The wheat and the tares both grow together until harvest

In the parable of the wheat and the tares, preachers (in my experience) usually concentrate upon the fact that the wheat and the tares both grow together until the harvest.

Sometimes, I think this emphasis has caused us to miss another part of the parable: that the wheat and the tares both grow until the harvest.

Initially, they look alike, or hard to tell unless you're an expert. But as they grow, it becomes more obvious.

One way in which this becomes more possible is as human beings more and more "subjugate the earth", in Biblical language - i.e. develop the potential of God's creation.

Technology now means that you can do all kinds of things - if you want to. Or, you can do all kinds of other things - if you prefer those.

You can be narcissist, an avid consumer of pornography, you can terminate unborn lives because they weren't convenient to you, you can experiment in all kinds of depraved things: all without hardly anyone knowing, or without social stigma.

Or, if you prefer, you can exploit the opportunities that the modern world gives to serve Jesus, and redeem the time for him in ways that our ancestors could not dream of.

The wheat and the tares are both growing. It's becoming more obvious which is which. Which are you?