In this section, Jesus has changed His approach to teaching. Rather than direct messages and miracles confirming His authority, He teaches in parables with the expressed purpose of revealing the truth to those with ‘ears to hear’ and concealing these truths from those who don’t (Matthew 13:11). Jesus shares several parables. In this study, we’ll look at four of those parables.
THE PARABLE OF THE TARES
In this chapter, we get the benefit of having Jesus explain each of the parables. As a reader, we get to read the parable followed up by the meaning immediately following.
Matthew 13:24-27- Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in this field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
In this story, an enemy has snuck into a farmer’s field at planting time and planted a weed called a tare. Tares produce a small, worthless seed that mixes with the good grain at harvest time. Since the tares were sowed throughout the field, they came up with good plants and were mixed in throughout the field. If the tares could not be removed from the grain, it would ruin the harvest. So, the workers ask if they should go out and uproot the tares as plants in the field (Matt. 13:28) but the landowner tells them that it can’t happen that way because they would uproot the wheat as well and he instructs them to wait until harvest to separate.
Matthew 13:30 – “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles and burn them up, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
It’s important to remember that the crowd that has gathered to listen to Jesus teach, is only hearing the parables. The explanations He gives the disciples are done privately after he teaches using the parables.
The disciples ask Jesus to explain this parable to them later after “leaving the crowds and going into a house” (Matt. 13:36).
Matthew 13:37-40- And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is at the end of the age; and the reapers are the angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
Jesus goes on to say that all who “practice lawlessness” and are “stumbling blocks” to His righteous ones will be judged and the “righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father!” To the follower of Christ, this is an amazing promise. To those who reject him, a terrible warning.
THE PARABLE OF THE DRAGNET
Points of emphasis are often made by repetition in Hebrew writing/teaching. Jesus gives another parable that sounds very similar to the parable of the tares.
Matthew 13:47-48- “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.
The explanation Jesus gives sounds familiar. He tells the disciples that the good fish are the righteous and the bad fish that are thrown away are the wicked.
Matthew 13:49-50- “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus is purposeful in teaching two parables with the same explanation. This is something he intended to emphasize as very important. It’s also a promise of things to come that should not escape our attention today!
THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED AND LEAVEN
Jesus gives two more parables about the kingdom back-to- back because they have the same meaning. In these parables, he speaks to the faith of those in the kingdom!
Matthew 13:31-32- “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than other seeds, but when it is full-grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air and come and nest in its branches”.
A mustard tree is big enough to become a home for birds yet started out as the smallest of seeds. In fact, the mustard tree seed is smaller than even a wheat seed. Yet it grows into a plant significantly larger than wheat. Jesus doesn’t give us an explanation of this parable in this chapter, but currently, the kingdom he’s referring to on earth is small and insignificant like a mustard seed. At this point, it’s Jesus and some disciples. But Jesus says the kingdom will become significant and grow to something much more significant. I also think there is some foreshadowing to the inclusion of the gentiles in the kingdom as well.
Matthew 13:33- “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.
To give some context to this parable, it helps to understand that three pecks of flour are a huge batch of bread. It would be like three five-gallon buckets of flour. The amount of dough would make a lot of bread. He doesn’t give an amount of leaven, but His point is that it wouldn’t take but a little bit of leaven to get such a large batch of dough to rise. This parable piggybacks off the mustard seed. A little leaven will work until it affects the entire batch of dough, no matter how big. There are several potential applications of this parable. But staying within the context of the previous parable, He’s saying that though the kingdom on earth appears small, it will affect the entire world in time. Leaven is being used here in a positive way. In Luke 12:1 Jesus uses leaven to describe the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The nature of leaven is used the same way, to say that it “infects” or “takes over” whatever leaven is in. In this parable, however, Jesus uses it in a positive way to say that the kingdom, though small at that point, will grow to touch every part of the world.
THE PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE
Jesus gives two final parables in this address to the people along the shore. These two are about the great value of the kingdom!
Matthew 13:44-46- “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
These two parables are clearer and more self-explanatory. In each case, the person finding something of greater value made it a priority over all else! This is the nature of the kingdom of heaven. There is nothing a person possesses on earth, even everything put together that compares to God’s kingdom. So, he who finds it would want it above all that they have.
CONCLUSION
He who has ears, let him hear. Jesus uses this phrase throughout his teaching using parables. Those who don’t have ears to hear his message will not understand. What does it mean to have “ears to hear”? We must be careful to consider this properly. If you don’t have “ears to hear” doesn’t mean that you can’t understand or lack the mental capacity to know. It’s not a jab at your intelligence. Having ears to hear is about the heart of the hearer. Those who have hard hearts, hearts riddled with unbelief, are who Jesus is talking about.
The person with ears to hear has a soft heart toward the things of God. A heart believing God and wanting to understand so that they might grow in understanding and love for God. Those people receive the blessing of the help of the Holy Spirit to understand! My prayer for you is that you would be cultivating that type of heart, one that believes, and seeks after Him!