What some people don’t understand is that when one has been called to care for others in a spiritual sense, the well-being of those others is of paramount importance. When threats come against those who are vulnerable, it is the responsibility of the shepherd, or in the case of those in Christian ministry, undershepherds under authority of the owner of the flock, to exercise care over the flock to the extent of the threat…..sometimes even from within the flock, as dangers… can slip in unobserved. ……if this is the operative metaphor out of which one believes oneself to be operating.
If the operative metaphor is that of the wheat and tares, then the one doing the work is told to simply let the wheat and tares grow together until the time of harvest, at which point they will be easily discerned and divided according to the yield, or fruit, of each plant and the one harvested and the other cast into the fire.
If the wheat and tares are simply growing side by side and the presence of one does not endanger the growth of the other and their fruit will distinguish them at the proper time, they both suffer the same conditions in the field, drought or rain, care or neglect. (The rain falling on the just and unjust, as it were.) I agree that there is no need to pull them out or even worry about them. The harvest time will take care of them.
But caring for sheep is a different thing altogether. They are defenseless and the predators that slip in among them are not simply grazing along side them harmlessly, but attempting to pull them from the flock where they are being tended and cared for, to use them for their own purpose (financially benefit from the shearing?), even possibly to slaughter them. Or they are simply rustlers…..stealing sheep to build up their own flock at the expense of another flock’s owner and his appointed undershepherds. .
So, consider your call…..are you a farmer simply overseeing the field and letting it grow, providing necessary nutrients to the wheat and tares until the harvest. Or are you an undershepherd with a responsibility to the head shepherd to account for the sheep in your care…..and willing to defend them against what you perceive to be the dangers coming against them.
Some are called to one, some to another….
If the wheat and tares are simply growing side by side and the presence of one does not endanger the growth of the other and their fruit will distinguish them at the proper time, they both suffer the same conditions in the field, drought or rain, care or neglect. (The rain falling on the just and unjust, as it were.) I agree that there is no need to pull them out or even worry about them. The harvest time will take care of them.
But caring for sheep is a different thing altogether. They are defenseless and the predators that slip in among them are not simply grazing along side them harmlessly, but attempting to pull them from the flock where they are being tended and cared for, to use them for their own purpose (financially benefit from the shearing?), even possibly to slaughter them. Or they are simply rustlers…..stealing sheep to build up their own flock at the expense of another flock’s owner and his appointed undershepherds. .
So, consider your call…..are you a farmer simply overseeing the field and letting it grow, providing necessary nutrients to the wheat and tares until the harvest. Or are you an undershepherd with a responsibility to the head shepherd to account for the sheep in your care…..and willing to defend them against what you perceive to be the dangers coming against them.
Some are called to one, some to another….