Matthew 13
13
Chapter 13
Jesus tells a story about a farmer who planted seeds
1On that same day, Jesus left the house and he went to Lake Galilee. He sat down near the edge of the lake to teach people. 2The crowd that came to listen to him was very large. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The big crowd of people stood on the shore. 3Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them: ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. 4While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. 5Other seeds fell on ground which had rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. 6But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. 7Some other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. 8But some seeds fell on good soil and strong plants grew from those seeds. Some plants made 100 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds and some plants made 30 new seeds.’ 9Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’
Jesus explains to his disciples why he teaches with stories
10Then Jesus' disciples came to him. They asked him, ‘Why do you use stories to speak to the crowd?’
11Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But these other people do not understand what the stories mean. 12A person who has received some things will receive even more. He will have lots of good things. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 13The reason I use stories to talk to other people is this:
These people look. But they do not really see clearly.
They hear the words. But they do not really understand. #13:13 Jesus is telling his disciples about how to listen to him. They must listen well to what he says. Then they will understand him. They must believe in the message from God. Then they will understand more and more. Some people think that they know all about God. These people do not listen well to him. So they do not understand what he says. God will take away from them what they think that they know.
14Long ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke a message from God about those people. #13:14 See Isaiah 6:9. Now it has become true. God said:
“You will listen and listen. But you will not understand.
You will look and look. But you will not see anything.
15These people do not really want to understand.
They are like people who have shut their ears.
They are like people who have shut their eyes.
If they did want to look, then they would really see.
If they did want to listen, then they would really hear.
They would understand my message.
They would turn back to obey me.
Then I would forgive them and I would make them well.” ’
16Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘But as for you, be happy because God has helped you to see. He has helped you to hear and understand his message. 17I tell you this: Many prophets and good people from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’
Jesus explains the story about the farmer who planted his seeds
18Jesus then said, ‘Listen to me now. I will tell you what this story about the farmer means. 19Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like. 20Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. 21But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. 22Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. 23But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’ #13:23 In this story, the seed that falls in different kinds of soil is the message of good news from God. The farmer is like a person who teaches people about that message.
Jesus tells a story about some weeds
24Then Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: A farmer planted some good wheat seeds into his field. 25But one night, when everyone was sleeping, a bad person came to the farmer's field. He did not like the farmer. This bad person planted seeds from weeds among the good wheat seeds. Then the bad person went away again. 26The good seeds grew and the plants began to make new seeds. But when this happened, the weeds also grew.
27So the farmer's servants came to speak to him. “Master, you planted only good seeds in your field but now many weeds are also growing there. How did this happen?” they asked him.
28The farmer said to his servants, “A bad person who does not like me has done this.”
So the servants then asked the farmer, “Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?”
29The farmer replied, “No, I do not want you to do that. If you pull up the weeds, you may also pull up some of the good wheat plants. 30Let the good plants and the weeds grow up together. At harvest time, I will tell the workers to cut down the weeds first. Then they will tie them together and burn them. Then they will cut the wheat and bring it into my building. I will store it there.” ’
Jesus tells a story about a small seed
31Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘I will tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is like a very small seed of the plant called mustard. A man took this seed and he planted it in his field. 32It is the smallest seed that there is. But when it starts to grow, it will become bigger than the largest bush. It will become a tree. The wild birds will come and they will build their nests among the branches of that tree.’
Jesus tells a story about yeast
33Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is also like this. It is like how yeast works. A woman took the yeast and she mixed it into three large bowls of flour. Then the yeast went through all the flour so that it grew big.’ #13:33 People put yeast into flour and water to make bread. The yeast grows in the flour and it causes the bread to become bigger.
34Jesus told the crowds of people all these things. But he only used stories to teach them. 35So what God's prophet had said long ago now became true:
‘I will use stories when I speak to them.
And I will teach them secret things.
People have never learned these things before, since the world began.’ #13:35 See Psalms 78:2.
Jesus explains the story about the weeds
36Then Jesus told the crowds of people to go away. He went into the house where he was staying. His disciples also went into the house with him. They said to him, ‘Explain to us the story about the weeds that were growing in the field.’
37Jesus replied, ‘The Son of Man is like the farmer who planted the good seed in the field. 38The field is like the world. The good seeds are like the people who belong to God's kingdom. The weeds are like the people who belong to the Devil. 39The Devil is the bad person who planted the weed seeds in the field. The time for harvest is like the end of time. God's angels are the workers who cut the plants down.
40In the story, the workers cut down the weeds and they burned them in the fire. When this world comes to an end, it will happen like that. 41The Son of Man will send his workers, who are his angels. They will remove from his kingdom everything that causes sin. They will take away everyone who does evil things. 42The angels will throw those bad people into the great fire. There the people will cry and they will bite their teeth together. #13:42 Biting their teeth together may have shown that they were angry. Or it may have shown they were in much pain. 43The people who obeyed God will shine like the sun. They will be in the kingdom of their Father. You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’
Jesus tells a story about a man who found valuable things in the ground
44‘I can tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like,’ Jesus said. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like some valuable things that a man buried in a field. Another man found it, but then he covered it over again with dirt. The second man was very happy and he went away. He sold everything that he had. Then he went and bought the field with the valuable things in it.’ #13:44 At that time, people usually hid their valuable things in the ground. The kingdom of God is very valuable. A person should give everything to have God rule in his life.
Jesus tells a story about some valuable stones
45‘I will tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like,’ Jesus said. ‘A trader looks for beautiful stones that he can buy. 46One day he found a very valuable stone that someone wanted to sell. So he went away and he sold everything that he had. Then he went and he bought that very valuable stone.’
47Jesus also said, ‘I can tell you again what the kingdom of heaven is like. Some men had nets to catch fish in. They threw their nets into the lake and they caught many different kinds of fish. 48When the net was full of fish, the men pulled it up onto the shore. Then they sat down. Some of the fish were good to eat, and they put these fish into baskets. Some of the fish were not good to eat, and they threw these fish away. 49This is what will happen when the world's time comes to an end. God will send his angels. They will put wicked people in one place. And they will put God's righteous people in a separate place. 50The angels will throw the wicked people into the great fire. There those people will weep and they will bite their teeth together.’ #13:50 Biting their teeth together may have shown that they were angry. Or it may have shown they were in much pain.
51Then Jesus asked his disciples, ‘Have you understood all these things?’ They replied, ‘Yes, we have.’
52Jesus said to them, ‘Some teachers of God's Law have now learned about the kingdom of heaven. These men are like the master of a house who takes things out of the room where he keeps them. Some of the valuable things he brings out are new and some of them are old.’
53When Jesus had finished telling these stories, he went away from that place.
Jesus goes to Nazareth
54Jesus returned to his own town. He taught the Jewish people in their meeting room there. The people were very surprised about the things that he taught them. They said to each other, ‘We do not know how this man learned all these things. And we do not know how he does all these powerful things. 55We know who he is. He is the son of the carpenter here. #13:55 Mary's husband Joseph was a man who worked with wood, or perhaps stone, to make things. The people knew Jesus and his family. They thought that they knew everything about Jesus. But they did not believe that he was the Messiah. The Messiah is the man whom God sent to save people. Mary is his mother. We also know his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. 56All his sisters also live here in the town among us. So then, where did he learn all these things?’ 57So the people there did not accept Jesus.
Jesus said to them, ‘If a man is a prophet from God, people everywhere will say good things about him. But the people in his own town will not accept him. Even the people of his own house will not say good things about him.’
58Jesus did not do many powerful things in that town because the people would not believe in him.
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Matthew 13: EASY
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MissionAssist 2018
Matthew 13
13
A Harvest Story
1-3a At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories.
3b-8 “What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
9“Are you listening to this? Really listening?”
Why Tell Stories?
10The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”
11-15He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward a welcome awakening. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:
Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are stupid!
They stick their fingers in their ears
so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
so they won’t have to look,
so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
and let me heal them.
16-17“But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.
The Meaning of the Harvest Story
18-19“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road.
20-21“The seed cast in the gravel—this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.
22“The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it.
23“The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.”
* * *
24-26He told another story. “God’s kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistles all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistles showed up, too.
27“The farmhands came to the farmer and said, ‘Master, that was clean seed you planted, wasn’t it? Where did these thistles come from?’
28“He answered, ‘Some enemy did this.’
“The farmhands asked, ‘Should we weed out the thistles?’
29-30“He said, ‘No, if you weed the thistles, you’ll pull up the wheat, too. Let them grow together until harvest time. Then I’ll instruct the harvesters to pull up the thistles and tie them in bundles for the fire, then gather the wheat and put it in the barn.’”
31-32Another story. “God’s kingdom is like an acorn that a farmer plants. It is quite small as seeds go, but in the course of years it grows into a huge oak tree, and eagles build nests in it.”
33Another story. “God’s kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread—and waits while the dough rises.”
34-35All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:
I will open my mouth and tell stories;
I will bring out into the open
things hidden since the world’s first day.
The Curtain of History
36Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, “Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field.”
37-39So he explained. “The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.
40-43“The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act. The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom, pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen. At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father.
“Are you listening to this? Really listening?
44“God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
45-46“Or, God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for exquisite pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
47-50“Or, God’s kingdom is like a fishnet cast into the sea, catching all kinds of fish. When it is full, it is hauled onto the beach. The good fish are picked out and put in a tub; those unfit to eat are thrown away. That’s how it will be when the curtain comes down on history. The angels will come and cull the bad fish and throw them in the garbage. There will be a lot of desperate complaining, but it won’t do any good.”
51Jesus asked, “Are you starting to get a handle on all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
52He said, “Then you see how every student well-trained in God’s kingdom is like the owner of a general store who can put his hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it.”
53-57When Jesus finished telling these stories, he left there, returned to his hometown, and gave a lecture in the meetinghouse. He stole the show, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise, get such ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “We’ve known him since he was a kid; he’s the carpenter’s son. We know his mother, Mary. We know his brothers James and Joseph, Simon and Judas. All his sisters live here. Who does he think he is?” They got all bent out of shape.
58But Jesus said, “A prophet is taken for granted in his hometown and his family.” He didn’t do many miracles there because of their hostile indifference.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.