The Parables of the Kingdom

Savior and Teacher: A Study of Matthew PART 26
Rev. John Lin
05 August 2012

Matthew 13: 24-33
24Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.  25But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.  26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field?  Where then did the weeds come from?'

28"'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them up?'

29"'No,' he answered 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them.  30Let both grow together until the harvest.  At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.'"

31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.  32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches."

33He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

MIXED CROPS
--Weeds are intertwined with the good stuff crops.
--Good is intertwined with evil.

PATIENT FARMER
--Everything is intertwined and difficult to disentangle.
--Everything is broken.

Weeds are like the evil in the outside world as well as in our hearts.

Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the harvest.