The Parable of the Weeds, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

GOSPEL MEDITATION PARABLES # 3

The Parable of the Weeds

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.
  6. Reread them. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. The sower/farmer scatters seed widely and despite difficulty, there is a harvest, one that far exceeds 10 fold, which would be expected.
  8. Jesus makes a comparison with what sowers encounter regularly—along with the wheat are weeds. What to do?
  9. The weeds can be pulled out, others note to the owner of the field. But no, the weeds are to be left in place, which would be somewhat shocking to the field hands.
  10. At a later point, Jesus leaves the crowd of hearers and retires with His disciples to a private location who then ask Him to explain the parable to them.
  11. Turns out the sower is actually the “Son of man” or Jesus Himself. (Does Jesus sow seed through or by means of His followers?)
  12. The field where the seeds are sown is the world, all the people of the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, the weeds are the plants of the evil one.
  13. There is to be a harvest at the end of the age and the reapers are sent out (see Revelation 14:14-20).
  14. At the outset, the angels of God gather the plants belonging to the evil one and these are burned with fire. All that causes sin along with all law-breakers are thrown into the “fiery furnace.” In that place there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” a classical Jewish expression.
  15. The harvest, the crop, the fruit, will be preserved, these “righteous” will be in the very presence of the Father.
  16. The followers of Jesus, His hearers, are invited to hear.

The Parable of the Sower and its Interpretation, Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

GOSPEL MEDITATION PARABLES # 2

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

The Parable of the Sower and its Interpretation

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.
  6. Reread them. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. The Parable of the Sower, with its interpretation, is perhaps the most important parable that Jesus told His disciples.
  8. Seed is scattered liberally with no care of where the seed fell; the ploughing follows. The seed, according to Jesus, is the “word” which is logos in the Greek and is the message of Jesus, both who He is and what He did.
  9. The seeds on the path and amongst the rocks fail to yield a crop. Seed on the path is snatched away by the destroyer Satan. The seed on rocky ground sprouts quickly, and with joy, but does not last long due to difficulties, mostly attributable to persecutions because of the Word. (see John 1:1) It is most probable that genuine new birth is not in view in the first two locations where the seed fell.
  10. The seed/Word fallen amidst weeds appears to picture genuine conversion. Notice the words Jesus uses: “received,” “hears,” and “unfruitful.” Indication is the ‘believer’ did not mature. Instead, cares, riches, and pleasures of life serve to choke out the plant. There is a plant, but no fruit.
  11. Seed sown on good soil does produce, and as Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 3:7, “God made it grow.” The sower is indispensable to the work, but is not alone responsible for the harvest.
  12. The harvests will vary, even greatly so, yet this is not a concern of the sower. The sower is to sow the seed given out to him or her. and expect a harvest.

 

The Parables of Jesus: An Introduction

GOSPEL MEDITATION

The Parables of Jesus: An Introduction

Matthew 13:10-17 & Luke 8:9-15

  1. Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
  2. Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
  3. Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
  4. Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
  5. Slowly and carefully read the passages of Scripture.
  6. Reread them. From memory, determine the central points.
  7. A parable is the use of common language that usually has one primary point. Jesus used this means to teach His disciples while others would not be able to grasp the meaning of them.
  8. Also, parables would lend themselves to memorization

more easily.

  1. Parables are found in the Hebrew Bible as well, for

example in Ezekiel 17:1-10,19:10-14, and 37:1-14.

  1. There are no obvious parables in John’s Gospel, some

are peculiar to Matthew, Mark, and Luke while others

appear in two or even three of the Gospels.

  1. At first, Jesus tells large crowds various parables;

however, He takes His disciples aside and interprets

two of them, that of the Sower and Weeds, for them

privately.

  1. Jesus knows that unless the Holy Spirit interprets the truths

of the Word of God to people, it is impossible for them to

grasp such truths.

  1. Here we encounter the mystery of election, only those

chose my God, those whose eyes and ears are opened,

will have any real understanding of all that belongs to

God.

  1. The disciples, those who hear and know the mysteries

of God, are indeed blessed and can take no credit for

this understanding.