Matthew:13:1-53
Seeker Overlay ON
*
That day Jesus left the house and sat by the seashore .
*
Large crowds gathered to him .
He entered a boat while the crowd stood on the shore .
*
He told them many illustrations .
He said : »
A farmer went out to sow .
* »
Some seeds fell by the roadside ,
and the birds devoured them .
* »
Others fell on rocky places and did not have much soil .
* »
When they grew ,
the sun scorched them ,
and because they had no root they withered and died .
* »
Others fell upon the thorns .
The thorns grew up and choked them .
* »
Some fell on good ground and yielded fruit ,
some a hundredfold ,
some sixty ,
and some thirty .
* »
He that has ears let him hear .«
*
The disciples asked him : »
Why do you speak in illustrations ?«
*
He responded : »
You are allowed to know the divine secrets of the kingdom of heaven ,
but it is not for others to know .
* »
He who has shall receive more to the point of abundance .
He who does not have ,
it shall be taken away including that which he has .
* »
I speak to them in illustrations ,
because seeing they do not see ,
and hearing they do not hear .
They just do not understand .
* »
The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled .
By hearing ,
you shall hear ,
and shall in no way understand .
By seeing you shall see ,
and shall in no way perceive .
* »
The heart of this people is callous and dull .
Their ears are plugged .
They cannot hear .
They closed their eyes and cannot see .
They cannot see nor hear nor understand with their heart .
They should turn around and I would heal them .
* »
Happy and blessed are your eyes ,
for they see ;
and your ears ,
for they hear .
* »
Truly ,
I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things that you see ,
and could not see them .
They also desired to hear the things that you hear ,
and could not hear them .
* »
Listen to the illustration of the sower .
* »
When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand ,
the evil one takes away that which was sown in his heart .
This is what was sown by the roadside .
* »
Anyone sown among the rocky places hears the word and immediately with joy receives it .
* »
There is no root in him .
He endures for a while .
When he has tribulation or persecution because of the word ,
he falls away .
* »
He that was sown among thorns hears the word .
The cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word ,
and he becomes unfruitful .
* »
He that was sown upon the good ground hears the word ,
and understands it .
He bears fruit ,
producing sometimes a hundredfold ,
sometimes sixty ,
and sometimes thirty .«
*
He told another illustration ,
saying : »
The kingdom of heaven is like a man that sowed good seed in his field .
* »
While he slept ,
his enemy came and sowed weeds with the wheat ,
and went away .
* »
When the blade sprouted and brought forth fruit ,
it looked like wheat .
* »
The servants of the householder said to him :
Sir ,
did you sow good seed in your field ?
Why does it have weeds mixed in with the good wheat ?
* »
He replied :
An enemy did this .
The servants offered to remove the weeds .
* »
He said :
No ,
you might uproot the wheat with them .
* »
Let both grow together until the harvest .
In the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers : »
Gather weeds first ,
and bind them in bundles to burn them .
Then gather the wheat into my barn .« «
*
In another illustration Jesus said : »
The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed ,
which a man sowed in his field .
* »
Mustard seed is the smallest of all seeds .
Yet when it grows it becomes as large as a tree .
In fact the birds of heaven lodge in the branches .«
*
He offered another illustration : »
The kingdom of heaven is similar to leaven .
A woman hid leaven in three measures of meal until it was all leavened .«
*
Jesus spoke with illustrations to the crowds .
He did not speak anything without using illustrations .
*
That which was spoken through the prophet was fulfilled ,
saying : »
I will open my mouth in illustrations .
I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world .«
*
Then he left the crowds and went into the house .
His disciples gathered near him .
They said : »
Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field .«
*
Jesus said : »
He that sows the good seed is the Son of man .
* »
The field is the world .
The good seed are the sons of the kingdom .
The weeds are the sons of the evil one .
* »
The enemy that sowed them is the Devil .
The harvest is the end of the age .
The reapers are angels .
* »
The weeds are gathered up and burned with fire .
It will be this way at the end of the age .
* »
The Son of man will send his angels ,
and they will gather out of his kingdom all who stumble others and commit lawlessness .
* »
The angels will cast them into the furnace of fire ,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth .
* »
The righteous will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father .
He that has ears let him hear .
* »
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field .
A man found the treasure and hid it again in the field .
He is so filled with joy he sells everything he owns and buys the field .
* »
The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant seeking valuable pearls .
* »
When he found one pearl of great value ,
he sold all that he had ,
and bought it .
* »
The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea .
It gathered fish of every kind .
* »
They drew it up on the beach when it was full .
They gathered the good into containers and threw away the bad .
* »
It will be that way at the end of the age .
The angels will come forth ,
and separate the wicked from among the righteous .
* »
The wicked will be cast into the furnace of fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth .
* »
Have you understood all these things ?«
They said to him : »
Yes .«
*
And he said to them : »
Every scribe who has been made a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is a householder ,
who brings out of his treasure things new and old .«
*
After Jesus finished telling these illustrations ,
he left .
![[pBiblx2]](/img/pbiblx2_logo3.png){kind=logo}