ARE YOU WHEAT

 

 Are you Wheat?

I’m been following him at a distance. I’m poor, not in the best of health and I’m a girl. I don’t want to bother him, I know he’s very busy and there are others who need his attention more than I do.

He’s in the city today, crowds are gathered all around to hear him. I’m standing alone, with the donkeys. No one will shew me away here, and I can still listen to what he has to say.

My name is Miriam, a common name, with no real significance. My parents sold me to a merchant when I was ten. Then he died suddenly. My parents had also died; no one needed a servant girl so I was thrown into the streets. I live in a nearby cave on the outskirts of the city. I’m now sixteen. I pedal fruit, but people say I’m just a beggar. I only want to hear this man’s words. They call to my heart and maybe just maybe he’ll help me understand how to be a blessing to others. Maybe he will show me, this kingdom he talks about.

I’ve heard he’s kind. I’ve never gotten very close but close enough to see with my own eyes that there is something different about him.

Oh, he’s leaving…the donkey’s shift, I’ve got to follow him, but I’ll keep my distance. I hear someone say, he’s headed for the seashore.

They call him Yeshua.

There are too many people I can’t get up close; I’ll try to squeeze in closer.

“Excuse me, what did he say?” I asked.

“Sh, be quiet. I’m trying to hear him, myself. He said something about wheat and tares.” The man next to me looked at me with contempt and held his nose. “You need a bath.” He said.

I cower down and try to stay invisible.

“And while men slept the enemy came at night and sowed tares in with the good wheat and then he left, so that no one could see who he was.” Said the master.

“The wheat grew up and with it, tares also. The servants of the house came and said, “Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these tares come from?”

“The enemy did this.” The master of the house said.

The servants answered and said, “Then we should go and dig everything up.”

But the master said, “No, if you root up the tares you’ll also root up the wheat. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then, gather the tares first. Tie them up and put them in bundles to be burned, and then gather the wheat for my barn.”

Oh my, I want to be wheat for the master. I don’t want to be burned up like the tares. I wish…Oh that could never happen, still, I wish I could meet him, this Yeshua.” I think to myself.

A week later I’m in the market place there’s a big commotion going on down the street. I run to see what’s happening. There he is, Yeshua, he’s riding on a donkey. Everyone is singing Hosanna and laying palm branches on the street before him.

Yeshua stops, gets off the donkey and looks straight at me. I’m frozen in time. My heart fills light and I just stare back at him. Then suddenly, he calls my name. “Miriam.”

At first I think I only imagine it, because he said it so softly, almost a whisper. I point to my chest, and asked, "me?”

He nodded, “Yes, you!”

I smooth out my dirty dress, run my hand over my hair and slowly take steps towards him.

Everyone clears a path, almost as if I’m royalty. As I make my way to Yeshua, the only thought I have is, He called me! The dirty little beggar girl, unloved, invisible and alone.

“I’ve seen you from far away, but I felt your heart's longing, beckoning me, seeking me. Today I have called you to come follow me. You will no longer be alone. You will not wander in the streets or beg for food or lodging. You are healed and set free from bondage. You are my daughter.” Yeshua smiled and held out his hand to me, then gave me a tender embrace.

I heard the gasps all around me, as, his light engulfed my heart. I felt clean, pure, and free. Joy filled my heart and I began to cry tears of hope, of love and of freedom.

I am, wheat, I am a child of the King.

A woman from the crowd takes my hand and says, “Miriam, I am Mary, come with me. I'm taking you to your new home."

For the first time in my life I am visible, I am loved and I am a child of the Messiah.

Parable of the Wheat and Tares is found in Matthew 13:24-30

By Marla Shaw O’Neill February 4, 2016©