Reflections on Matthew 13

Matthew 13 (Contemporary English Version)


1. That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach.
   
2. Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore.
   
3. Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said: A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field.
   
4. While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds.
   
5. Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn't very deep.
   
6. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots.
   
7. Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants.
   
8. But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered.
   
9. If you have ears, pay attention!
   
10. Jesus' disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you use nothing but stories when you speak to the people?"
    
11. Jesus answered: I have explained the secrets about the kingdom of heaven to you, but not to others.
    
12. Everyone who has something will be given more. But people who don't have anything will lose even what little they have.
    
13. I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand.
    
14. So God's promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said, "These people will listen and listen, but never understand. They will look and look, but never see.
    
15. All of them have stubborn minds! Their ears are stopped up, and their eyes are covered. They cannot see or hear or understand. If they could, they would turn to me, and I would heal them."
    
16. But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear!
    
17. Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.
    
18. Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:
    
19. The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don't understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts.
    
20. The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away.
    
21. But they don't have deep roots, and they don't last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.
    
22. The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything.
    
23. The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.
    
24. Jesus then told them this story: The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field.
    
25. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left.
    
26. When the plants came up and began to ripen, the farmer's servants could see the weeds.
    
27. The servants came and asked, "Sir, didn't you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?"
    
28. "An enemy did this," he replied. His servants then asked, "Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?"
    
29. "No!" he answered. "You might also pull up the wheat.
    
30. Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I'll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I'll have them store the wheat in my barn."
    
31. Jesus told them another story: The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a farmer plants a mustard seed in a field.
    
32. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, it grows larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree. Birds even come and nest on its branches.
    
33. Jesus also said: The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a woman mixes a little yeast into three big batches of flour. Finally, all the dough rises.
    
34. Jesus used stories when he spoke to the people. In fact, he did not tell them anything without using stories.
    
35. So God's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, "I will use stories to speak my message and to explain things that have been hidden since the creation of the world."
    
36. After Jesus left the crowd and went inside, his disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the story about the weeds in the wheat field."
    
37. Jesus answered: The one who scattered the good seed is the Son of Man.
    
38. The field is the world, and the good seeds are the people who belong to the kingdom. The weed seeds are those who belong to the evil one,
    
39. and the one who scattered them is the devil. The harvest is the end of time, and angels are the ones who bring in the harvest.
    
40. Weeds are gathered and burned. That's how it will be at the end of time.
    
41. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everyone who does wrong or causes others to sin.
    
42. Then he will throw them into a flaming furnace, where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain.
    
43. But everyone who has done right will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. If you have ears, pay attention!
    
44. The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.
    
45. The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls.
    
46. After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.
    
47. The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a net is thrown into a lake and catches all kinds of fish.
    
48. When the net is full, it is dragged to the shore, and the fishermen sit down to separate the fish. They keep the good ones, but throw the bad ones away.
    
49. That's how it will be at the end of time. Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right.
    
50. Then those evil people will be thrown into a flaming furnace, where they will cry and grit their teeth in pain.
    
51. Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, "Yes, we do."
    
52. So he told them, "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom."
    
53. When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he left
    
54. and went to his hometown. He taught in their meeting place, and the people were so amazed that they asked, "Where does he get all this wisdom and the power to work these miracles?
    
55. Isn't he the son of the carpenter? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers?
    
56. Don't his sisters still live here in our town? How can he do all this?"
    
57. So the people were very unhappy because of what he was doing. But Jesus said, "Prophets are honored by everyone, except the people of their hometown and their own family."
    
58. And because the people did not have any faith, Jesus did not work many miracles there.
    

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Chapter 13 introduces for the first time in Matthew's gospel Jesus' use of parables. A parable combines two or more objects together for the purpose of a comparison. In the case of Jesus' parables, familiar activities such as sowing or fishing or a variety of activities were compared to mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. A simple explanation of the parable that is often used is that it is an earthy story with a heavenly meaning. That is how Jesus used parables. The earthly stories about sowing, etc., were used to reveal the mysteries of the kingdom that had not previously been revealed.

Not only is this the first use of parables in Matthew's account, it was the disciples' first experience with Jesus' use of them. After Jesus told the first parable known as the Parable of the Sower, the disciples asked Him why He used them. Jesus' answer provides us an important truth concerning God's dealings with man. It is a truth that is related to Jesus' words in Matthew 11:25 when He praised God for hiding the things of the kingdom of heaven from the wise and learned. Jesus told His disciples that He used parables to reveal "the secrets of the kingdom of heaven" to His followers and to hide them from those such as the religious leaders who looking, do not see, and hearing, "do not listen or understand." This was because their hearts did not seek Him. In essence Jesus is telling us that the truths of the kingdom of heaven will be understood only by those whose hearts seek after God. For those who seek intellectually to understand but whose hearts do not desire God, understanding will be illusive. As the prophet Isaiah said, they will "listen and listen, yet never understand; and . . . will look and look, yet never perceive."

One comes to God only by faith. Once a step of faith is taken toward God, a seed of understand is given with it. As Romans 1:19-21 says, through God's creation we have all the evidence we need about God. As the Apostle Paul says in that passage, "His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse." We have enough evidence from creation to, by faith, accept God for who He is. But it seems that creation serves as the point of demarcation. What we understand and accept concerning creation serves to separate those who seek God and follow Him from those who do not. If we attribute the origin of all things to God we have enough understanding to take a step of faith toward God and with that step can comes more understanding concerning the 'mysteries' of His kingdom. Then with each succeeding step comes increased understanding concerning the things of God.

Understanding this also helps to understand that coming to God is not done through religious practices, rituals, or activities. It is not even done through charitable activities or the proper balance of good and bad deeds. It is, instead of all these things, an act of faith. Even this truth becomes a barrier for many to get to God. It doesn't make sense to them that coming to God would not involve DOING something to be acceptable by God. But no, it is an act of faith.

Jesus' explanation about the parable of the sower makes it clear that it is the condition of our hearts that determines whether or not we receive His teaching and allow it to take root in our lives. It is not an arbitrary choosing by God as to who receives it. God's kingdom is available to all, but not all receive it due to the condition of the soil of their hearts.