Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43

Good people and evil people may live next to each other

Evil people may live next to Jesus’ disciples. But it will not always be like this. Jesus explained about it.

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 the parable of the weeds.)

Matthew chose two main parables. He recorded Jesus’ explanation. He showed their importance. (Read Matthew 13:24-30, 47-50 and 36-43.)

The weeds

This parable used an event which was common in ancient Israel. It would be very familiar to farmers. There was a weed called ‘the bearded darnel’. It grew very fast. It is still common in Israel. It is especially common in the region called Hebron.

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. Roman laws forbade it. So this must have happened often. There were strict punishments for anyone who did it too. In Jesus’ story, an enemy had been working. Normally, the servants’ question would be natural (Matthew 13:28). But, the farmer knew that the crop had grown too much. So the weeds and wheat (good grain) must grow together. At the time of harvest, the farm workers must pull up the weeds. Then they would burn the weeds.

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 kingdom. One day, the extent of that kingdom would be the whole world. (Read Matthew 13:31–33.) But, the people in the world are a mixture. Some of them are good. And some of them are evil. This is the same today as it was then. There are people who obey Jesus. And there are those who refuse to serve him. They often live next to each other.

In Jesus’ story, even the angels could not understand this. But Jesus had an important point to teach here. It was this. The present state of the world is not the final one. God will remove all that is evil. That time will come. (Read Joel 3:13; Jeremiah 51:33 and Hosea 6:11.) God must punish those who refuse to obey Jesus. Then his disciples will be able to enjoy his kingdom completely. (Read Matthew 13:43.)

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 Jews would know what he was describing very well. (Read Jude 6-7; Revelation 14:9-11 and 20:10 too.) Jesus’ words were very serious. So he wanted those who heard him to understand his words. He wanted them to listen to his warning. Then he wanted them to do something about it (Matthew 13:43).

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 mercy. He does not want to punish anyone. He is giving more time for people to repent.

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.)