception of My teaching as I once taught it to My disciples and as I at present again reveal it to only a few on this earth. Men, standing midway between the two poles of good and evil, had of course to show different reactions in the way they would or could grasp My teaching.
As the countless worlds in My entire creation all differ, thus figuratively expressing the various ways of comprehending pure truth, so men also differ with millions of deviations, each individual considered as a spiritual world in itself.
Thus you can recognize in these parables the far-reaching significance of the seed. The word "Let there be!", which was once spoken by Me, is still effective today and will ultimately unite all spirits within one spiritual realm, although individual worlds and individual men will have to cover longer or shorter distances to reach this destination.
My Word, or the expression of love in all its aspects, contains all of creation and My whole teaching. This proves that I have given only laws of love, that is, only two. These, however, are of value only if one complements the other.
These laws of love are the seed I have sown physically into My entire creation and spiritually into the hearts of all rational beings. The springing up of this seed, depending on the greater or lesser influence of the material world, will determine the progress towards the good or regress to the evil, the material.
In consideration of the liberty of man and all created spirits there also had to spring up tares among the good wheat, as I told it figuratively in the parable. In this case, those people who did not walk upon the right path will realize only at the end of their earthly pilgrimage how far they have strayed from the proper road to their salvation. Then this struggle, which so many believed to have ended with their departure from this world, will have to be taken up once more in the other world from within, under different conditions and with only few aids and great obstacles.
What physical death is for each individual, as a small spiritual world, is for mankind on earth the end of all that is material, of all worldly temptations, which will still come to pass prior to My Second Coming, since after that the spiritual kingdom on your earth will have its inception and My seed, or My Word, will bring forth equal fruit everywhere.
All My preparations in your time aim at that, for upon your earth, unfortunately, the tares already prevail over the good wheat. Hardly any but stony and sandy ground can be found and the principal growth consists in thistles and thorns which mar the surface of your earth. My reapers have already been in action for quite some time using every means to eradicate the rapidly growing tares, but things will be getting worse, since man in his freedom has developed an almost stony heart upon which, as upon a hard stone, a mere touch leaves no trace behind and over the surface of which everything passes without leaving an impression.
Make sure that no weeds of evil passions, favoured by worldly influences, spring up in your hearts! As I once said to My disciples, I say also to you: "Who has ears to hear, let him hear, and who has eyes to see, let him see!" Unfortunately, there are still many who have ears but do not hear the spiritual wind that blows through all creation, and who have eyes and do not perceive the ray of light from My eternal kingdom of the spirits which is beginning to illuminate progressively all nooks and corners of your dark earth so that, on My arrival as the King of Light, there will no longer be any shadow or darkness.
There are still many who, chasing only after worldly pleasures and values, do not want to recognize a spiritual world, a higher spiritual principle or a God as creator. They are like the thistles and thorns. Keep away from them! Their prickles cause you to see that you may approach such sham-philosophers and scholars only with caution. They shall be thrown into the fire, as is written; into the fire of tribulation and suffering. Only when purified after a long struggle, will they be able to participate in the spiritual kingdom which they had previously denied so steadfastly.
For them are meant the happenings in nature and the epidemics which rake them away in great numbers. Others will be reminded of the existence of still another world beyond the natural, material one through the loss of beloved persons. Theirs will be a sad awakening - and yet I have to awaken them since I do not want to lose even an atom, still less a human soul which I once created in My image internally and externally.
You, too, should learn to hear with spiritual ears what I am saying to you, what the happenings in the world are telling you and what all nature is calling to you: 'There is a God, and He is a God of love!'
He sows His seed regardless of the ground, upon the highways or in the stony places, or among the thorns and thistles. Since man is free, the seed can work according to the nature of each individual, but in the end the objective which I, the Sower, had in mind, will be achieved. In spite of the different kinds of ground, there will ultimately be a rich harvest; eternity ensures My success. My Word, having passed through all the phases, trampled underfoot by some and joyfully saluted by others, must nevertheless yield the same result. For My Word - the Seed - is a Divine Word and, consequently, can and must improve and spiritualize the ground upon which it falls, if not on this earth then definitely in the beyond.
My aim and purpose with this message is but to shorten the road for men and to further their progress. Hence, the repeated admonition in this chapter: "Who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Understand and comprehend it well and act accordingly, and you will discover in yourselves, whether the seed has fallen upon good or stony ground! Amen.