Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven
1) Review: Summarize last week’s lesson of the four soils.
Soils – What kind of soil are you? Asking how responsive are you to truths about the Kingdom?
– Hard path-hear and don’t understand
– Rocky-hear, receive, no deep roots
– Thorny-worries of the world, etc.
– Fertile good/plowed soil-learning, being, doing
And the rabbi would ask, now what are you going to do with that knowledge?
IMPORTANT: So which soil are you? How deep do you dig? Do you do the work? Most listeners are “rocky soil.” We
need to make the time to dig. (“You do what you want to do.”)
From there, wheat and weeds, mustard seed, yeast, and on. Believe these were one after the other.
2) For today’s verses, where are we in our chiasm? And what is a chiasm?
Simply – Literary tool. It enhances the unity of the discourse and focuses attention on the central element as what is most
A The introduction vv. 1-2
B The first parable to the crowds vv. 3-9
C An explanatory interlude: purpose and explanation vv. 10-23
D Three more parables to the crowd vv. 24-33
E An explanatory interlude: fulfillment and explanation vv. 34-43
D' Three parables to the disciples vv. 44-48
C' An explanatory interlude: explanation and response vv. 49-51
B' The last parable to the disciples v. 52
A' The conclusion v. 53
Parable of the Wheat and Weeds D
24 Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. 25 But
that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. 26 When the crop
began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew. 27 “The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field
where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’ 28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer
exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. 29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. 30 Let
both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn
them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
Parable of the Mustard Seed D
31 Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. 32 It is the
smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its
Parable of the Yeast D
33 Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even
though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
Interlude & Parable of the Wheat and Weeds Explained E
34 Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them
without using such parables. 35 This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet: “I will speak to you in
parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.”
36 Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the
weeds in the field.” 37 Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. 38 The field is the world,
and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. 39 The
enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the
angels. 40 “Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. 41 The Son of Man
will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 And the
angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous
will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!
3) Who did Jesus tell these parables to and who did he explain the parables to? Why? Hint – see Parable and
He told them to the crowd and the disciples. He explained them only to the disciples.
"The die is cast. The religious leaders have openly declared their opposition to their Messiah. The people of Israel are
amazed at the power of Jesus and His speech, but they fail to recognize Him as their King. Not seeing the Messiahship of
Jesus in His words and works, they have separated the fruit from the tree. Because of this opposition and spiritual apathy,
Jesus: 1) adapts His teaching method and 2) the doctrine concerning the coming of the kingdom (From 46A)
V24-30 and V36-43 Parable of the Wheat and Weeds – and – Jesus’ explanation
4) Who is the farmer? Who are the farmer’s workers? What is the field? Who are the good seeds? What do the
good seeds become? Who are the weeds? Who planted the weeds/tares?
God. His angels. The world. His new followers, people of the Kingdom. Wheat. People who belong to the evil one.
5) What/when is the harvest? Who are the harvesters? Who sends the harvesters? What do the harvesters do?
End of the world. God’s angels. God. Remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil
6) What things specifically identifies weeds as weeds? What will be the weeds “situation” after they are harvested?
They cause sin and do evil. Throw into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
7) What will the wheat do after the harvest?
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom.
8) Who should take note of this information?
Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!
Digging deeper: a rant but an important one – to understand the Bible
What did your Parable and Chiasm sheet say about learning? Look for the hidden treasure.
Example: Arkansas vs Kentucky basketball this year > I was there > We won > weekly breakfast with friends > “What
did it look like on TV? Cause in person, both teams, it was Nolan.” > That’s all I said > They knew what I meant > Does
anyone know what I meant? > The knew, no explanation needed. > My “hidden treasure? > It meant hard fought, nasty,
lots of fouls, defense, slugfest! > How did they know? They watched it all in the 1990s, 3 decades ago, and still talk
about it from time to time. > There are Razorback “rainmen” out there. > They remember everything. What’s a rainman?
For the Jews this teaching method to them is natural – they could do the digging because they had all Bible memorized by
13 years old, they are equipped to find the hidden meanings. AND, they dance because they will find the treasure some
day! The “rainmen,” the best of the best, became disciples of rabbis.
We say we don’t learn this way and “it sounds terrible,” give me the answers, but we do learn this way and we do love it
and take the time to do it on topics we love.
Razorbacks or fill in the blank – we do this. Bible – We learn mostly at the first level. But couldn’t we go deeper?
There’s a problem we church folks have created. Guess what it is? We’re afraid we’ll say something wrong. And that
stymies our learning, our growth. Don’t be afraid of that here. When I teach there are three trained preachers sitting out
there. I had to tell myself, oh well, I may learn something tonight, too. And I have. Y’all have seen it.
With all that said: 1) Don’t be afraid to say something that might be wrong or ask a question. We are all still learning. 2)
Learn to love to dig in God’s word. Learn to love to learn.
We could dig into v36, 40-41 That would be fun. That’s what the disciples asked about. We could talk about those evil
and sinful people who are gonna get what they deserve.
Instead, let’s go to v27-29? And dig a little deeper.
“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did
they come from? “An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed. “‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked. “‘No,’ he
replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do.
We already have identified the players.
Ask questions: Why wait? Why would we not get rid of the weeds now? Who waits till harvest to remove weeds?
QUESTION: Why can’t we separate out the good and the bad? We might mis-identify.
Tares = Bearded darnel, when growing you can’t tell it from wheat.
BUT – At the harvest wheat bends over and tares stand up. That’s when you can tell the difference.
– There are people and things of the Kingdom and there’s things and people that are not.
– Don’t try to do God’s job.
– Only God can know.
Super applicable. We love to identify tares. This is identifying, not judging, judging is sometimes appropriate.
Identifying and wanting to weed seems to be looking at a lot of people and thinking we can quickly identify and label
them with a quick “inspection.” Example: Foreigners > what do we really know about foreigners > We typically don’t
know anything unless we’ve been there. But . . . we label them.
ANY TARES you’d like to get rid of? People, who in my opinion are trying to destroy our country. Can you give it to
TABLE TALK QUESTION: We live in a time when there’s wheat and weeds. What can we do with ourselves?
We can be the good wheat by:
We are called to live beautiful lives, believable lives. We are “the plan” to redeem the world.
– Relationship with Jesus > Get our strength from Him > Can’t do it on our own > We will wear down.
– Pray > for God’s Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven > for others > for your need > Lord’s prayer.
– Do good deeds > Do most with a partner or group > Stay in community.
– Do hospitality > Example: Gethsemane graduates can come back and eat, go to meetings any time.
– Learn together > be accountable.
– Serve at church >
– Get yourself in shape physically, financially, mentally, spiritually, to serve.
– Be financially stable enough to give.
– If you’re not financially stable enough to give much yet, give of yourself > time, talents.
– Help someone worse off than you > there is someone worse off than you.
– Listen > sometimes someone just needs someone to talk to.
– Repair something for someone > This is the new valuable commodity!