Mathayo 13

Parables by the lake: the sower

¹That same day Jesus left the house and sat down beside the lake. ²Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³He told them many things in parables. “Listen!” he said. “A sower went out to sow. ⁴As he was sowing, some of the seed landed beside the path, and the birds came and ate it all up. ⁵Some landed on rocky patches where the soil was thin. They shot up at once, since the soil was not deep, ⁶but when the sun came up, the young plants were scorched, and having no root, they dried up. ⁷Other seed landed among thornbushes, and the thorns shot up and smothered it. ⁸But other seed landed in good soil and went on to bear grain, a hundred times as much as was sown, or sixty, or thirty. ⁹Whoever has ears must listen.”^a

Why Jesus speaks in parables

¹⁰The disciples came up to Jesus and asked him, “Why are you using parables when you talk to them?” ¹¹He answered them, “Because you have been allowed to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not. ¹²Those who have will be given more, and they will have plenty. But those who do not have will lose even what they have. ¹³So I speak to them in parables, because they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. ¹⁴In them the prophecy of Isaiah is coming true: ‘You will listen and listen and never understand; you will look and look and never perceive. ¹⁵This people’s heart has grown dull. Their ears barely hear, and they have shut their eyes tight. If they did not, they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their heart and turn back, and then I would heal them.’ ¹⁶But your eyes are blessed, for they see, and so are your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you now see, and never saw them; they longed to hear the things you now hear, and never heard them.

The sower explained

¹⁸As for you, then, hear what the parable of the sower means. ¹⁹Here is the seed sown beside the path: people who hear the message of the kingdom without understanding it. The evil one comes and carries off what was sown in their hearts. ²⁰The seed sown on the rocky ground is the person who hears the word and at once accepts it with joy. ²¹But the word has no root in them, and they hold on only for a while. As soon as hardship or persecution comes on account of the word, they stumble and fall away. ²²The seed sown among the thorns is the person who hears the word, but the cares of the present age and the false promises of wealth smother it, so that it yields no crop. ²³But the seed sown on good soil is the person who hears the word and understands it. That person does bear fruit, yielding a hundred times what was sown, or sixty, or thirty.”

Weeds among the wheat

²⁴Then Jesus set another parable before them: “The kingdom of heaven is like the story of a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while people slept, an enemy of his came and scattered weeds all through the wheat, then went off. ²⁶When the wheat came up and began to form heads of grain, the weeds showed up as well. ²⁷The landowner’s slaves came to him and said, ‘Master, surely it was good seed you sowed in your field? So where have these weeds come from?’ ²⁸‘An enemy has done this,’ he told them. ‘Shall we go out, then, and gather them up?’ the slaves asked. ²⁹‘No,’ he replied, ‘for in gathering the weeds you might pull up the wheat with them. ³⁰Leave them to grow side by side until the harvest. When harvest time comes, I will give the reapers their orders: “Pull out the weeds first, and tie them into bundles for burning. But store the wheat in my barn.”’”

The mustard seed and the yeast

³¹He gave them another parable to think about: “Picture a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field. The kingdom of heaven is like that. ³²Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but once it is grown it stands taller than the other garden plants and turns into a tree, big enough for wild birds to come and nest among its branches.”^b

³³He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. A woman took it and worked it into about 40 pounds of flour, until all the dough had risen.”

³⁴Everything Jesus said to the crowds he said in parables; indeed, he told them nothing at all without a parable. ³⁵This was so that the word spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will pour out what has been hidden since the world was founded.”^cd

The weeds explained

³⁶Then Jesus sent the crowds away and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Tell us plainly what the parable of the weeds in the field means.” ³⁷He answered, “The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world. The good seed stands for the people who belong to the kingdom, and the weeds for the people who belong to the evil one. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰The weeds are collected and burned up in the fire, and the end of the age will be like that. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send his angels, who will collect from his kingdom everything that leads people into sin and everyone who breaks God’s law. ⁴²They will throw them into the burning furnace, and there people will weep and grind their teeth.

⁴³In their Father’s kingdom, then, the righteous will blaze out like the sun. Whoever has ears must listen.

Treasure, a pearl and a net

⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field. A man came across it and covered it up again. Then, full of joy, he went and sold everything he owned and bought that field.

⁴⁵Or again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was searching for fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he came upon a single pearl of very high price, he went and sold off all his possessions and bought it.

⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was let down into the lake and pulled in fish of every kind. ⁴⁸When it was full, they hauled it onto the beach, sat down, and sorted the good fish into baskets, while the worthless ones they threw away. ⁴⁹The end of the age will be like this. The angels will go out and remove the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰and they will throw them into the burning furnace. There people will weep and grind their teeth.

⁵¹Have you understood all this?”^e “Yes,” they answered. ⁵²He told them, “That is why every scribe who has been trained as a disciple for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who draws from his store of treasures both new things and old.” ⁵³When Jesus had finished telling these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴Jesus came to his hometown and began teaching the people in their synagogue. They were astounded. “Where did this man get such wisdom,” they asked, “and these mighty works? ⁵⁵This is the carpenter’s son, is it not? Is his mother not the woman called Mary? And are his brothers not James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?^{f 56}And are all his sisters not living here among us? So where did he get all this?” ⁵⁷And they were offended by him. But Jesus told them, “Prophets are honored everywhere except in their own hometown and among their own family.” ⁵⁸Because they would not believe, he did not do many mighty works there.