“That
same day Jesus left the house and went to the lakeside, where he sat down to
teach. The crowd that gathered round him was so large that he got into a boat
and sat in it, while the crowd stood on the shore. He used parables to tell
them many things. “Once there was a man who went out to sow corn. As he
scattered the seed in the field, some of it fell along the path, and the birds
came and ate it up. Some of it fell on rocky ground, where there was little
soil. The seeds soon sprouted, because the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun
came up, it burnt the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep
enough, the plants soon dried up. Some of the seed fell among thorn bushes,
which grew up and choked the plants. But some seeds fell in good soil, and the
plants produced corn; some produced a hundred grains, others sixty, and others
thirty.” And Jesus concluded, “Listen, then, if you have ears!” Then the
disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk
to the people?” Jesus answered, “The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom
of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. For the person who has
something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but the
person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has.
The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see,
and they listen, but do not hear or understand. So the prophecy of Isaiah
applies to them: ‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they
will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have
stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would
see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn
to me, says God, and I would heal them.’ “As for you, how fortunate you are!
Your eyes see and your ears hear. I assure you that many prophets and many of
God’s people wanted very much to see what you see, but they could not, and to
hear what you hear, but they did not. “Listen, then, and learn what the parable
of the sower means. Those who hear the message about the Kingdom but do not
understand it are like the seeds that fell along the path. The Evil One comes
and snatches away what was sown in them. The seeds that fell on rocky ground
stand for those who receive the message gladly as soon as they hear it. But it
does not sink deep into them, and they don’t last long. So when trouble or
persecution comes because of the message, they give up at once. The seeds that
fell among thorn bushes stand for those who hear the message; but the worries
about this life and the love for riches choke the message, and they don’t bear
fruit. And the seeds sown in the good soil stand for those who hear the message
and understand it: they bear fruit, some as much as a hundred, others sixty,
and others thirty.” Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is
like this. A man sowed good seed in his field. One night, when everyone was
asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the
plants grew and the ears of corn began to form, then the weeds showed up. The
man’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your
field; where did the weeds come from?’ ‘It was some enemy who did this,’ he
answered. ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. ‘No,’
he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the
wheat along with them. Let the wheat and the weeds both grow together until
harvest. Then I will tell the harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie
them in bundles and burn them, and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my
barn.’ ” Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this.
A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all
seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a
tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.” Jesus told them
still another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A woman takes some
yeast and mixes it with forty litres of flour until the whole batch of dough
rises.” Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would
not say a thing to them without using a parable. He did this to make what the
prophet had said come true: “I will use parables when I speak to them; I will
tell them things unknown since the creation of the world.” When Jesus had left
the crowd and gone indoors, his disciples came to him and said, “Tell us what
the parable about the weeds in the field means.” Jesus answered, “The man who
sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed is
the people who belong to the Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to
the Evil One; and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is
the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels. Just as the weeds are
gathered up and burnt in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of
the age: the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his
Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things,
and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind
their teeth. Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s
Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears! “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A
man happens to find a treasure hidden in a field. He covers it up again, and is
so happy that he goes and sells everything he has, and then goes back and buys
that field. “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for
fine pearls, and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells
everything he has, and buys that pearl. “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like
this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of
fish. When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the
fish: the good ones go into their buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away.
It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather
up the evil people from among the good and will throw them into the fiery
furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth. “Do you understand these
things?” Jesus asked them. “Yes,” they answered. So he replied, “This means,
then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of
heaven is like the owner of a house who takes new and old things out of his
storeroom.”” (Matthew
13:1–52, GNB)
Through His teachings and sermons, Jesus Christ revealed the
mysteries of the Kingdom of God. Some people try to differentiate between the
Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. But both are used synonymously to
mean the same Rule of God. In this chapter of Matthew, our Lord uses eight
different mysteries expressed in parables to describe the kingdom of God:-
1.
The First Mystery: Parable Of the Sower
(Mat.13:1-8; Luke 8:4)
2.
The Second Mystery: Parable Of The Tares and
Wheat (Mat.13:24-30)
3.
The Third Mystery: Parable Of The Mustard Seed (Mat.
13:31-32; Luke 13:8)
4.
The Forth Mystery: Parable Of The Leaven (Mat.
13:33; Luke 13:20)
5.
The Fifth Mystery: Parable Of The Hidden
Treasure (Mat.13:44)
6.
The Sixth Mystery: Parable Of The Pearl Of Great
Price (Mat.13:45-46)
7.
The Seventh Mystery: Parable Of The Dragnet
(Mat.13:47-48)
8.
The Eight Mystery: Parable Of The House Holder
(Mat.13:51-52)
But what is a parable? It is a
comparison, a figure of speech, an illustration or a proverb (Luke 4:23). Jesus
used parables to illustrate truth and make it clearer by comparison with
something that is familiar with the people. Parables instruct. They rebuke. They
create interest and hunger for further information. The stories are always
true. I will put these parables into three groups according to the lessons they
are teaching.
A. The
Response To The Message Of the Kingdom Of Heaven
1.
Parable Of The sower (Mat.13:1-8; Luke 8:4)
2.
Parable Of Tares and Wheat (Mat.13:24-30)
3.
Parable of The Dragnet (Mat.13:47-48)
In these parables Jesus gives us
deep insights on how people will respond to the message of the Kingdom of
Heaven. In the parable of the sower, the seed is the word of God. The Sower is
the Son of Man – another name of the Lord Jesus. The sower can also mean the disciples
like you and me who will continue to sow the seed through evangelism till the
end of the age. This parable hardly requires any further interpretation. Jesus
explained it all. The different soil types represent the states of the hearts
of the hearers.
The Wayside state of heart (Mat.13:19). The wayside hearer
does not understand the gospel message. So the wicked one or the devil will
take away what he/she heard (2Cor.4:3-4). “For if the gospel we preach is hidden, it is
hidden only from those who are being lost. They do not believe, because their
minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them
from seeing the light shining on them, the light that comes from the Good News
about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4, GNB) They make no commitment to Christ at all.
i.
The Stony Ground state of heart (Mat.13:20-21) –
these people hear the gospel message, make a commitment to Christ, but that
initial commitment will eventually prove superficial and temporary. They will
fall away.
ii.
The Thorny state of heart (Mat.13:22) – these hearers
will receive the word of the Gospel. They will first appear to be true
disciples but cannot survive competing demands for their loyalty. These first
three groups of hearers were never really true believers (Mat.7:13-27;
10:32-42)
““Go in
through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road that
leads to it is easy, and there are many who travel it. But the gate to life is
narrow and the way that leads to it is hard, and there are few people who find
it. “Be on your guard against false prophets; they come to you looking like
sheep on the outside, but on the inside they are really like wild wolves. You
will know them by what they do. Thorn bushes do not bear grapes, and briars do
not bear figs. A healthy tree bears good fruit, but a poor tree bears bad
fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a poor tree cannot bear good
fruit. And any tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown in the
fire. So then, you will know the false prophets by what they do. “Not everyone
who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who
do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. When Judgement Day comes, many
will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your name
we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ Then I will say to them,
‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’ “So then, anyone who
hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house
on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers overflowed, and the wind blew hard
against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. “But
anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish
man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the rivers overflowed,
the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall
that was!”” (Matthew
7:13–27, GNB)
iii.
The Good soil state of Heart (Mst.13:23) – these
are the true believers, the ones who hear they message of the Gospel of Jesus
and believe it. The message changes their lives and make them fruitful. They
produce a large amount of fruit. Jesus said that by their fruits you shall know
them. Fruit represents your lifestyle – what you do, how you live and how you
relate to people and to God.
The message of
this parable is a question to you. What kind of hearer are you? Are you true
believer of the Gospel, a true disciple of Jesus Christ or are you a false
believer? Are you bearing the fruit of the Gospel or are you fruitless? If you
are a true believer congratulations. But is you are not a true believer I urge
you to make the decision now and become a true believer.
In the parable of
the Tares and Wheat (Mat.13:24-30) is similar to the parable of the sower.
“Jesus
told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed
good seed in his field. One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and
sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the plants grew and the ears of
corn began to form, then the weeds showed up. The man’s servants came to him
and said, ‘Sir, it was good seed you sowed in your field; where did the weeds
come from?’ ‘It was some enemy who did this,’ he answered. ‘Do you want us to
go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him. ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you
gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them. Let the
wheat and the weeds both grow together until harvest. Then I will tell the
harvest workers to pull up the weeds first, tie them in bundles and burn them,
and then to gather in the wheat and put it in my barn.’ ”” (Matthew 13:24–30, GNB)
But here the Kingdom of heaven is described as
two different types of seed sown by two different individuals. The Good seed
are true believers in Jesus Christ, while the bad seed are false believers.
Sometimes they look alike so much that if you are not careful, you may not be
able to distinguish between them. They may be tangled and intertwined. The Lord
Himself will send His angels to make the separation. For now He will permit the
righteous and the wicked to coexist in this present world. But during the final
judgement, at the end of the world, the wicked will be separated from the
righteous. The parable of the Dragnet conveys the same meaning. The wicked will
be cast into unquenchable fire and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
But the righteous will shine brightly as the sun in the Kingdom of God our Father
(Mat.13:37-47)
B. The
Rapid Spread Of The Kingdom Of Heaven
1.
Parable Of The Mustard Seed (Mat.13:31-32; Luke
13:8).
2.
Parable Of the Leaven (Mat.13:33; Luke 13:20)
“Jesus
told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a
mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but
when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that
birds come and make their nests in its branches.”” (Matthew 13:31–32, GNB)
Jesus started from a humble beginning. Many people did
not initially receive Him as the Messiah because there understanding of Messiah
was different from God’s plans. But the Kingdom of God would spread rapidly. The
mustard seed is small and insignificant. But when it is planted, it grows up
into a large tree. So is the kingdom of God. Statistics show that there are
over 2 billion Christians in the world today, making it the largest single
religion in the world. Christianity is physical kingdom of god on earth manifesting
all the characteristics described in these parables. The leaven or yeast is
used as a positive symbol here again to show that something that started small
will grow into a large organisation covering the whole world.
So like other disciples and apostles of Jesus, I urge
you to give your life to Jesus today. Become part of that Kingdom. Become a
true believer and begin yield fruit.
C. The
Inestimable Riches Of The Kingdom of God
1.
Parable Of The hidden Treasure (Mat.13:44)
2.
Parable Of The Pearl Of Great Price
(Mat.13:45-46)
3.
Parable Of the House Holder (Mat.13:51-52)
Religion does not save people. Religion can enslave
people. Salvation of God comes through a Person and that person is Jesus
Christ. His disciples and believers are called Christ-ians after Him. Today God
is offering you a valuable treasure. What is that treasure? The Kingdom of God.
Jesus Christ is the King in that Kingdom. He wants you to become part of that
Kingdom. That kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom. When the world is purged of
all evil then true believers will shine as the sun in the Kingdom of God the
Father!
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