Righteousness and Rightness

The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’  “But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Matthew 13:28-29

In this familiar parable, Jesus gives us a glimpse of at least one of the aspects of the Kingdom of God.  For those who may be unfamiliar, Jesus describes a man who plants good seed but in a short while as the harvest approaches, the servants find tares that were sown by the enemy, and were alike enough to the wheat to be undetectable in the beginning.  They are surprised, and naturally want to get rid of them.  The master in his wisdom advises against it for the potential harm that will be done to the good wheat and asks them to wait for harvest time.   The most obvious and direct application of this parable is the insight into the nature,  albeit temporary, of the Kingdom of God.  In the Kingdom of God there will always be dupes that will be similar in appearance, but not in substance, to the real servants of God until the appointed time.    In addition to the insight into the Kingdom of God, I think it gives us a wonderful insight in the heart of the King.  It reveals to us the very heart of our Lord.  The master cares for the wheat’s wellbeing enough to suffer the tares.  He will not suffer even little collateral damage to thwart the enemy.  The King is more concerned about individual subjects than simply the Kingdom as a whole!  He will suffer the enemy for the sake of his subjects.   Think of the implications.  On a personal level, the child of God can rest assured that he or she does not serve a King that is more interested in simply the overall rule, but cares for the individual.  The Lord will even suffer evil to ensure your care.  On a corporate level it implies that the Body of Christ is more precious to God and He will not allow it to be bruised, even for a seemingly good and a right purpose.  He will wait till the end.  In the end all things will be made perfect, but for now God will even allow a seeming victory of the enemy.   

God would be right to destroy the tares, but God cares more to be righteous than simply right.   If I may draw out a principle from the very heart of the King, it would be this: Anything we do or say, even if it is right, if it bruises the body of Christ, the Church, it cannot be the will of God.  If it damages and uproots a brother or sister in Christ, even if it is right, it will not be a righteous thing to do.  And God cares more about our righteousness than our being right.  Because being right is for the moment, righteousness is for eternity.  At the end of it all righteousness will make everything right.  I suspect that it is not the obvious onslaught on Christ, or His followers by those who vehemently disagree with Christianity or Christ that bothers our Lord, it is our tendency of not caring what happens to our brothers and sisters in our pursuit of being right.  We have all heard of church splits, scandals, and venomous words that have often destroyed the precious wheat while the tares were being pulled out.   

Friend, I pray that we will recognize this great responsibility on those who have responded to the sacrificial death of Christ, to those who have repented, and been born again in the  Kingdom of God, that we will be pursuer of righteousness above rightness.   Danesh Manik 
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