Jesus and the Problem of Evil. Mt.13
Did Jesus give any solution to the problem of Evil? It seems to me that he has given int he Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? 28 He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, Do you want us then to go and gather them up? 29 But he said, No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
The Parable of the Tares Explained
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
I would like to propose that the parable of the Wheat and the Tares Jesus is giving his answer to the so called problem of Evil. A man sowed good seeds in his field. How did the tares( evil) appear? the answer seems to be 'when men slept', to be asleep is to forget one's true nature, it is a kind of spiritual death. In the beginning there is only absolute good. Only when human beings fall into sleep, forget their true nature, come relative good and relative evil. Relative good and relative evil are inter connected. We cannot take away one without taking the other. The labourers ask the owner, did you not sow the good seeds and how did the tares come? The enemy has done it. When did the enemy come? Enemy comes when one is asleep. Forgetfulness of one's true nature is the real enemy that beings enemies. The labourers wanted to gather the tares. But the owner does not allow it? Since relative evil and relative good are interconnected- removing one also disturbs the other. There is no solution at that level. We need to wait for the time of awakening from our sleep, from our spiritual death, then we go beyond relative good and relative evil and discover the original absolute Good that has no opposite called Evil. In this spiritual awakening the relative evil will be completely eliminated and what remains is absolute Good.
It seems to me that Jesus revealed a profound truth on the problem of evil with this simple parable. the interpretation given in 13. 36-44 may not be the interpretation of Jesus,since Jesus never gave interpretation, but the interpretation of the early Church,with a dualistic mind set. It is an allegorical interpretation. Any comments are welcome.
