The first parable is an introduction to those that follow, and the last one is a conclusion and application of the whole series.528
13:3b-7 The focus in the first parable is on the soils rather than on the sower. Some seeds fell beside the path that was hard from traffic (v. 4). They lay on the surface where birds saw them and devoured them before they could germinate. Other seeds fell where the topsoil was thin (vv. 5-6). Their roots could not penetrate the limestone underneath to obtain necessary moisture from the subsoil. When the hot weather set in, the seeds germinated quickly but did not have the necessary resources to sustain continued growth. Consequently they died. A third group of seeds fell among the thorns that grew along the edges of the field (v. 7). These thorn bushes robbed the young plants of light and nourishment, so they died too.
13:8-9 Some seed also fell on good ground and produced a crop that was somewhat productive. Even a hundred-fold return was not outstanding.529The same sower and seed produced no crop, some crop, or much crop depending on the soil.
"This fourth soil cautions us not to expect identical levels of fruitfulness in all people, since believers grow spiritually at different rates."530
Jesus' final statement means the parable needs careful consideration and interpretation (v. 9). Jesus interpreted it to His disciples in verses 18-23.531
"The parable of the sower shows that though the kingdom will now make its way amid hard hearts, competing pressures, and even failure, it will produce an abundant crop. But one might ask whether Messiah's people should immediately separate the crop from the weeds; and this next parable answers the question negatively: there will be a delay in separation until the harvest."542
13:24 Jesus told the crowds another parable. He literally said, "The kingdom of heaven has become like. . ."Matthew used the aorist passive tense, homoiothe. This is very significant because it indicates a change in the kingdom program. The change was a result of Israel's rejection of Jesus. In all these parables Jesus did not mean that any single person or object in the parable symbolized the kingdom. The narrative itself communicated truth about the kingdom.
13:25-26 The farmer's enemy maliciously sowed weeds that looked like the wheat. This weed was evidently bearded darnel (Lat. lolium temulentum), a plant that looks very much like wheat when the plants are young. The roots would intertwine with those of the wheat, but when the two plants reached maturity it would be clear which was which. The enemy thoroughly distributed the darnel seed among the young wheat. As the plants grew, it became apparent to the field owner's servants what the enemy had done.
13:27 The function of the slaves in the parable is simply to get information from the owner.
13:28-30 The owner recognized that an enemy was responsible for the weeds, but he instructed his servants to allow the weeds to grow beside the wheat until the harvest. Then he would separate them. Evidently there were many weeds. The reapers would gather the weeds first and burn them. Then they would harvest the wheat.
Jesus interpreted this parable to His disciples later (vv. 36-43). He previously used the Old Testament figure of harvest to refer to judgment (9:37-38). In this case the wheat and the weeds must be people who face judgment in the future.543
The mustard seed was so small that the Jews used it proverbially to represent a very small thing.544When mature, the mustard plant stood 10 to 12 feet tall as "the largest of garden plants"(NIV).545Consequently it became a perch for birds. Several Old Testament passages use a tree with birds flocking to its branches to illustrate a kingdom that people perceive as great (Judg. 9:15; Ps. 104:12; Ezek. 17:22-24; 31:3-14; Dan. 4:7-23).
The Jews correctly believed that the messianic kingdom would be very large. Why did Jesus choose the mustard plant since it did not become as large as some other plants? Evidently He did so because of the small beginning of the mustard plant. The contrast between an unusually small beginning and a large mature plant is the point of this parable.546Jesus' ministry was despicably small in the eyes of many Jews. Nevertheless from this small beginning would come the worldwide kingdom predicted in the Old Testament.547
This parable stresses the extensive ultimate consequences of the kingdom that would be out of all proportion to its insignificant beginnings.
"Whereas the parable of the mustard seed answers the question of whether the phase of the kingdom planted by Jesus would survive, the parable of the leavening process answers how."548
Some interpreters have understood yeast as a metaphorical reference to evil.549However not all uses of yeast in the Old Testament carry this symbolic meaning (e.g., Lev. 7:13; 23:15-18).550
This parable stresses the hidden internal change taking place in the kingdom between its inception in Jesus' ministry and its final form when the kingdom will cover the earth in the Millennium (cf. 5:13).
"The manifestation of the presence of the kingdom in some form in the Church age is clearly taught in the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven . . ."551
The fact that a woman put the leaven in the meal is probably an insignificant detail of the parable as is the amount of flour. Three satas of flour (about three-fifths of a bushel) is the amount of flour that a housewife baked into bread for an average family.552
"Practical applications of this parable to present readers can include the following. First, believers should depend on what God is doing through His Spirit in the present age. Second, Christians should be suspicious of any man-made, externally influenced institutional structures that say they are the manifestation of God's kingdom, Third, believers must be cautious about setting dates and presuming the arrival of the kingdom since the parable gives no hint as to when the permeation ends. Fourth, Jesus' followers can be confident that regardless of any current perspectives, the kingdom of God has a glorious future."553
