THE GOSPELS: LESSON 38:

JESUS TEACHES IN PARABLES, PART TWO

TEXT: MATT. 13: 24 - 43; MARK 4: 30 - 34

WE WILL LOOK MOSTLY AT THE ACCOUNT OF MATTHEW.

MATTHEW 13: 24 - 30. PARABLE OF THE TARES AND WHEAT. (Only in Matthew.)

Verse 24: “"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. . .” This parable, like the first, deals with the kingdom of heaven (the most common topic of Jesus’ parables) and a sower.

What is the kingdom of heaven?

          From this parable and many other it is obvious that the kingdom of heaven is NOT heaven, the home of the redeemed who dwell with God after death. It is also clear that the kingdom of heaven is NOT the “millennial kingdom” that so many evangelicals wait for Christ to establish on this earth. Notice that Christ does NOT say, “The kingdom of heaven will be like . . .” It was there even as Jesus spoke, but yet it also is clearly NOT the Jewish religion as the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees practiced it.

          So, what is the kingdom of heaven? It is the TRUE followers of God in whatever age they dwell. When Jesus spoke, the kingdom of God was those Jews who worshiped God sincerely and therefore listened to what Jesus said. On the day of Pentecost, the Kingdom of God was made up of those 3000 souls who heard Peter’s message, repented, and were baptized for the remission of their sins so that God could add them to his church. In our time, as is clear from Colossians 1: 12 - 14, the Kingdom of God in this last age of the world is the true church of Christ.

The following phrases in the New Testament are synonymous with “kingdom of heaven:”

the kingdom of God -- Matt. 12: 28

the kingdom – Matt. 4: 23

the kingdom of their Father – Matt. 13: 43

my Father’s kingdom – Matt. 26: 29

the kingdom of Christ and of God – Eph. 5: 5

the kingdom of His dear son -- Col. 1: 13

his heavenly kingdom – II Tim. 4: 18

the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ – II Peter 1: 11

          Matthew usually refers to the kingdom as the kingdom of heaven. The other gospels always (almost?) call it the kingdom of God.

Verses 25: ". . . but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat . . ."

          Sometime after the sower sowed his wheat, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds on the cultivated soil.

          This weed, called a tare in the KJV, was the bearded darnel, a type of rye that looks so much like regular wheat that even farmers cannot tell the difference until it is fully matured. The darnel produces a strong neurotoxin that causes paralysis and sometimes even death. Additionally, it is almost always infected with a type of ergot (rye fungus) that can produce hallucinations. According to many authorities, the Salem witch panics in the 1600's were at least partly caused by rye breads contaminated by ergot alkaloids (toxins).

Verses 26, 27: Notice that at maturity the tares are identifiable by the field hands.

Verses 28 - 30: The field hands want to know if they should pull up the tares, but the master says to leave them until the harvest. To pull the tares in the field might uproot some good wheat plants. At the harvest the tares will be bundled up to be burned and the wheat will be gathered into the barn. The disciples (apparently, including the apostles) asked for the explanation to this parable. We will look at Jesus’ explanation shortly.

Matthew 13: 31, 32. The parable of the Mustard Seeds.

Verse 31: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed . . .”

          Probably the black mustard plant, which is still fairly common in the Middle East. It was used medicinally and as a spice for foods, being ground up and added to the foods. The black mustard seed is a favorite food of many small bird species.

Verse 32: “ . . . it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree . . .”

          The mustard plant seed is not the smallest of all seeds. It was, however, the smallest cultivated seed used by the people of the first century. This phrase “smallest of all seeds” is an example of hyperbole, a common rhetorical device, and should not be taken literally, but taken in the sense, “among the smallest of all seeds.”

          The black mustard grows to about 5 or 6 feet in the wild, and much larger when carefully tended in a garden. There is a type of wild mustard that grows here in the USA which I have seen reach a height of over ten feet. This would certainly make the comparison to a tree most logical. The translation “make nests in its branches” (as in the RSV) is a stretching of the Greek, which actually means “to rest in its branches.” A small but significant difference.

MEANING OF THIS PARABLE: Obviously, the sower is Jesus. The field is the world. The seed is the word of God. The mustard plant itself is the kingdom of God. Starting with just a few believers, the kingdom of heaven, the church, will become a kingdom of millions. What are the birds? They may not be a significant part of the parable, except as illustrative of the great height to which the mustard may grow. Remember, parables are NOT allegories. If the birds have a particular interpretation, it most likely refers to the saints of God (Christians), who find rest, peace, and redemption in the kingdom of Christ.

MATTHEW 13: 33. THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN.

Verse 33: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven . . .” This parable shows how the message of the kingdom (the gospel) would eventually – even from so small a beginning – change the whole world. Can also be interpreted in a personal sense: the word of God will change your life.

MATT. 13: 34, 35: JESUS SPOKE TO THE PEOPLE IN PARABLES.

          As we saw before, Jesus taught the people MANY things in parables. At this particular time at Capernaum, he taught them ONLY in parables. The plain teachings (interpretations of the parables) were for the disciples only. (As we saw in Mt. 13: 11.)

          The prophet mentioned here is most likely David the King, or possibly Asaph (see I Chron. 16: 7). This quote is from Psalm 78: 2. The introductory note for Psalm 78 says it is a Psalm of Asaph, which most likely means a Psalm of David delivered to Asaph, as is described in I Ch. 16: 7.

MATTHEW 13: 36 - 43. THE PARABLE OF THE TARES IS EXPLAINED.

Verse 36: “. . . his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.”

          In other words, “Please explain the parable of the tares to us.” Mark 4: 33 tells us that Jesus explained everything to his disciples in private.

Verse 37: The sower is the Son of Man: Jesus.

Verse 38: The field is the world. NOT the church as some wrongly teach. The good seed are “sons of the kingdom” : true believers. The tares are the “sons of the evil one” : non-believers.

Verse 39: The enemy is Satan. The reapers are the angels. The harvest is the end of the AGE (Gr. aeon) not necessarily the end of the world (Gr. kosmos). This is an apocalyptic prophecy by Jesus (or so I believe), dealing with the end of the Jewish Age, not the end of the world. Just one of many such prophecies by Jesus.

Verses 40 - 43: Two possible scenarios. I hold to the first.

FIRST: At the end of the Jewish Age (dispensation) in 65 - 70 AD, the Jews who rejected Moses and Christians who had fallen back into Judaism were gathered in Jerusalem and eventually killed by the Romans. The city was utterly burned, as in a furnace. After the end of the Jewish Age it is Christians (not Jews) who shine like the sun in the kingdom of God, the church. This end of the age is what Revelation describes in chapters 14 - 18.

SECOND: At the end of the world, the angels shall call forth the souls of all men to be judged and the wicked will burn in hell’s torments; the righteous will live in heaven with God.

          Perhaps BOTH interpretations are valid. In either case, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Why? Because this is a hard parable to understand!

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