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Matthew 13
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Chapter 13
13. THE SERMON OF PARABLES
Introduction
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That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside,
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but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach,
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and he told them many things in parables.
He said, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow.
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As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
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Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth;
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but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away.
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Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
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Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
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Listen, anyone who has ears!’
Why Jesus speaks in parables
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Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’
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‘Because’ he replied ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them.
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For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
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The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.
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So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive.
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For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.[*a]
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‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
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I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
The parable of the sower explained
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‘You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower.
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When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.
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The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy.
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But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once.
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The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.
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And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’
Parable of the darnel
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He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
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While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all among the wheat, and made off.
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When the new wheat sprouted and ripened, the darnel appeared as well.
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The owner’s servants went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?”
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“Some enemy has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us to go and weed it out?”
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But he said, “No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it.
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Let them both grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn.”‘
Parable of the mustard seed
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He put another parable before them, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.
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It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.’
Parable of the yeast
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He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through’.
The people are taught only in parables
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In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables.
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This was to fulfil the prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.[*b]
The parable of the darnel explained
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Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us’.
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He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man.
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The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one;
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the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels.
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Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.
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The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil,
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and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
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Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.[*c] Listen, anyone who has ears!
Parables of the treasure and of the pearl
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‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.
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‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls;
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when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.
Parable of the dragnet
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‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds.
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When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use.
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This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just
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to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
Conclusion
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‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes’.
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And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old’.[*d]
A visit to Nazareth
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When Jesus had finished these parables he left the district;
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and, coming to his home town,[*e] he taught the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?
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This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude?
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His sisters, too, are they not all here with us? So where did the man get it all?’
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And they would not accept him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house’,
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and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
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