Parable of the Weeds

The Point of the Gospel

Parables con’t

Weeds among the Grain

{Mark} Jesus said, “The kingdom of God can be likened to a man scattering seeds on the ground. Night and day, whether asleep or awake, the seeds sprout and grow, though he doesn’t know how. By itself, the soil first produces the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel. Ripe, he cuts it down, for the harvest has come.

Personal Thought: of course science now knows how and why the seeds sprout, though sometimes I think we forget that while we can make seed production as efficient as possible, we cannot make the seed by ourselves.

{Matthew} Jesus began to speak to them only in parables. “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted grain seeds in the field, but his enemy spread weeds among the wheat. Both grew up together. The man’s servants asked who could have done such a thing, and the owner said, ‘An enemy did this.’ They asked if they should pull up the weeds, but fearing they would also pull up the wheat, he said, ‘Let them grow together. At the harvest, the harvesters shall bind the weeds together and burn them then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

The disciples asked Jesus to explain the parable. He said, “The planter is the Son of Man, the good seed, the sons of the kingdom, and the field, the world. The weeds are sons of the evil one, the enemy who planted the weeds. The harvest is the end of the age when the Son of Man will send his angels to rid his kingdom of everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will be thrown into the fiery furnace. Then the righteous will shine as bright as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

The Mustard Seed {Matthew, Mark, and Luke}

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is also like a mustard seed. Though the smallest of seeds, it grows into the largest of garden plants to become a tree where the birds come to perch in its branches.”

{Matthew and Luke} “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast mixed into a large amount of flour to leaven all the dough.”