Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43
Good people and evil people may live next to each other
Evil people may live next to Jesus’
Matthew 13:24–52 forms a section of the book of Matthew.
- Matthew 13:24–30:
Parable of the weeds - Matthew 13:31–35: Two more
parables - Matthew 13:36–43: Jesus explained the
parable of the weeds - Matthew 13:44–46: Two more
parables - Matthew 13:47–50:
Parable of the net. (This has the same meaning as theparable of the weeds.)
Matthew chose two main
The weeds
This
When the weed begins to grow, it looks exactly like wheat. Wheat is the good grain. It is only easy to recognise the weed later. But, by that time, the roots of the wheat and the roots of the weed are together. Nobody can pull up the weed. If they tried, the wheat would come up too.
But, at the time of harvest, it is vital to separate the weed from the wheat. The weed has a bitter taste. It is most unpleasant. There is some poison in it too. It causes people to fall over easily. It also makes them bring up any food that is in their stomachs.
An enemy might plant the weed secretly in a farmer’s field.
What the story means
First Jesus described the various parts of the story. (Read Matthew 13:37–39.) Then he explained what the story meant. (Read Matthew 13:40–42.)
Jesus had already taught about his
In Jesus’ story, even the
Jesus used strong words in Matthew 13:42. He described God’s final punishment. It would be for those who refuse to accept God’s ways. They must suffer for ever. The
Wicked people and people who follow Jesus will live next to each other. Jesus did not say why he would allow this. But we know the reason from other verses that are in the Bible. One of them is 2 Peter 3:9. God has great
Questions
- What things in this passage can comfort me? What things can test me?
- Some religious groups have tried to live completely separate lives from other people. Is this possible? How much should we involve ourselves with the world? (Note: The ‘world’ refers to non-Christians in the world. It can also refer to events in and pleasures in the world.)
- We work with non-Christians. We often live next to them. How can we warn them about their terrible future? (Note: Jesus says that Christians have their ‘roots together’ with non-Christians. Some Christians’ lives are not different from the lives of their non-Christian friends. But this is not what Jesus meant. We are living next to them. But we should not be like them.)