Bible Notes

Parables of the Kingdom

Matthew 13:24-43 continues the theme of Jesus teaching in parables. The first part of the passage is a series of parables about the "kingdom of heaven." Parable, here, should be understood as a simile, since Jesus prefaces a parable with the explanation "X can be likened to Y". (The NLT translates "illustration")

The longest parable deals with the question of the bad and good being mixed up in the kingdom (v. 24-29). Here it is about the wheat and the tares, the first having been planted by the farmer and the second by the enemy, i.e. the devil. One might as well ask: "Why is it that inspite of the fact that all of us hear the same Word of God, not all turn out to be good believers?" The emphasis in the parable, however, is how to deal with those weeds which the enemy has planted: the owner of the field tells his worker not to uproot the weeds immediately, but to wait until harvest (= Judgment Day) when these will be separated from the wheat:

Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, "First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn." (v.30)

The parable is given its explanation in the last part of the passage (vv. 37-43). Note the attitude of the owner of the field: he does not uproot the bad so as to protect the good. Even if the weeds continue to grow, the owner of the field is still the Master of what he owns; He is in control and has an appointed time for the weeds. Some Christians find it scandalous that in the congregation they go to, they recognize people whom they know to live immoral lives. There are denominational groups that even excommunicate a member for not living according to the moral standards the group has defined, e.g. a girl who cuts her long braid finds herself excommunicated because her group believes that females should have long hair, or a male TV star gets the same treatment because he appears in a beer commercial. The Lord however sees the Church as a mixture of wheat and tares while it continues its pilgrimage on earth. Only on Judgment Day will the true sons and daughters of God be manifested (cf. Romans).

The second parable is another parable about the mustard seed (31-32). In another parable that is well known, the mustard seed -- the smallest of all seeds -- is compared to faith. No matter how small one's faith is, so long as it is there, one can do the impossible. Here the comparison is to the Word that is sown but then grows into a shelter that can be a home to a great variety of people. Here, mustard tree that emerges from the smallest of seeks evokes the image of the Church that draws to her bosom the men and women of all races (= the birds of the sky)

The third parable is about the leaven-like characteristic of the kingdom of heaven (v. 33). In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord spoke of the Church as "salt of the earth and light of the world." In this passage he compares it to the yeast that the baker mixes with flour until the dough rises and becomes a loaf of bread. The kingdom of heaven is to the world of men and women like yeast is to dough. The quality of the world should "rise" wherever the Church is inserted into its life.

The central part of this discourse is another explanation as to why Jesus speaks in parables (vv. 34-35):

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.
He spoke to them only in parables,
to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world."

In a previous instance, the Lord tells his disciples that he speaks in parables so that those only whom God has disposed to listen to Him may truly benefit from His words (cf. "No one comes to me until the Father draws Him"). In this sense, the parabolic form of Jesus' teachings already have the characteristic of judgment: there are those who will listen but not hear (See Matthew 13:10-17).

In the present passage, the idea of "parable" is taken from the quoted psalm 78, which is a prophetic recitation of Israel's salvation history. In this psalm "parable" is synonymous with "hidden lessons", i.e. about something that is shared between God and his people and which nobody else can understand or know about. In this sense, the parable is also something that hides when it is disclosed. It is for this reason that the Lord, when alone with his own, explains to them the hidden things he announces (vv. 36-43).