A Story About Wheat and Weeds

²⁴Then Jesus used another story to teach them. Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man that planted good seed in his field. ²⁵That night, all the people were asleep. The man's enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. Then the enemy went away. ²⁶Later, the wheat grew and heads of grain grew on the wheat plants. But at the same time the weeds also grew. ²⁷Then the man's servants came to him and said, 'You planted good seed in your field. Where did the weeds come from?' ²⁸"The man answered, 'An enemy planted weeds.' "The servants asked, 'Do you want us to go pull the weeds?' ²⁹"The man answered, 'No, because when you pull up the weeds, you might also pull up the wheat. ³⁰Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.'"

Jesus Teaches with More Stories (Mk. 4:30-32, 33-34; Lk. 13:18-21)

³¹Then Jesus told the people another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. A person plants that seed in his field. ³²That seed is one of the smallest of all seeds. But when the seed grows, it is one of the largest garden plants. It becomes a tree, big enough for the birds to come and make nests in its branches." ³³Then Jesus told the people another story: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman mixes into a big bowl of flour to make bread. The yeast makes all the dough (bread) rise." ³⁴Jesus used stories to tell all these things to the people. Jesus always used stories to teach the people. ³⁵This is the same as what the prophet* said: "I will speak using stories; I will tell things that have been secrets since the world was made." Psalm 78:2

Jesus Explains a Hard Story

³⁶Then Jesus left the people and went into the house. His followers came to him and said, "Explain to us the meaning of the story about the weeds in the field." ³⁷Jesus answered, "The person that planted the good seed in the field is the Son of Man.* ³⁸The field is the world. The good seed are all of God's children in the kingdom. The weeds are those people that belong to the Evil One (the devil). ³⁹And the enemy that planted the bad seed is the devil. The harvest time is the end of the world.* And the workers that gather are God's angels. ⁴⁰"The weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire. It will be the same at the end of the world.* ⁴¹The Son of Man* will send his angels, and his angels will find the people that cause sin and all people that do evil. The angels will take those people out of his kingdom. ⁴²The angels will throw those people into the place of fire. In that place the people will be crying and grinding their teeth [with pain]. ⁴³Then the good people will shine like the sun. They will be in the kingdom of their Father. You people that hear me, listen!

Stories About a Treasure and a Pearl

⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. One day a man found the treasure. The man was very happy to find the treasure. He hid the treasure in the field again. The man went and sold everything that he owned to buy that field. ⁴⁵"Also, the kingdom of heaven is like a salesman looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶One day the salesman found a very fine pearl. The salesman went and sold everything he had to buy that pearl.

prophet A person that spoke for God. Sometimes a prophet told things that would happen in the future. Son of Man A name Jesus used for himself. In Dan. 7:13-14, this is the name for the Messiah, the one God chose to save his people. world Literally, "age," or "time."