Matthew Chapter 13
(In Harmony, these verses are in Mark 4, and Luke 8)
Looking ahead, this chapter contains 7 parables. All are likely to be either over my head, or I will over-simplify them. This is Jesus' own teaching, and worth whatever effort it takes to try and understand. MSB note says the purpose of the parables was to obscure the truth from unbelievers while making the truth clearer to his disciples. From this point on in his ministry, in public, he spoke only in parables - unlike the Sermon on the Mount, which was fairly clear.
2020 - Another thing to keep in mind is that Matthew organizes according to five discourses of Jesus. He is not chronological, so these parables may have been compiled from any or all of those discourses and arranged as Matthew wants to arrange them. As it turned out with several items a few days ago, it may be very helpful to cross-check these parables in Mark and Luke - if they are there - to put them in the context of where they were first spoken, what the circumstances were there, and what else was going on that day. If they are confusing, then check for context. This worked very well before. This is a good "rule" to study by.
Matthew starts with "That same day..." The previous chapter started with "At that time..." And the one before that started "When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples..." The Intro to Matthew said this last line - which began Chapter 11, signals us that a discourse has finished up and we are moving on to the next. I see nothing in Matthew that tells us where the things in 11 through at least 13 take place. In Harmony, Mark says they were at the seaside, Luke says people from all over came to him. And Matthew says in a boat. So they were likely near a city - or else there wouldn't have been boats "parked" nearby, but we don't really know where. The scene is down by the water, and in fact, Jesus gets into a boat to teach. If "That same day..." ties us to the previous discourse, that went on before chapter 11, that would be Jesus sending out the twelve...so that doesn't really seem right. So. After reading back in Mark 3, I would say that Jesus is down at the water near Capernaum. This town was right on the Sea of Galilee. From the Luke account, you really cannot say. The most recent previous place name given was Nain, where he raised the widow's son. Then he goes home with a Pharisee to eat, and the woman washes his feet with her tears. This is all in Luke 7. The Bible map I found of Nain puts it way far away from Capernaum. I really like context, but I am unable to be certain of the location here. We can't even be sure that Jesus was even in a boat delivering all these parables, since Matthew is not a stickler for chronology.
2023 - Don't over-complicate the location. Matthew tells us that Jesus sat in a boat and did this teaching. The phrasing implies that ALL these parables were spoken on that occasion. There is no claim that he spoke them in this sequence, but I would expect, I would search for, a single theme, building from the first to the last, so that a profound overall sense of the real topic comes through it all. These are not random.
The chapter opens with the parable of the sower, a parable that I have wrestled with many times. Most interpretations are that only the seed that falls on the good ground is representative of those who are saved, since only this seed bears fruit. This parable is followed by an explanation of why Jesus begins to speak only in parables, and to me, a lot of questions come up. I will try to discuss both the parable and the reasons for parables all together...easier said than done I suspect...
As to the parable of the sower, this:
- Dake's had something to say on these verses. He says this is about continuing to work without distraction in your sanctification. Least I think that's what he's talking about. He says that the more you focus on the things of God, the more God will reveal to you about the things of God. This is consistent with many verses in Proverbs. The verse also says that if you get complacent and or lazy or decide that you'll be OK as you are without further work, that what you have learned to that point, what progress towards sanctification you've made, will be undone and taken from you. This is pretty much the same as we might say about physical exercise. The more you lift, the stronger you get. Then if you lay off for a while, get lazy, get interested in something unrelated, your muscles will deteriorate.
2023 - So Dake says that the seed itself represents saved people. The sower becomes sort of a mystery then...unless the sower is God, who saves them. Dake is saying that the seed that falls on the path and never takes root never are sanctified much at all. They got saved, and they walked away, and they grew apart from God. And so on. Only the last study and grow continually from the time they are saved until they die. Those who let the cares of the world get between them and study, also lose what little they'd learned to that point, because they just push their sanctification to the background and don't continue to work on it, don't give it more priority than the life the world offers. They're making a living and raising their families and they CHOOSE not to include God in this. So by extension, Dake is saying that only those who continue in the work of sanctification ever reach the point of bearing fruit for God. So...I can see this. I have always "resisted" interpreting this parable as ONLY the seed on the good ground being saved, and the rest being about those who never "submit" to God and take up the cross. There is just a lot of room for interpretation here.
I can see how some might use this same analysis and say the verse is about salvation, and not sanctification. They might say that works - study, devotion, and so on - are required to maintain and advance your salvation. Have to remember that in both cases this verse comes right after the parable of the sower. Is that parable about salvation or sanctification? It seems to be about salvation, where only those who receive the word with a noble and good heart (NKJV, Luke) keep the word to the bearing of fruit. The unsaved bear no fruit, all their works are corrupt. Only the saved can bear fruit.
In both versions of the parable, the seed that falls by the way is said not to be saving. They don't understand the word, and the devil is therefore able to snatch it away. The last three groups all sprout. Among rocks and briars they sprout and the seed never accomplishes the end to which it was sown. Only the last group was able to reproduce. But all sprout. Does this mean that some, when confronted with confession of faith and persecution vs silence and status quo, choose not to speak up, though they are saved? They are like Peter when he denied three times, but unlike Peter they never produce?
And the rocky seed...Those who are saved, but don't make God's work priority and instead get caught up in jobs and riches and fleshly cares. Are they saved, but of little use to God? The last group reproduces, certainly the preferred result of the sowing.
This seems to hold up. No reason to think all four groups are either saved or unsaved. If only the last three are saved then each of them is saved - each sprouts - with the potential to bear fruit, and this only the saved can do. But for those who get scared off by hardship or who devote their attention to this world and not so much the next, never reach that potential, and as time passes while they amble along, what they could have accomplished lessens. The crown they might have gotten shrinks. But to the one who starts strong and continues, more potential for fruit is added. Not all the apostles yielded the fruit that Peter did. Not all apostles did what Paul was able to do. Judas was never really saved.
This profound note in the MSB as to the why of the parables: He says it was judgement, and it was mercy. Judgement in that teaching this way kept unbelievers in the darkness they preferred. What they didn't understand didn't move them, but without understanding, they stayed lost, which was the way they liked it. Mercy, in that "to whom more is given, more is expected". Had they understood plainly and clearly, and still rejected, they would be under more condemnation than if they remained ignorant.
MSB says this is the third discourse of Jesus recorded in Matthew. It starts with the parable of the sower. Jesus teaches this from a boat, out in the water. The water likely stopped the crowd pushing towards him, pressing him backward. From the boat, he could be heard, and he could continue uninterrupted.
Some 30, some 60, some an hundredfold. Three of the four seeds sown don't mature, don't go anywhere. But still the seed was sown there. The sower still sowed, though there was no return on that seed. I prayed this morning that I would know whom to talk to, but this says I should talk to everyone. I can't know what seed will produce, what seed in an unlikely place will find rich soil, nor can I anticipate that seed sown in a great spot won't be scorched by the sun because of the rocks just under the surface are invisible to me. NEITHER does this parable condemn the sower for doing a poor job, or "rate" the sower for the abundance of his crop. The sower is to sow. This parable is addressed, I think, to the sower.
This verse:
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" 11 And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. [Mat 13:10-11 ESV]
Jesus answers the question himself. He tells them that understanding these parables is a gift, an ability, that is only given to those God calls, to the elect, to those who are or will be saved. Those not elect receive a just reward for their sins.
(((Could put that passage from Ezekiel I think it is, where there is a dialogue between God and Israel, and they accuse Him of injustice, and He explains Himself to them. DO THIS!!!! Someday you will need it!!! What I'm looking for is in the notes on Eze 18-20!)))
This section is also where Jesus says that the ones who have will receive even more, and the ones who have little will lose even that. This verse:
12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. [Mat 13:12 ESV]
He is talking about the revelation of the OT mysteries to those who are elect, and especially to those who are with him. These disciples of Jesus were seeing the Messiah with their own eyes, and that Messiah was explaining to them what it all meant - from the beginning to the end. So those who had "belief" received far more knowledge of what they believed in. And those who were "educated" in religion were going to have their understanding of even that crumble before their eyes in the face of the reality of Jesus as Messiah. The rules and the sacrifices that they worked at so hard, and that they believed to be saving, were being set aside now, and would be of no effect at all for them. In 70 AD, everything the Pharisees knew crumbled, and has never been rebuilt! That's what this is about!!!
That some are given ability to understand, and some not, seems unfair to us. But Jesus tells us that those who remain blind and deaf are left out because of their own actions. This verse:
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. [Mat 13:13 ESV]
Think of the Pharisees, who were listening to Jesus not to understand, but to catch him in a fault so that they could condemn him, disbelieve him, justify their pre-decided opinion that he was most certainly not the Messiah. They heard Jesus, BEFORE he began preaching in parables, and they didn't believe then. Is it unfair to stop repeating what they've rejected anyway? No!!! So the mercy part above - Jesus didn't make it even worse for them!!!
Then, Jesus explains the parable of the sower to them. And the explanation is not at all about the sower, but about the fate of the seeds! Four ways people respond to the gospel. They have it snatched away by Satan before they can think on it, they think it's great and accept it superficially and then drop it when there is a cost to hanging on to it, they know it's true, but are captivated by the things of this world and devote themselves to them instead, and then there are those who hear and understand and bear fruit. Because this verse...:
23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." [Mat 13:23 ESV]
There will be fruit, and there are many kinds of fruit beyond "soul winning"...but that comes from other places. It is not explicitly stated here. Further, this might be about what those who preach should expect. Not a lot of people who hear their words are going to become long term Christians. Most, in fact, will not. We are to preach to all so that those few who do truly hear and accept can carry on. So reaching even a few for Christ can have exponential results. More will be given?
The parable of the weeds is next. In the kingdom, because of the work of Satan, there will be bad people mixed in with good, and it will not be possible to remove the weeds at this point without also damaging the wheat. It will even be near impossible in some cases to tell one from the other. But at harvest time, the weeds get eliminated first, thrown into the fire, and then the wheat is gathered in. This could be an allusion to trib and great trib before Israel is finally restored. It does not seem to be about the church directly. However, MSB note says this IS about the church, and that Jesus explains it later in this chapter. We'll wait for that. 2020-Surely if "justice" was served up immediately to the wicked, there would be a lot more sorrow in the world. We love and pray for the lost, especially those in our own families. What if they were snatched away as soon as they reject Christ? What if they were just gone. It would be a different world. Maybe this also explains why it seems that the wicked prosper - well, in fact they sometimes DO prosper - and they get away with things. Because to remove them would upset the "flow" of the world toward the end God has set for it. We have to deal with evil, because it cannot be removed without taking away things like prayer, love of enemies, and so on. The evil have a purpose here also.
2023 - So...where is the explanation??? It starts in vs 36....See below...
The parable of the mustard seed. Again, in this one I see the future of Israel. It wasn't even a nation. Now it is. In the Millennial, it will be the greatest nation, the one that all other nations look to for their help. If it is the church, then from meager beginnings the church grows into the kingdom, to be gathered to heaven before the end really begins. The church is the calm in the storm that is planet earth. Peace is there, and help, and love. That is the design. So this would apply also. For the church, it applies to this present age, for David, for the nation of Israel, and for Abraham's descendants, it applies to the Millennial. BUT, I think the part about it being larger than all other plants can only apply to Israel in the Millennium. BUT, the church cannot be "seen" physically. So it could be quite large.
Then there is this one verse parable of the leaven. We know it is meant as a parable because it is so labeled. Leaven hidden in the flour in three measures. I'm sure there is speculation as to the three. The Trinity comes to mind first, the completed work of the entire Godhead at the end of the age. Abrahamic, Sinai, and Davidic covenants in the end times. Or it is about the church, in the world, multiplying quietly and permeating all - per MSB note.
2022 - This verse:
"35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."" [Mat 13:35 ESV]
So, in trying to determine what is meant by the parable of the sower, think about what this verse says...If you make that parable strictly about sanctification, is that something hidden since the foundation of the world? What interpretation of the sower reveals truth that the prophets did not understand? These are good questions. I suspect they are key to understanding...but I still don't think I fully understand the sower.
Now Jesus explains the parable of the weeds. He does so in private, to his disciples, rather than to the crowd. Says he went "into the house", but still we don't know where. Capernaum makes sense, since Jesus lived there. Same as he did with the parable of the sower. Jesus is the sower in the parable of the weeds. The elect are the good seed. The weeds are Satan's sons, and it is Satan who sows these seeds. 2020-The clear implication here is that Satan actively recruits. He wants his "sons" to cause problems in the world, to compete with and undermine the sons of the kingdom. Beginning in vs 40, the results of this mixing are tied to the end of the age. The harvest is the end of the age (Trib and Great Trib). As explained here, my understanding is that this reaping is the one that takes place at the end of the Millennial, and is about the final judgement after which sin exists no more. It is only then that ALL the tares are removed. Is there a verse anywhere in Revelation or elsewhere saying it is angels who will round up these tares? MSB has no note about when this is talking about. It surely seems like the second death. The second death is the Great White Throne judgement of Revelation 20: 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. [Rev 20:13 ESV] Nothing here about angels gathering these dead, and those in the final battle on Satan's side were consumed by fire that came down from heaven. So it could be that these angels go around rounding up the dead, and possibly also rounding up any still living lost who survive the battle. Perhaps the families and such of those who came out to fight for Satan are still alive back home, and it is these - also lost and against God - who get rounded up by angels.
2020-It would be so nice - and yet so difficult - to make one big book of end times events that gathers all the verses in the Bible that tell us about it put them in order as events unfold. So right here, we would insert Matt. 13:41-43 between Rev 20:11 and 20:12. That seems to be when these angels gather people up. But we aren't told that in Revelation, so if you only read Revelation you miss that part. I think also there was much in Isaiah about Trib and Great Trib that is supplementary to what we're told in Revelation. I would love to put all that together. But that's a decade of study! But...why couldn't I start it today, with these verses from Matthew?
2022 - The wheat and the tares is about the rapture. In my notes on revelation from 2022 I make what I believe is a very strong case that this parable is about the rapture. Based on those notes, I find it difficult to believe it could possibly be about anything else. It is in "Key Scriptures on Judgment". Here are the notes:
((30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn."'" [Mat 13:27-30 ESV]
The reapers are surely angels.
I found these two verses, that surely seem as though they ought to tie to this parable:
14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe." [Rev 14:14-15 ESV]
I do not see how we can equate what is happening here with the Sheep and Goat judgment. This is shortly after the 144,000 have been sealed and just before the seven plagues.
Oh my....is this the rapture??? Not a judgment at all, but the rapture itself? Separating the wheat that is the church from the tares that are those who must endure wrath? Wow...just wow. That seems to really work here.
One thing...this parable starts with "The kingdom of heaven may be compared..." So this parable is analogy to the Kingdom. This verse:
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." [Rev 11:15 ESV]
So this "change of ownership" occurs prior to the reaping. So that introductory phrase does indeed apply.)))
2022 - Continuing...look at how this is worded:
"39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels." [Mat 13:39 ESV]
The harvest is at the end of the age. How could a harvest - gathering in the good grain at the end of the age - be about anything but the rapture. And then note that this does not occur until Rev 14, and THEN explain to me how the church will already be gone when the reaping takes place? You do not reap weeds if there is no good grain there with it. Reaping is about what you KEEP, not about what you burn! Rev 14 is the rapture. Look also at vss 47-50! Same exact thing. Angels separate evil and righteous. Look how directly, how obviously these correspond with the actions of the angels in Rev. 14!
2023 - For now, I think these are the important points in the explanation. The harvest is the end of the age - this would be the end of the church age, not of the Millennial. It does not make sense for it to be anything else. The church age ends at the rapture. The rapture is in the sixth seal - and possibly amplified in Rev 14...I need to look more deeply into that. The parable says the wicked come out first. That is a difficulty. How does that happen? Many die during the tribulation from the revelation of the A of D to the rapture. But surely not all are lost. Both saved and unsaved will die during this time. And as Jesus says here, trying to remove the tares and leave the wheat results in harm to the good during that time. That is perhaps why it waits until the end of the age - because it will be a terrible time for all. Perhaps it means that during that time, sides will be chosen, the mark will be taken or rejected, the beast will be worshiped or not worshiped, people will be out in the open or they will hide from the persecution of the beast. Perhaps the 144,000 are the ones - the only ones - spared this wrenching, destructive harvest. And when it has gone on long enough - when there is enough separation between wheat and tares - then and only then will the wheat be removed...by angels. This verse, also from Matthew: 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. [Mat 24:31 ESV]. Yes. I am very happy with this interpretation. Well...I was for five minutes, until I read vss 41-43. The angels are gathering up the tares and burning them. They are going into hell...I mean, they will be going there in the interp above, but that would not seem to be carried out by angels sent by the Son of Man...Getting closer I think, but it still needs work. Vss 47-50 are along the same lines. They repeat that angels will do the sorting, and they will throw the bad into hell. Do we ever see this gathering by angels associated with a judgment? The sheep and goat, the bema - of course it is not the bema!!!, or the GWT? Anywhere? Have to look for that.
2023 - Later that day...I thought of this while at Systematic Theology group. The first four horsemen are angels. They are sent out as the Son of Man - well...technically the Lamb...opens each seal. They will be active before the rapture. They are sent out to do much harm up to and including killing a quarter of those on earth. Many - we might even say most - of those will be lost, because when the 7 years starts, it will be like the days of Noah. Hmm...So the earth will be very much populated by those who care nothing for God, and who spend all their time trying to cheat everyone else on earth. The tares will surely be at the point of choking out the wheat, such that gathering and burning the tares will damage only a relatively small amount of wheat. The rapture is just right around the corner anyway. But...gather the weeds first, in Matt 13:30. There doesn't seem to be anything in the first four seals to isolate who dies. So that's a pretty big weakness in this idea. Wait...look at exactly what this verse says: 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, "Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn."'" [Mat 13:30 ESV]. Gather and bind to be burned (implying later), but gather the wheat to the barn. I cannot help thinking that taking the mark is forever "binding". It says that no one who takes that mark is getting to heaven. And then the wheat is gathered into the barn - that seems like a reference to the rapture. The raptured go home while the "marked" tares stay to await their fate. Then the only problem is figuring out how Rev 13 is somehow superimposed on Rev 6 so that both are taking place simultaneously. If we "move" the end of the age to the end of tgt, then the sinners take the mark, and so are bound, the wheat is gathered to the barn in the rapture, and the tares are thrown into the fire at the pre-millennial judgment, after which the saints will rule and reign for a thousand years. Remember that both the wheat and tares and the net are parables. They only go so far. They teach truth, but they are not detailed analyses of events. Still though...the angels do the separating. How are we to read this???
2024 - I am still confused about this...today I am thinking the "binding and gathering" are about the Pre-Millennial judgment. The sheep and goat. But once again, the sheep are honored first, and then the goats are condemned. Actually...it says it this way:
32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. [Mat 25:32 ESV]. But this will be after Armageddon...and captives would seem likely, all gathered together and bound in the one place. Sides would already have been taken. So...maybe this is it. I have a hard time nailing this one down. Wheat and tares, sheep and goats. Are they about the same day?
The explanation of the parable is only given in Matthew. No parallel passage in one or more of the other gospels.
And look at vss 47-49! In that parable also the wicked are pulled out first and go into hell. Here is another verse: 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." [Mat 25:46 ESV]. Here, though the righteous are judged first and then the wicked, it is the wicked whose judgment is first executed.
The parable of the hidden treasure is next. A man finds a treasure on another's property. He doesn't steal the treasure, but buys the land, and then the treasure is his. There are no back doors to heaven. There is no getting in by subterfuge or conniving. There is only one way into heaven, and once we see that way, we are to give up everything we have here for what we will have in the kingdom.
The parable of the pearl of great value. Much the same as the hidden treasure. The difference might be that in the first case, the man stumbled upon the treasure, and in the second, the man was searching, and recognized perfection when he found it, and then did exactly the same thing as the first man did. He gave all to have what he valued most.
2020-The previous two parables are very short. One and two verses, respectively. The point of both is that the value of what is found supersedes all that was treasured before them. Once recognized, the treasure and the pearl are in fact priceless, and they are cheat at any price, even when that price is absolutely all that we can put together.
The parable of the net. This one is like the weeds. The good and bad will be gathered, and THEN sorted. We are not to do any sorting. That is left for God at the end of the age. These verses too would belong somewhere in Rev. 20. Except...The elect are spared the Great White Throne. Maybe what the net tells us is that all will be gathered to the Great White throne, then elect and lost will be separated, and the lost will be judged before that throne, as the elect look on. Could be that. Surely these verses belong in Rev. 20.
In vss 51, 52 Jesus tells them that if they understand the kingdom, they will understand how the old relates to the new, and not diminish either in light of the other. Both old and new are treasures, and can reside in the same house. But they are not the same.
Jesus visits his hometown. This would have been well into his ministry, yet they ask who he is? They recognize him as Mary's son, and refuse to believe that he has come by his knowledge and wisdom legitimately. They reject him. Interesting that they know Jesus AND his family. They know his mother, his brothers - three of them at the time - and all his sisters. Mary had other children after Jesus. The result of their rejection is that Jesus didn't do many miracles there. They lacked belief. They throttled God's blessings because they didn't accept his Son. 2020-These events correspond to Mark 6 and Luke 4, even though Luke doesn't put these parables until Chapter 8. Not sure why Matthew would put it here, after the parables. Ahh...A note in Harmony says this is a different visit to Nazareth. The other was at the beginning of his ministry, this well along...as noted. The details of what happens are also different enough to make it pretty certain they are different visits. It says they were astonished at his "mighty works", where the first time, he did no works at all because none believed in him. It says he didn't do many, but he did some, and certainly by this time they knew his reputation. But they were still hung up completely on his family history. They couldn't let that go. They were still locked in on the scandal of his conception before marriage, and so could not see that something unique, unprecedented, and outside the tradition of men had occurred.