Matthew 13:24-52
[24]Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man sowed good seed in his field.
[25]One night, when everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
[26]When the plants grew and the ears of corn began to form, then the weeds showed up.
[27]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?’
[28]‘It was some enemy who did this,’ he answered. ‘Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?’ they asked him.
[29]‘No,’ he answered, ‘because as you gather the weeds you might pull up some of the wheat along with them.
[30]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.’ ”
[31]Jesus told them another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field.
[32]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.”
[33]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.”
[34]Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable.
[35]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.”
[36]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.”
[37]Jesus answered, “The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man;
[38]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;
[39]and the enemy who sowed the weeds is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvest workers are angels.
[40]Just as the weeds are gathered up and burnt in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age:
[41]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,
[42]and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth.
[43]Then God’s people will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Listen, then, if you have ears!
[44]“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.
[45]“Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. A man is looking for fine pearls,
[46]and when he finds one that is unusually fine, he goes and sells everything he has, and buys that pearl.
[47]“Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish.
[48]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.
[49]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
[50]and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and grind their teeth.
[51]“Do you understand these things?” Jesus asked them.“Yes,” they answered.
[52]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 19:14
[14]Jesus said, “Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Summary thoughts
- Good seeds vs weeds – harvest outcome
- Mustard seed – smallest becomes the biggest
- Yeast – worked all through the dough
- Treasure hidden in the field – it is so valuable that it is worth more than anything else;
- A net that was let down in a lake and caught all kinds of fish. End: separate the good from the bad. Separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
- Little children and the kingdom of heaven