THE LORD JESUS ​​CHRIST'S TEACHING ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN PARABLES:

Parable of the Sower
(Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15)

The word "parable" is a translation of the Greek words: "paravoli" and "parimia". "Parimia" - in the exact sense means a short saying expressing the rule of life (such, for example, "Proverbs of Solomon"); "paravoli" is a whole story that has a hidden meaning and in images taken from the everyday life of people, expressing the highest spiritual truths. The gospel parable is actually "paravoli". The parables set forth in the 13th chapter of Heb. from Matthew and in parallel places by two other weather forecasters Mark and Luke, were uttered At the confluence of such a large crowd that the Lord Jesus Christ, wanting to get away from the crowd that pressed Him, entered the boat and from the boat spoke to the people standing on the shore of Gennesaret lakes (seas).
As St. Chrysostom, "The Lord spoke in parables in order to make His word more expressive, to impress it more deeply in memory and present the very deeds to the eyes." "The parables of the Lord are allegorical teachings, images and examples for which were borrowed from the everyday life of the people and from the nature surrounding them. In His parable about the Sower, by whom He understood Himself, under the seed the Word of God preached by Him, and under the soil on which the seed falls, the hearts of the listeners, the Lord vividly reminded them of their native fields, through which the Road passes, in places overgrown with thorn bushes, in places stony, covered with only a thin layer of earth. depending on its state, remains barren or bears more or less fruit.
To the question of the disciples: "Do you speak to them in parables?" The Lord answered: "It is given to you to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to eat." The disciples of the Lord, as future heralds of the Gospel, through a special grace-filled enlightenment of their minds, were given the knowledge of Divine truths, although not in full perfection until the descent of the Holy Spirit, and all the rest were not capable of accepting and understanding these truths, the reason for which was their moral coarsening and false ideas about the Messiah and His kingdom, spread by scribes and Pharisees, about which Isaiah prophesied (6:9-10). If you show such morally depraved, spiritually coarsened people the truth as it is, without covering it with any veils, then they, seeing, will not see it and, hearing, they will not hear it. Only clothed in an inflow cover, connected with ideas about well-known objects, the truth becomes accessible to perception and understanding: non-violently, by itself, coarsened thought ascended from the visible to the invisible, from the outside to the highest spiritual meaning.
"Whoever has, to him it will be given, and it will be multiplied; and whoever does not have, what he has will be taken away from him" - a proverb repeatedly repeated by the Lord in different places of the Gospel (Matt. 25:29; Luke 19:26). Its meaning is that the rich, with diligence, get richer and richer, and the poor, with laziness, even lose the last. In a spiritual sense, this means: you, the Apostles, with the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God already granted to you, can penetrate deeper and deeper into the mysteries, understand them more and more perfectly; the people would have lost even the meager knowledge of these mysteries that they still have, if, at the revelation of these mysteries, they had not been given an influx of speech to help them, more suitable for them. St. Chrysostom explains it this way: "Whoever wants and tries to acquire the gifts of grace, God will grant him everything; and whoever does not have this desire and effort, what he thinks he has will not benefit him."
Whose mind is so darkened, and his heart hardened in sin, that he does not understand the Word of God, in him it lies, so to speak, on the surface of the mind and heart, without taking root inside, like a seed on the Road, open to all who pass, and the evil one is Satan or a demon - easily steals him, makes hearing fruitless; stony soil are those people who are carried away by the preaching of the Gospel as pleasant news, sometimes even sincerely and sincerely, find pleasure in hearing it, but their hearts are cold, motionless, hard as a stone: they are unable, for the sake of the requirements of the gospel teaching, to change their habitual way of life, to lag behind their beloved sins that have become a habit, to fight temptations, to endure any sorrows and hardships for the truth of the gospel - in the fight against temptations they are tempted, lose heart and betray their faith and the Gospel; thorny soil means the hearts of people entangled in passions - addictions to wealth, to pleasures, in general to the blessings of this world; good soil means people with kind, pure hearts, who, having heard the Word of God, firmly resolved to make it the guide of their whole life and create the fruits of virtue."

The Parable of the Tares
(Matthew 13:24-30 and 13:36-43)

"Kingdom of Heaven", i.e. the earthly church, founded by a heavenly Founder and leading people to heaven, "is like a man who sows good seed in his field." "A sleeping man," i.e. at night, when deeds can be invisible to anyone - here the cunning of the enemy is indicated - "his enemy and all the weeds have come," i.e. weeds, which, while small, are very similar in their seedlings to wheat, and when they grow up and begin to differ from wheat, then pulling them out is fraught with danger to the roots of wheat. The teaching of Christ is sown all over the world, but the devil, with his temptations, sows evil among people. Therefore, in the vast field of the world live together with the worthy sons of the Heavenly Father (wheat) and the sons of the evil one (tares). The Lord endures them, leaving them until the "harvest", i.e. until the Last Judgment, when the inhabitants, i.e. The angels of God will gather the tares, i.e. all those who do iniquity, and they will be thrown into a fiery furnace, into eternal torment in hell; wheat, i.e. the righteous, the Lord will command to gather into His barn, i.e. into His kingdom of heaven, where the righteous will shine like the sun.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed
(Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19)

In the East, the mustard plant reaches an enormous size, although its grain is extremely small, so that the Jews of that time had a saying: "small as a mustard seed." The meaning of the parable is that, although the beginning of the Kingdom of God is apparently small and not glorious, But the power hidden in it overcomes all obstacles and transforms it into a great and universal kingdom. "I sow a parable," says St. Chrysostom "The Lord wanted to show an image of the spread of the gospel sermon. Although His disciples were the most powerless, the humblest of all, however, as the hidden power in them was great, then it (the sermon) spread to the whole universe." The Church of Christ, at the beginning small, inconspicuous for the world, has spread on earth so that many nations, like birds of heaven in the branches of a mustard tree, take refuge under its canopy. The same happens in the soul of every person: the breath of God's grace, barely noticeable at the beginning, more and more embraces the soul, which then becomes a receptacle for various virtues.

Parable of leaven
(Matthew 13:33-35; Mark 4:33-34; Luke 13:20-21)

The parable of leaven has exactly the same meaning. "Like leaven," says St. Chrysostom: "over a large amount of flour it produces that the power of leaven is assimilated to flour, so you (Apostles) will transform the whole world." It is exactly the same in the soul of each individual member of the Kingdom of Christ: the power of grace invisibly, but really, gradually embraces all the forces of his spirit and transforms them, sanctifying them. Under the three measures, some understand the three powers of the soul: mind, feeling and will.

The Parable of the Treasure Hidden in the Field
(Matthew 13:44)

The man found out about the treasure, which is located in a field that does not belong to him. In order to use it, he covers the treasure with earth, sells everything he has, buys this field, and then takes possession of this treasure. For the wise, the Kingdom of God, understood in the sense of internal sanctification and spiritual gifts, represents a similar treasure. Having concealed this jewel, the follower of Christ sacrifices everything and renounces everything in order to possess it.

Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
(Matthew 13:45-46)

The meaning of the parable is the same as the previous one: in order to acquire the Kingdom of Heaven, as the highest treasure for a person, you must sacrifice everything, all your blessings that you have.

The parable of the net thrown into the sea
(Matthew 13:47-50)

This parable has the same meaning as the parable of the wheat and the tares. The sea is the world, the net is the teaching of faith, the fishermen are the Apostles and their successors. This net was collected from every kind - barbarians, Hellenes, Jews, fornicators, tax collectors, robbers. Under the image of the shore and sorting out the fish is meant the end of the age and the Last Judgment, when the righteous will be separated from the sinners, as a good fish in a net is separated from a bad one. It is necessary to pay attention to the fact that Christ the Savior often uses occasions - to point out the difference in the future life of the righteous and sinners. Therefore, one cannot agree with the opinion of those who, for example. Origen, they think that everyone will be saved, even the devil.
When interpreting the parables of the Lord, one must always keep in mind that while teaching with parables, the Lord always took examples not fictitious, but from the daily life of His listeners, and acted in this way, according to the explanation of St. John Chrysostom, in order to make His words more expressive, to clothe the truth in a living image, to imprint it more deeply in memory. Therefore, in parables it is necessary to look for similarities, similarities, only in general, and not in particulars, not in every word taken separately. In addition, of course, each parable must be understood in connection with others, similar ones, and with the general spirit of Christ's teaching.
It is important to note that in His sermons and parables, the Lord Jesus Christ very precisely distinguishes the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven from the concept of the Kingdom of God. He calls the Kingdom of Heaven that eternal blissful state of the righteous, which will be revealed to them in the future life, after the last Dread Judgment. He calls the kingdom of God, founded by Him on earth, the kingdom of those who believe in Him and strive to do the will of the Heavenly Father. This Kingdom of God, which opened with the coming of Christ the Savior to earth, imperceptibly dwells in the souls of people and prepares them on earth for the inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven that is to be opened at the end of the age. The above parables are devoted to the disclosure of these concepts.
In what the Lord spoke in parables, St. Matthew sees the fulfillment of Asaph's prophecy in psalm 77 v. 1-2: "I will open my mouth in parables." Although Asaph said this about himself, but as a prophet, he served as a type of the Messiah, which is also evident from the fact that the following words: "I will utter the hidden from the foundation of the world" befit only the Messiah the Omniscient, and not a mortal man: the hidden secrets of the kingdom of God are known, of course, only the hypostatic Wisdom of God.
When the disciples asked the disciples if they understood everything that was said, the disciples answered the Lord in the affirmative, He called them "scribes", but not those Jewish scribes, hostile to Him, who knew only the "old Old Testament", and even then they distorted, perverted, understanding and misinterpreting, but by scribes trained in the Kingdom of Heaven, capable of being preachers of this Kingdom of Heaven. Taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, they now know both the "old" prophecy and the "new" teaching of Christ about the Kingdom of Heaven and will be able in the work of their forthcoming sermon, like a thrifty master who takes out old and new from his treasury, to use, as needed, that or others. Similarly, all the successors of the Apostles in their preaching must use both the Old and the New Testament, for the truths of both are revealed by God.

SECOND VISIT TO NAZARETH
(Matthew 13:53-58 and Mark 6:1-6)

Then Jesus came again "into his own country," i.e. to Nazareth, as the fatherland of His Mother and of His imaginary father Joseph, and as the place where He was brought up. There He taught His countrymen in their synagogue, "so that they were astonished, and said, 'Where did He get such wisdom and power?' Is He a son?" etc. The Nazarenes either did not know, or did not believe in the miraculous incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, considering Him simply the son of Joseph and Mary. But this cannot be considered excusable, because in former times there were many cases when humble parents gave birth to children who later became glorious and famous, such as David, Amos, Moses, etc. not from human learning, but from divine grace. This was, of course, from the usual envy inherent in people, which is always crafty. People often look with envy and hatred on those who, having come out of their midst, discover extraordinary gifts and rises above them. His, perhaps, comrades in worldly affairs and peers, with whom He constantly treated, did not want to recognize in Him an extraordinary person. "There is no prophet without honor, only in his own country" - it should not be so, but it happens, for people often pay more attention not to what is preached to them, but to who preaches, and if the one who was awarded the Divine election and vocations, they are used to seeing among themselves an ordinary person, then they continue to look at him as before, not giving faith to his words as a prophet. The Lord adds to this, in all probability, a popular proverb, "and in his own house," meaning that, as Ev. John in ch. 7:5, "and his brethren did not believe in him." Nowhere did Christ find so much opposition to Himself and His teaching as in this native city, where they even tried to kill Him (Luke 4:28-29). "And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief," for the performance of miracles depends not only on the power of God working miracles, but also on the faith of the people over whom miracles are performed.

Fragments of comments of the Geneva Bible are used

13:1-8 On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.
2 And a multitude of people gathered to him, so that he got into the boat and sat down; and all the people stood on the shore.
3 And he taught them many parables, saying, Behold, a sower has gone out to sow;
4 And while he was sowing, something fell by the way, and birds came and ate it;
5 Some fell on stony places, where there was little earth, and quickly rose up, because the earth was not deep.
6 And when the sun had risen, it withered, and, as it had no root, it dried up; 7 some fell into the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked him;
8 Some fell on the good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.
Jesus was to find the sheep of God. How to find them among a multitude of people, you ask? According to the reaction to parables (comparison, image, comparison, likeness, parable, saying) - such simple stories with spiritual overtones. Those who are tuned in to the spiritual wave and guess that Jesus does not just tell fairy tales, but seeks out his own allegory - he reacted to the parables accordingly: he not only listened, but also asked: “Why are you talking like that?”

It is as if, for example, a doctor began to speak the language of doctors - then from the mass of the people only those who have a great interest in medicine and want to understand his speech would respond; and so - with the help of the "language" of doctors (parables "medical") - he would find his colleagues of interest. Speaking in parables about God's Kingdom helped Jesus find their spiritual "colleagues" and extract sheep of God from the masses.

13:9 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!
It would seem that everyone has ears and everyone heard the speech of Christ. However, Jesus precisely meant the ears of those who wished to understand Christ, was attuned to the necessary spiritual wave and was able to recognize the “frequencies” of God’s word, for not everyone’s ears were tuned to hear the subtext of Jesus’ parables: the ears of the Pharisees, who were satisfied with their own picture of understanding the words of God - did not want to hear the picture of Christ, because it did not match their own.

There is such a modern parable: an Indian came to New York to a friend and in the midst of a noisy avenue says: “Do you hear how the grasshopper sings?”. The friend, of course, chuckled: “What are you, where does the grasshopper come from?” Then the Indian poured a handful of coins onto the pavement, and people instantly turned around at this soft sound. The Indian said: “You see, whoever is tuned in to what, he hears it.”

13:10 And having approached, the disciples said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables?
Jesus speaks in parables, but at the same time he is in no hurry to reveal the meaning of what, in fact, he tells his parables. Jesus does not force anyone to comprehend the spiritual meaning of his speech.
One listened - turned around and walked away, well, he was not interested, his heart was not hooked, everything is primitive and understandable. Or, on the contrary, everything is too complicated and too with a claim to originality or does not correspond to its own picture. Making sense is necessary strain, and when you understand, you will have to act, maybe even radically change something in your approach, but you don’t want to.

Another one listened - and thought: “why is he telling such tales?” He scratches the back of his head, and asks: “What does this mean? Why are you doing this?
Here then only Jesus explained. And only those who was interested said. Jesus did not catch anyone on purpose and did not try to force to hammer the words of God's truth into the ears of everyone who passes by. He respected the spiritual needs or lack of them in every listener.
It would be nice to take an example from him in this and not force anyone to WANT to comprehend that spiritual meaning, which, as we think, is known to us.

There is something else interesting in this approach of Christ - to use allegory as an unusual device to attract attention.
There have been times in the history of God's people when the ears of those who hear have stopped hearing as they should. Then God asked his prophets to do something unusual, as if to specifically cause fire on themselves: lie naked on their side for forty days, bake cakes on human feces, shave off the beard vegetation (spoil the edge of the beard), weigh and divide into parts - and that's all it's GOOD to be seen.

Why, you ask? It turned out - just to attract the attention of the sleeping people and try to AVOID in them the DESIRE to work with the brain and to be INTERESTED in what is still going on?:
Ezek.37:18,19: And when the sons of your people ask you: "Won't you explain to us what this is with you?",then!!!tell them so-and-so...
That is why Jesus explained the meaning of the parables only to those who asked.

13:11,12 He said to them in response: because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them,
So, the allegorical parables of Christ are also from this series: only for the curious, for those who are interested in the meaning of what was said, not letting the allegory go past their ears. That is why Jesus told his disciples that not everyone is GIVEN to even understand that the parable, for example, about the sower is not just a fairy tale, but a secret meaning is hidden in it, explaining some facets of the Kingdom of Heaven.

At the time of Christ's coming, everyone had the same source - the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament - and were in approximately equal conditions for the perception of the words of Christ. But someone tried to delve into them and acquire knowledge about the Messiah, while someone did not, because he did not have a great desire for this.

12 For whoever has, to him it will be given and it will increase, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him;
Only those of the people of God who will have at least some interest in the spiritual - and will be given in large volumes, will expand their understanding of everything related to the Kingdom of God, which in ancient times had little idea.
And whoever has no interest in the spiritual at all, or has no desire to change under the influence of the words of Christ - one day even that small part that they understand will be taken away from him, in this case - even the privilege in serving God that they had in terms of the Old Testament.

13:13-15 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand; 14 And the prophecy of Isaiah comes true over them, which says:
Jesus explains why he has to use the parable technique to draw the people to the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom: the allegory helps to reveal spiritual hunger. Here are the reasons why the mysteries of the Kingdom remain closed to many to this day:
you will hear with your ears and you will not understand, and you will look with your eyes and you will not see,
15 for hardened heart these people can hardly hear with their ears, and closed their eyes, let them not see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and do not understand with the heart and let them not turn to me to heal them.
In addition, when a parable sounds and we are talking about strangers, it is easier for a person to see himself in their place and evaluate actions with the situation - adequately. If you say in direct speech, for example: “you are goats!”, then the already coarsened heart will quickly close from accusatory words and will not see or hear anything at all. In the parables, even the Pharisees understood when Jesus was talking about them and could see themselves objectively from the outside. (Mat. 21:45.)
So, what categories of people are among those who listen to the word of God today?

1) Seeing, but not quite what needs to be seen. For example, I saw the action, but did not understand the motives, in the big picture the midge (details) are considered with pleasure, but the elephant (the essence of everything) is overlooked.
2) Hearing, but not understanding what they heard. It was alien to them, because it was necessary to judge it not by the flesh, not literally, but by the spirit, delving into the essence and trying to catch the meaning invested by the author.
3) Those who did not accept the truth of God with their minds and hearts, having understood the Scriptures, because the evil one worked with the “soil” of their hearts and made them stony, unable to accept the seeds of God’s truth.

13:16,17 Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear,
17 For I tell you truly that many prophets and righteous people have desired to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear.
Those whom Jesus called to discipleship turned out to be able to see in him the messenger of heaven and understand that the allegory hides the secret of the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven, which the prophets would like to know about, predicting the events of the coming of Christ and explaining the news about the Kingdom.

13:18-23 But listen to the [meaning] of the parable of the sower:
19 To everyone who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart - this is what is sown along the way.
20 And that which is sown on rocky places signifies the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 But it has no root in itself and is unstable: when tribulation or persecution comes for the sake of the word, it is immediately offended.
22 And that which is sown among thorns signifies the one who hears the word, but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless.
23 And that which is sown on good ground signifies the one who hears the word and understands, and who also bears fruit, so that one bears fruit a hundredfold, another sixty, and another thirty.
The meaning of Christ's explanation of the reasons for not accepting the word of God due to the different state of the "soil" of hearts boils down to the fact that it is only by the presence of the fruit that it is possible to determine whether the "soil" accepted the seed of the word of God, whether a person reacted - obedience the word of God or not. If he understood, then there is an opportunity to somehow respond. Anyone who does not understand the speech of a physician, for example, about the danger of infection with hepatitis, will not even think of responding by washing his hands or stopping communication with an infected patient. And the one who understands - and the "fruit" by responding to the doctor's word will show: he will stop communicating with the patient and begin to wash his hands thoroughly.

Although the degree of obedience or “fruitfulness” from listening to the word of God may be different, but there can actually be only two types of “soil” in human hearts: either bearing fruit, or not, or there is something good in a person, or not.
For more details, seeLuke 8:11-16

13:24-30 The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, about which theologians have been arguing for 2000 years - despite the fact that Jesus himself explained the meaning of this parable to his disciples:
He offered them another parable, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 While the people were asleep, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away;
The semblance of the Kingdom of God is shown here on the estate of the owner, whose slaves are busy sowing grain of wheat in his field.
When the people were sleeping- ceased to be spiritually awake.
All values ​​will be considered in more detail below (from text 37).

26 When greenery sprang up and fruit appeared, then there wereAND tares.
27 When the servants of the householder came, they said to him, Sir! Have you not sown good seed in your field? where are the tares on it?
The sowing of the chaff took place along with the sowing of the wheat, so the greens of the wheat and the chaff appeared almost simultaneously.Note that the tares were CLEARLY VISIBLE to the servants of the Master, otherwise they could not understand that the field of the Master was spoiled by weeds. This means that the good fruit of the Host (wheat sprout) was noticeably different from the chaff (weed sprouts).

28 And he said to them, The enemy of man has done this. And the servants said to him: Do you want us to go and choose them?
29 But he said, No, so that, picking up the tares,youdid not uproot the wheat with them,
Some Christians defend the idea of ​​the invisible Church of Christ on this text, believing that the Master forbade his servants to weed the field because they did not distinguish between tares and wheat. That is, since it is impossible for a person to distinguish the sons of the Kingdom and God's servants on this earth, it means that God's visible Church does not exist and cannot exist, and it is not worth looking for it. But is it?
We just noticed that the tares in the Master's field were CLEARLY OBSERVED by the slaves, otherwise they, unaware that weeds were also sown, would have mistaken all the greenery of the field for the good fruit of wheat.

30 let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
The owner decided to leave both the wheat and the weed in his field: the small shoots of the weed, although distinguishable, are difficult to pull out so as not to damage the roots of the wheat germ. Therefore, the Owner decides to wait until all the wheat has grown, rooted and stalked, so that he can boldly pull out all the barren weeds, and collect only grain in the granary.

13:31,32 He offered them another parable, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,
32 which, although smaller than all seeds, yet when it has grown, is larger than all herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and take shelter in its branches.
Z Why did Jesus give this example to his disciples?
Then, using the example of the growth of a small “seed” of the word of God, sown by Christ on earth, to show how the work of the Kingdom grows and overcomes any obstacles, and also how people, thanks to the Kingdom of God, gain protection under the canopy of its “branches” (meetings) .

After all, at the time of Christ's coming, the fruit of the kingdom of his Father from the sown word was small, like a tiny mustard seed, just a few disciples. But when the activity of the sons of the Kingdom expands and it "grows" - the "mustard seed" of the word of God will turn into a huge tree, first of the world Christian brotherhood, and then of God's world order, where all the righteous will find refuge and peace.

The tree on the branches of which the birds make their nests is reminiscent of Ezek. 17:23 and 32:6, where the birds are pagan peoples who take refuge in the Messiah and enjoy the blessing of the covenant with God in the same way as the Jews who accepted Christ.

Summary of the parable: if then,which is from God, and may seem insignificant to someone in the world, but its fruits are plentiful. (Geneva)

13:33 He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and put into three measures of meal until it was all leavened.
Although leaven or yeast often symbolizes vice (16:11), this refers to the principle of fermenting dough, or spreading a small amount of leaven over the entire dough. Allegorically - the word of God from Judea will spread throughout the world and change the hearts of many people.
Why did Jesus give this example?
Then, to show the principle of the growth of the fruits of the Kingdom of God: the woman only put in the leaven. Further, the process of changing the qualities of the “test” does not depend on it. Just like the growth of a mustard seed - and the fermentation of the dough occurs according to the Creator's plan, a person cannot influence either the growth rate of the "mustard tree", or the rate of the spread of the word of God on earth, or the rate of change in the hearts of people "fermented" by the word of God .

And how the good news of God's Kingdom spreads or how the hearts of those who hear the good news are changed is not the merit of any people or organizations. This process of growth is proceeding at the pace and pace that God intended (God grows, 1 Corinthians 3:7)
Thanks to the understanding that the one who sows is nothing and the one who waters is nothing, but everything - God grows, all those who proclaim the good works of the Kingdom of God - will learn to think modestly about themselves, not considering themselves the main cog in the mechanism of God's plan to spread the word of God throughout the Earth and change human hearts - in response to hearing the good news.

13:34,35 All these things Jesus spoke to the people in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them,
35 let it be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, who says, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter the secret from the foundation of the world.
And again - about the secrecy of the meaning of parables for the majority and their frankness - for those who have ears to hear. Thus, the interest of the disciples will be warmed up for further questions about the meaning of what Christ has just said.

13:36 Then Jesus dismissed the people and went into the house. And coming to Him, His disciples said: Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.
The disciples asked Jesus to explain to them the parable of the tares not immediately, but AFTER the people dispersed and they came to the house, that is, they were left alone. It occurred to me: they did not interrupt him in public, they simply listened and put everything he said in their hearts, giving him the opportunity to speak to the end. And after all, they remembered what exactly - they decided to ask after. It turns out that they strongly wanted to understand WHAT Christ meant by speaking in parables.

And another thought: it turns out that from the rest of the people, NO ONE was interested in what the “fairy tales” of the Teacher mean.

13:37- 43 Meaning of the parable of the tares and wheat: This parable is about the state of affairs in the world of this age. It sums up how the inhabitants of the earth will relate to the word of God sown by Christ, and with what result:
37 He answered and said to them, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;
echoes with 13:24 "A man who sows good seeds in his field."
The sower is Jesus Christ.

38 the field is the world; The field is the whole human world - from the moment of the coming of Christ the sower (the field is not the people of God, not Israel according to the flesh and not the true Christian Church, not a false Christian world, as some think).

good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom - Jesus sows good seeds - those of his disciples who took his word, took root, turned green and subsequently "eared" - ripened(the sowing of the word of God is self-evident, but since Jesus called the SONS of the Kingdom good seeds, the stage of sowing good seeds begins with the sowing of those who have responded to the word of God, put down roots of faith, have grown and matured into the sons of Jehovah, like Christ.
In other words, the sowing begins with the disciples, subsequently anointed and elected to 144,000 co-rulers ( Rev. 14:1,4,5; 20:4,6).
FROM the catch of God is the guarantor of the sprouts and growth of the “wheat” class on earth. Before the parable about the tares and wheat, it was no coincidence that Jesus told the parable about the types of soil (Matt. 13:18-23).

He showed the principle of the formation of “wheat” from sowing the “grain” of the word of God in good soil: the word of God either sprouts in the heart and a person becomes “wheat”, or does not sprout. the sower Jesus Christ was able to sow the seed of God's word on the earth and wait for wheat to sprout in the form of the sons of the Kingdom. Therefore, those who received the spiritual word of Christ and brought the fruit of the SONS of the Kingdom are called sons of the Kingdom. already in this century(for not everyone in this age will be recognized as the SONS of God, someone - only at the end of 1000 years will be called sons - Rev. 21:4,7).
Jesus Christ sowed the seed in the field of the world in the form of the doctrine of God and His Kingdom, and it germinated very well in the form of his first disciples, who themselves became its bearers.

Not all sprouts of Christ's disciples have matured to the anointing at Pentecost, when the gathering of people who obey God and accept His Christ began. And not all the anointed ones strengthened their roots and swelled up - throughout their life in this century, because someone fell away and withered back in the 1st century. The good seeds grew and turned into ripe wheat (Paul, for example, knew that he would receive Christ's co-ruler's reward/crown, 2 Tim. 4:8). Sowing takes place during N.Z. in this age (2 prophets from Rev. 11:3-6 are the last of 144,000 mature and high-quality "wheat"), all anointed ones must strengthen the roots of faith and ripen into an "ear" of wheat - each at his own stage of life. Whoever matures will be elected in 144,000.

returning to 29 text, answer: how can you prevent the sons of the Kingdom if the weed was immediately weeded out by the servants of God (angels)?
The Sons of the Kingdom can be tempered and strengthen their "roots" only in the presence of opposition to the weed: in the presence of temptations and opponents, the strength of faith and the strength of the desire to remain faithful to God are manifested. Figuratively, Jesus said about this that by pulling out the weeds, wheat sprouts will also be pulled out, that is, what should develop in the sons of the Kingdom - will not be able to develop to maturity in hothouse conditions (in conditions of lack of testing).

And further: Who will see the Church of God or the sons of the Kingdom? Angels (slaves) and the sons of the Kingdom themselves, the future co-rulers of Christ: with the help of the holy spirit and vigilance over the word of God, they will be able to determine which of the spiritual teachers sows the word of God, and which is the weed. For everyone else, it makes sense to check the words of all spiritual teachers according to the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). And the state of affairs in the world of believers will be such that many will choose teachers who "flatter" their ears (justify their worldview and way of life), and they will reject sound teaching from God (through the sons of the Kingdom) (2 Tim. 4: 3 ,4).

and the tares are the sons of the evil one; The “sons” of the devil are also born from the word, but they do not perceive the word of God, but the word of the devil, for he was the main sower of weeds in God’s field even at the dawn of mankind: after all, it was he who deceived Eve with false “truth” from God (Gen. 3:1-5), as a result - she became his daughter, and Adam - his son. From the time of the coming of Christ, all his children sow a weed seed on the earth, spreading the words of false truth, false Christians grow out of them, the sons of the evil one, preventing the growth, maturation and activity of the sons of the Kingdom (wheat).
(as we see, first of all, we are talking not just about different the nature atheists and believers, for example, namely about people of different spirituality, about the anointed of God and the devil).

However, figuratively, everyone in principle can relate to the sons of the devil, who can interfere with approaching God. Those who lead an unrighteous way of life in the world, thrive in evil - thereby tempt everyone who wants to achieve prosperity in any way; false teachers can lead seekers of God astray, and family or work colleagues, for example, can prevent them from making a decision to serve God. Both of them will turn out to be tares if they drown out the "sprouts of wheat" in the believer.

Here we recall the moment:
13:25 “While the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.”
The enemy is the devil. It sows the enemies of God initially, but since the coming of Christ, it also excels in sowing false Christianity (the tares are false Christianity in N.Z + the rest of the fighters with the future co-rulers of Christ - the anointed firstborn)

People were sleeping one might decide that the period of sleep begins with the death of the apostles. But there is a "BUT", let's show.
Sleep is lack of vigilance over the word of God and His Christ, as well as over keeping oneself in righteousness from the moment of receiving Christ until death(in the N.Z. period) And this dream began during the life of the apostles (false apostles appeared). The following text speaks of this:

13:26 when the grass sprang up and the fruit appeared, then the tares also appeared. -
The fruit appeared- when, after Pentecost, the apostles grew stronger in trials and the fruit of their "ear" (maturity) became visible - the fruit of the activity of the ripened anointed ones of the 1st century - then came and tares (false apostles began to appear). This means that the sowing of the devil took place even before the death of the apostles, just their apostles exposed(so they were revealed tares).

Therefore, the period PEOPLE SLEEP - this is not after the death of the apostles, but in the absence of vigilance in the meetings, when they relax and move away from what was transmitted by Christ. And such periods of "sleep" will be observed throughout this century.
That is, Jesus sowed the sons of the Kingdom at the time of the election of the apostles, when they were sent with power to work miracles. And the devil sown "his seeds": Iscariot, for example, was "sown" by the devil - gave place to the devil - because of the sin of stealing donations (John 12:6). Then the greenery from what was sown by both grew, and manifested itself in different ways: the apostles - in maturity, the power of the holy spirit and the strength of faith (after anointing and passing tests, anointing is a stage of growth, but not yet maturity).
And the false apostles - in the maturity of the power of opposition to the apostles of Christ.

13:30 "Let them grow together until the harvest" Both the anointed ones of Jehovah and the "anointed ones" of the devil are present in the world until the end of this age. They originate from the word (God and His Christ or the confessors of false Christianity), grow and manifest themselves in different ways: wheat - ripens to an ear (although not all), and weeds - to strong opponents.

Let's continue with Christ's explanation:

13:39 the enemy who sowed them is the devil; d the devil who sowed the weed is called, in contrast to Christ, the enemy of man (cf. 13:28).

the harvest is the end of the age (reign of satan)
The harvest of the end of the age is a period of summing up the long period of spiritual harvest that has grown in this age from the sown word of God. Everything that has "grown" useful for the Kingdom of God is collected, collected and sorted into suitable for God and not suitable. The result of this sorting will be the end of this age and the destruction of all bad fruit. Figuratively shown on the example of agricultural harvesting:

The reapers of God gather the good grain into the granary of God, and the bundles of weeds are prepared for destruction.
As we remember, the beginning of the harvest started at Pentecost, and by the end of this century the first harvest of ripe "wheat" will be clearly visible, and it will be gathered into the granaries of God: 144,000 God's firstborn will be gathered in heaven(in God's "bins"), and all the wicked people of the earth were destroyed in Armageddon (See the analysis of Rev. 14). The rest, who have not ripened into a ripe fruit, will be given a chance to "ripen" (to achieve spiritual perfection) - in the millennium of Christ (Heb.11:40).

Since the devil will "work" on people again - after a thousand years (Rev. 20:7-10) - there will be a need to carry out one more, final "harvest" to collect a later "spiritual harvest" that has ripened over 1000 years. The second harvest will come after 1000 years, as a result on earth for eternity good spiritual fruit will remain (people who become children of God, Rev. 21:3,7), and the rest, who were tempted by the devil in the last test, will be destroyed forever without hope of returning to life (Rev. 20:7-10, 14, 15)

and the reapers are angels. Why will angels participate in the harvest, and not people? Because a sinful person cannot be entrusted with such a delicate matter as sorting the crop. Imperfection makes him unable to perform the spiritual work of separating the sons of the Kingdom and the sons of the evil one, for he does not see the hearts.

40 Therefore, as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age:
41 the Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who do iniquity,
42 and cast them into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;
Since before the millennial reign of Christ, Armageddon will destroy all the wicked - the source of temptation - it is said that after Armageddon (in the Kingdom of Christ) there will be no temptations.
Calls back from 13:30:
13:30 ..at harvest time I will say to the reapers: first gather the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but put the wheat into my barn. "Gather the weeds first...then go and gather the wheat"
Slaves/reapers are angels.
At first weed picking: false Christians and all those who persecuted the sons of the Kingdom - figuratively, from heaven "separate" from anointed Christians - determine who is who. First, the angels find weeds so they know who to burn at Armageddon.

Collection in storage: 144,000 anointed Christians ripened into wheat are gathered to heaven (first resurrection at the 7th trumpet, Rev. 11:15; M1 Thess. 4:16,17; 1 Cor. 15:52).

gather from his kingdom (from the "country" of the millennial reign) all stumbling blocks and those who do iniquity,
What does the word "temptation" mean? How will they be thrown into the furnace (removed from God's world forever)?
The temptations, first of all, include false teachings about God and the meaning of life, leading away from God and orienting to the unrighteous path of life.
What else?
As we remember, the fallen angels were tempted by beautiful girls before the flood, and Eve was tempted by the fruit from the tree of knowledge. Are the girls and the tree a temptation (evil) if they were created by God?
No: the reason for the seduction was hidden in themselves. Temptation is also wrong attitude to what intelligent creatures face in the universe of God. For example, envy, the desire to possess what belongs to others, etc.

However, in this age there are provocateurs of a wrong attitude towards something, for example, bad communities can provoke temptation or form our wrong attitude towards something, as pointed out by provocateurs (for example, the serpent helped Eve treat the fruit from the tree of knowledge incorrectly) .
Or - circumstances can be provocateurs of temptation: poverty, for example, can provoke theft.

In God's world, all temptations will be removed in the sense that
1) everyone will get correct and equal knowledge about God, His intention and meaning of life;
2) all inhabitants of the new world will be taught right attitude to everything that exists in the universe of God.
3) won't be there provocateurs of temptations: everyone will have good conditions, and bad communities, if they arise and provoke someone to temptation, they will immediately be punished (they will die a second death (Is.65:20)

43 then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!
At the end of this age, all the righteous - the sons of the Kingdom (wheat) - will shine in heaven like stars - in the first resurrection and forever, since death will no longer have power over them (Rev.20:6; Dan.12:3).
And all the wicked will perish at Armageddon.

Total for the parable: it shows the state of affairs in the human world during the reign of the devil. She explains that God will not bring instant judgment in the world to the sons of the evil one in order to reveal all the SONS of the Kingdom in this age. Both the sons of the Kingdom and the sons of the evil one will be on the planet from the moment of the first coming of Christ; along with the sons of the Kingdom - and the sons of the devil will "work" on the spirituality of mankind. Every "weed" and every sprout of "wheat" is taken into account by God. Who among them will live until the harvest - before the end of the age - the angels will "work" on that, to whom Christ will show how to "reap" the world and whom - where to determine. Someone will be gathered for the fire of Armageddon, and someone will be saved from it for the future world order of God in His Kingdom.
In part, this parable echoes the parable of the net (Matt. 13:47-50)

13:44-46 Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl
The Kingdom of Heaven is also like a treasure hidden in a field, which, having found, a man hid, and out of joy over it, he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.
45 Still the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls,
46 who, finding one pearl of great value, went and sold everything he had and bought it.
The parable is about the power of desire to possess only that which, in the eyes of the finder, is a treasure. The same - about the desire to buy a pearl.
Let's imagine that there was one who spent ALL his fortune on only one pearl: it was so valuable in his eyes. Well, yes, a beautiful pearl, many might think. It's tempting to own it. But someone is willing to give $100 for it (for example). Someone - 1000. And this one - the price of all his real estate is ready to pay only for one pearl. And ready to be completely devastated for the sake of possessing it. Well, isn't he a fool by the standards of the earth: without shelter and livelihood - for the sake of a pearl in his palms? Many people for whom their own well-being is of greater value can come to such conclusions.
But why did Jesus give this example?

Translating the parable of the merchant into the language of the Kingdom, one can understand why there will be so few Christians worthy to occupy heavenly thrones in the eyes of God.
How many are ready to be completely "emptied" for the sake of the desire to reach the Kingdom of God, as the merchant emptied himself - for the sake of the desire to possess a pearl?
Whoever has the same desire to enter the Kingdom of God and devotes all his "real estate" (life) to this, sacrificing his personal life, position in society, comfort of life, material well-being, etc., such as the Apostle Paul - he really considers the Kingdom to be his only true treasure and the only thing in life worth acquiring in this age.

13:47-50 The parable of the net, shows the state of affairs in the assembly of the people of the Most High as a whole, existing against the backdrop of the "sea" of unbelievers of this age.
Still the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea and seizing every kind of fish,
48 which, when it was full, they dragged it ashore, and sat down, and gathered the good things into vessels, but threw the bad things out.
49 So it will be at the end of the age: angels will go out and separate evil from the environment righteous,
50 And they will cast them into the fiery furnace: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Fishermen (disciples of Christ) fish (people) with a net (word of God) for the entire period of fishing of the existence of mankind on earth from the moment of Christ's coming. When they are told “enough” from above, they will pull out everyone who is caught with the message of the Kingdom to the “shore” for sorting by angels (all those caught with the message of the Kingdom will be appreciated).
And it will come out when checking that among those who accepted the word of God (caught fish) - some from the point of view of God will be unsuitable for his Kingdom.

So from among the true Church of the servants of the Most High ( from among the righteous, since the rest of the world and false religions do not serve the true God and cannot be among the righteous) - those Christians who only disguised themselves as God's servant, not being such in fact, will be removed. All false servants of God expect the same fate as the "fish" from the "sea" of outer darkness, who are not "caught" by the net of Christ for the Kingdom of God (death in Armageddon).

As a result, in the harvest before Armageddon The angels of Christ will come first to collect "fish": good ones - both those chosen for heaven (the first spiritual harvest), and for the earth of the Millennium of Christ (they will save for the second harvest) - they will gatherin God's "bins" or "vessels" of the Host (for heaven - Matt. 24:2,31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17; for earth - they will die in the Lord, remaining faithful to God, Rev. 14:13; Is.57:1,2; see also video"one is taken, the other remains)
And thin fish will be left for the "fiery furnace" of Armageddon (for eternal perdition, Matt. 13:41).

The same is shown in Rev. 14 ch.:
Rev.14:1 - 144,000 gathered in heaven; Rev.14:13 - those who will be resurrected in the Millennium are being gathered. And in the winepress of God's wrath (in Armageddon) will be trampled - bad grapes, which include the sons of the devil and those "fish" from the congregations of the people of the Most High, who were thrown out of the net to the sons of the devil (Rev. 14:15-20).

All the rest who have died before this moment and died before Armageddon will be able to revive in the millennium of Christ, if it is the will of God for each of them. And in the millennium of Christ, they will manifest themselves in the final "harvest": this "harvest" (collection of the late harvest) will come at the end of 1000 years. By that time, good spiritual fruit will remain on earth for eternity (people who have become children of God, Rev. 21:3,7), and the rest, who will be tempted by the devil in the last test, will be destroyed forever without hope of returning to life (Rev. 20 :7-10, 14.15)

13:51,52 And Jesus asked them: Have you understood all this? They say to Him: Yes, Lord!
52 He said to them, Therefore, every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a master who brings out of his treasury both new and old.
Jesus asks the disciples: did you understand the parables? They answer yes. He needed to make sure how much the students could accommodate his spiritual allegories, for they had to teach themselves (take them out of their treasury). Then he speaks of a scribe who brings out both the new and the old from the treasury, because both THAT and OTHER are VALUABLE.

In other words, much of the "OLD" (from the Law of Moses), which the disciples in Judea were taught, did not have to be rejected, but the "NEW" (Christ's) had to be UNDERSTOOD and ACCEPTED by ourselves before bringing into the world the spiritual treasure received from Christ, for it did not reject the immutable truths of the Old Testament (for example, the requirements: do not kill, do not steal, do not stumble before the blind, etc.), but only deepen their understanding.

13:53-58 And when Jesus finished these parables, he went from there.
54 And when he came into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, Where did he get such wisdom and power?
55 Is he not the carpenters' son? Is not His Mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56 And his sisters, are they not all among us? where did he get all this?
57 And they were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
It is clear that everyone who knew Jesus from infancy as the son of a simple carpenter with many children was skeptical that he had become so wiser (here we see that the Virgin Mary no longer remained a virgin, giving birth to Joseph's many children). With such a skeptical attitude, it makes no sense to prove that this attitude of theirs is wrong and the simple son of a carpenter is in fact the son of God.

Jesus did not perform miracles there, but not because to perform them, Christ certainly needed the faith of his compatriots, and without it he could not heal anyone (as many modern healers say, turning the blame on the lack of faith of the patient when they fail to heal his). But because miracles make sense only as a reinforcement and increase of faith. With zero faith, they have no meaning: no matter how much you multiply zero, you still get zero.

1. On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

2. And a multitude of people gathered to him, so that he got into the boat and sat down; and all the people stood on the shore.

3. And he taught them many parables, saying: Behold, a sower went out to sow;

4. And while he was sowing, something fell by the way, and birds came and ate it;

5. Some fell on stony places where there was little earth, and soon rose up, because the earth was not deep.

6. When the sun rose, it withered, and as it had no root, it dried up;

7. some fell into thorns, and thorns grew up and choked him;

8. Some fell on the good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.

9. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The word "parable" is a translation of the Greek words "paravo`li" and "parimia". "Parimia" means a short saying expressing the rule of life (such, for example, "Proverbs of Solomon"); “paravoli” is a story that has a hidden meaning, and in images taken from the everyday life of people, expressing the highest spiritual truths. If these very important thoughts were not expressed with the help of vivid images, they would become banal appeals and would soon be forgotten. The Savior never fantasized in His parables. In all the parables we can find a completely true and not fictional characterization of the time, life, customs and customs. All the parables of Jesus Christ are completely anonymous, i.e. if, for example, we are talking about a king, then he is never called by name. In any case, it is clear from the parables that Christ knew life perfectly and saw in it what others do not see. The Evangelist Matthew says that the Lord is the people taught a lot of parables ”, but not all, however, the teachings were told in parables. Rev. Jerome Stridonsky remarks: “If Christ spoke everything in parables, then the people would disperse without receiving any benefit for themselves. Christ mixes the clear with the unclear, so that on the basis of what the people understood, to draw their attention to what they did not understand.

The parables set forth in the 13th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew were uttered at the gathering of such a large crowd that the Lord Jesus Christ, wishing to separate himself from the crowd that was pressing Him, entered the boat and from the boat spoke to the people standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. St. John Chrysostom explains it this way: “He sat down by the sea, not without intention, but wishing to place Himself in such a position that no one was behind Him, but everyone would be before His eyes. Christ speaks in parables in order to make His word more expressive, to impress it more deeply in memory and to present the subject more clearly.

The parables of the Lord are allegorical teachings, images and examples for which were borrowed from the everyday life of the people and from the nature around them. In His parable about the sower, by whom He understood Himself, under the seed - the Word of God preached by Him, and under the soil on which the seed falls - the hearts and souls of the listeners, the Savior vividly resurrected in the minds of the listeners the native fields through which the road passes. These fields are in places overgrown with thorn bushes, in places they are stony, covered with only a thin layer of earth. Sowing is a beautiful image of the preaching of the Word of God, which, falling into this or that soul, depending on its state, remains fruitless or bears a greater or lesser fruit.

St. John Chrysostom remarks: “Christ did not say that He Himself threw the seed, but that it fell. From these words it is evident that the Savior offered His teaching to all without distinction. Just as the sower does not discern the field before him, but simply and without any discrimination sows the seed, so He does not distinguish between the rich, the poor, the wise, the ignorant, the heedless, the thoughtful, the courageous, and the timid; but he preached to everyone, doing his work, although he knew in advance what the fruits of this would be. Why did most of the seeds die? This happened not because of the fault of the one who sowed, but from the land of the recipient, i.e. from the heart not listening. But is it prudent to sow in thorns, in a stony place, by the road? Of course, in relation to seeds and land, this would be imprudent; but in relation to the souls of men and the teachings, this is very laudable. If the farmer were to do this, he would rightly deserve reprimand, because the stone cannot become earth, and the road must be a road, and thorns must be thorns; but that is not the case with rational beings. And stone can be changed and become fertile land; and the road may not be open to anyone passing by and not be trampled under foot, but it may become a fat field; and the thorns may be cut off, and the seeds may grow unhindered. If this were not possible, then Christ would not sow. If such a change did not take place in all, then the reason for this was not the sower, but those who did not want to change. The Savior has done His work; but if they neglected His teaching, then He who manifested such great love for mankind is not guilty of that. Chrysostom also notes that the Lord in the parable shows many different ways of death.

“But if the land is good, and the sower is one, and the seeds are the same, then why did one seed bear fruit a hundredfold, another sixty, and a third thirty? – asks Chrysostom. Here again the difference depends on the nature of the earth, for even in good earth many differences can be found. This difference does not depend on the nature of people, but on their will. And here the great philanthropy of God is revealed in the fact that the Lord does not demand the same degree of virtue, but accepts the first, and does not reject the second, and gives place to the third.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria remarks, interpreting the parable of the sower: “He calls the seed His own; for the prophets also sowed seed, not their own, but God's. He, like God, sowed his own seed, because he did not become wise by the grace of God, but he himself was the Wisdom of God. Three parts of the seed perished, only the fourth survived, because there are not many who are truly saved. He speaks of the good land afterwards, in order to give us all the hope of repentance.”

10. And the disciples drew near and said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables?

11. He answered and said to them: Because it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it has not been given to them,

12. For whoever has, to him it will be given and it will increase, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him;

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand;

14. And the prophecy of Isaiah comes true over them, which says: “Hear with your ears and you will not understand, and you will look with your eyes and you will not see,

15. For the heart of these people is hardened, and they can hardly hear with their ears, and they close their eyes, so that they will not see with their eyes, and they will not hear with their ears, and they will not understand with their hearts, and they will not turn so that I heal them.

The disciples of the Lord, as future heralds of the Gospel, through a special grace-filled enlightenment of the mind, were given the knowledge of Divine truths, although not in full perfection until the descent of the Holy Spirit, and all other people were not capable of accepting and understanding these truths, the reason for which was their moral coarsening and false ideas about the Messiah and His Kingdom, spread by the scribes and Pharisees, as prophesied by Isaiah 800 years before. If you show such morally corrupted, spiritually hardened people the truth as it is, without explaining it comprehensively and repeatedly, then they, seeing, will not see it and, hearing, they will not hear it. Only in the images of a parable, combined with ideas about well-known objects, does the truth become accessible to perception and understanding: non-violently, by itself, a hardened thought ascended from the visible to the invisible, from the outside to the highest spiritual meaning.

« Whoever has, to him it will be given, and it will be multiplied; and whoever does not have, what he has will be taken away from him ”- a proverb repeatedly repeated by the Lord in different places of the Gospel. Its meaning is that the rich get richer and richer with hard work, and the poor lose everything with laziness. In a spiritual sense, this means: you, the apostles, with the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God already granted to you, can penetrate deeper and deeper into them, understand more and more; but the people would have lost even that meager knowledge of these mysteries, which they still had, had it not been for the revelation to give them an allegorical speech to help them, more understandable to them. Such people, who, seeing, do not see, and, hearing, do not hear, it would be possible not to say anything, because speeches are useless for them because of their dullness. But He speaks to them, too, in parables. Briefly, the meaning can be expressed as follows: if they do not want to understand, then they will not understand the parables either. But if they want to understand at all, they will at least understand the parable. If they want to understand more, then under the cover of a parable, they will see that the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven are revealed in it. St. John Chrysostom explains it this way: “Whoever desires and tries to acquire the gifts of God's grace, to him God will grant everything; but whoever does not have this desire and effort, what he has will not benefit him, and God will not communicate His gifts to him. And bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria adds: “if anyone has a small spark of good, then he will extinguish that with his laziness, not trying to inflate and kindle it with spirit and spiritual deeds.”

The Savior, denouncing the people, cites the prophecy of Isaiah from the 6th chapter of his book, which in literal translation sounds like this: “ go and say to this people: you hear and hear, and do not understand; and you look and look, and do not know. Make the heart of this people hard and hard of hearing their ears and close their eyes , so that he does not see with his eyes and hear with his ears, and his heart does not understand, and there is no healing for him ". God gives Isaiah here, at his calling, the commission to preach to a people who have poor eyesight and hard of hearing. The speech of the prophet was supposed to make the heart of this people even more rude, their eyes even more blind and their ears deaf, so that this people would not be converted and not receive healing, and this is because, due to their sinfulness, they do not want to see and hear anything. The people are like a hopeless criminal who is not touched by any speeches, he does not yield to any convictions. Therefore, inattention to the speech of the prophet serves for the people in itself as one of the punishments. This speech will not be saving for the people, but will serve as a means for condemning and denouncing them. In justification of their own, the people cannot refer to the fact that nothing was said to them. This is the meaning of the original speech of Isaiah, now applied by the Savior to the Jewish people. For inattention to His words and unwillingness to actually fulfill them, Christ now proclaims judgment to people whose hearts have become callous and hardened. These people, adds St. Chrysostom, “not only did they not believe in Him, but they also reviled, and accused, and plotted against Him. At first He did not speak to them in parables, but simply and clearly. But as they became reluctant to listen to Him, He finally began to speak to them in parables. So, they themselves were the cause of what they did not understand, blocking their hearing, closing their eyes and hardening their hearts. And they did it, says the Lord, in order that do not turn and I healed them, - thus showing their inertia in evil and deliberate aversion from Him. He says this to draw them in and show them that if they turn, He will heal them; they can both be converted and saved if they repent, and that he does everything not for his own glory, but for their salvation. If He did not want them to listen to Him and be saved, then it would be proper for Him to be silent, and not to teach them in parables.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria adds: “God gives everyone a natural ability to understand what is due. He enlightens every person who comes into the world (John 1:9), but our will darkens us.”

16. Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear,

17. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous people desired to see what you see and did not see, and to hear what you hear and did not hear.

Here we mean in general the prophets who proclaimed the Coming Redeemer and, of course, wished to see Him themselves. St. John Chrysostom denounces unbelieving Jews, elevating the disciples of Christ: “And the Jews, like the disciples, could come and ask Him. But they did not want to do this because of their negligence and carelessness. They even acted contrary to Him: not only did they not believe, not only did they not listen, but they were at enmity against Him and turned away from His teaching. But the disciples were not like that: although they were brought up in the same law as all the Jews, nevertheless they were rewarded from the Lord with the title of blessed, because the root of goodness was well strengthened in them, i.e. mind and will. Christ places His disciples above not only the corrupted Jews, but also the Old Testament righteous themselves—he says, they are even more blessed than these latter. Why? Because the disciples see not only what the Jews did not see, but also what the righteous wanted to see. The latter contemplated only by faith, while the disciples - face to face, and much more clearly.

18. But listen to the meaning of the parable of the sower:

19. To everyone who hears the word of the Kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart - this is what is meant by what was sown along the way.

20. And that which is sown on rocky places signifies the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

21. But it has no root in itself and is unstable: when tribulation or persecution comes for the sake of the word, it is immediately offended.

22. And that which is sown among thorns signifies the one who hears the word, but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes fruitless.

23. And that which is sown on good ground signifies the one who hears the word and understands, and who also bears fruit, so that one bears fruit a hundredfold, another sixty, and another thirty.

The seed is the same everywhere and for everyone; but the seed does not grow without the earth, and the earth does not give birth without the seed; the growth or destruction of the seed is due to the comfort or inconvenience of the earth, by which is meant the souls of men.

St. John Chrysostom says that, in His mercy, the Lord not only showed the way to salvation and did not say that everyone who does not bear a hundredfold fruit will perish, “he will be saved, says He, and he who bears fruit sixty times, and even those in their thirties. He said this in order to ease the path to salvation for us. So, you cannot bear the difficult state of virginity? Get married and live chastely. You can not completely part with wealth? Give a portion of what you have to those in need. Is it difficult for you and is it a burden? Share your property with Christ. Do you want to give Him everything? Give at least half, or a third. He is your brother and joint heir in heaven, so make him joint heir here also. To give to him is to give to yourself.

24. He offered them another parable, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;

25. while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away;

26. When the grass sprang up and the fruit appeared, then the tares also appeared.

27. And when the servants of the householder came, they said to him, “Sir! Have you not sown good seed in your field? where are the tares on it?”

28. He said to them, "The enemy man has done this." And the servants said to him: “Do you want us to go and choose them?”

29. But he said, “No, lest, when you pick up the tares, you pull up the wheat along with them,

30. let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

……………………………………………………………………..

36. Then Jesus, dismissing the people, went into the house. And coming to Him, His disciples said: Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.

37. And he answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man;

38. the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the evil one;

39. The enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

40. Therefore, as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age:

41. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who do iniquity,

42. and cast them into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;

43. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!

The Kingdom of Heaven is an earthly Church, founded by the Son of God who descended from heaven and leading people to heaven, is similar to " the man who sowed good seed in his field ". Further, the Lord points to the cunning of the enemy: at night, the son of darkness, the devil, came and sowed tares, that is, weeds, which, while small, are very similar to wheat in their seedlings, and when they grow up and begin to differ from wheat, then pulling them out is fraught with danger. for wheat roots. The teaching of Christ is sown all over the world, but the devil, with his temptations, sows evil among people. Therefore, in the vast field of the world live together with the worthy sons of the Heavenly Father (wheat) and the sons of the evil one (tares). The Lord endures them, leaving them until the "harvest", that is, until the Last Judgment, when the reapers, that is, the Angels of God, will gather the tares, that is, all those who do iniquity, and cast them into a fiery furnace, to eternal hellish torment; But the Lord will command to gather wheat, that is, the righteous, into His barn, that is, into His Kingdom of Heaven, where the righteous will shine like the sun.

St. John Chrysostom, comparing two parables of Christ, says: “What is the difference between this parable and the previous one? There the Savior spoke of people who listened to Him without attention, and having departed, they threw away the seed itself; here he points to heretical teachings. So that the disciples would not be embarrassed by this, Christ, after explaining to them why he speaks in parables, also predicts about sectarian heretics. The first parable showed that His word was not accepted; and the second is given to know that along with the word, teachings that harm His word are also accepted. Such is one of the tricks of the devil, that he always mixes error with the truth itself, embellishing it with various semblances of truth, so that it would be easier to deceive the gullible. That is why the Lord also calls what is sown by the enemy not some kind of seed, but tares, which look like wheat.

The Lord calls the Devil a human enemy because he harms people. He desires to harm us, although this desire did not come from enmity against us, but from enmity against God. This makes it clear that God loves us more than we love ourselves. Look on the other side, what is the wickedness of the devil. He did not sow before, because there was nothing to destroy. But when everything has already been sown, he also sows in order to spoil what cost the farmer many labors. Note also the zeal of the servants (faithful servants of Christ): they are immediately ready to pull out the tares, although this is not entirely circumspect. Thus they show their concern for what they have sown; they do not mean that the one who sowed the tares should be punished, but only that what was sown by their master should not perish. However, having chosen a means, they do not dare to carry it out by themselves, but await the verdict from the master. What does the lord say to them? He forbids that when picking up the tares, do not pull up the wheat along with them. With these words Christ forbids wars, bloodshed and murders. And heretics must not be killed, otherwise it will give rise to an irreconcilable war.

“So,” Chrysostom continues, “if Christ Himself is a sower, sows in His own field and gathers from His kingdom, then it is clear that this world belongs to Him. Think how great is His philanthropy, how ready He is to do good, and how far from punishing! When he sows, he sows himself; when he punishes, he punishes through others, namely, through angels. " Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father ". This does not mean that they will glow just like the sun. But since we do not know another luminary that would be brighter than the sun, the Lord uses images that are known to us. And bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria adds: “Since the Sun of righteousness is Christ, the righteous will then be enlightened like Christ, for it is said that they will be like gods.”

The explanation of this parable by the Savior only to His disciples, and not to all the people, is explained by the fact that this parable is of an eschatological nature (that is, it speaks of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of time). Indeed, the “Son of Man” is mentioned here as the future Judge of all mankind, and all this would be incomprehensible to ordinary people. Coming to earth at the end of time, he writes a blessing. Theophylact of Bulgaria: "The Lord will say to the Angels" gather the tares first ”, that is, sectarian heretics and crafty people. How? In sheaves, that is, by binding their hands and feet, since at that time no one will be able to do either good or bad, but every active force will be bound.

31. He set forth another parable to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,

32. which, though smaller than all seeds, yet when it grows up, is larger than all herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and take shelter in its branches.

In the East, the mustard plant reaches enormous dimensions, although its grain is extremely small. The Jews of that time even had a saying: "Small as a mustard seed." The meaning of the parable is that the beginning of the Kingdom of God is almost invisible, hardly noticeable, but the power hidden in it overcomes all obstacles and transforms it into a great and omnipotent Kingdom.

“By this parable,” says St. Chrysostom, - the Lord wanted to show the way of spreading the gospel sermon. After all, the disciples of Christ, although they were simple unlearned people, at the beginning even small in faith, but the power of Christ that acted in them was so great that their preaching spread to all ends of the earth. The Church of Christ, at the beginning small, inconspicuous for the world, has spread on earth so that many nations, like birds of heaven in the branches of a mustard tree, take refuge under its canopy. The same thing happens in the soul of every person: the breath of God's grace, barely noticeable at the beginning, more and more embraces the soul, which then becomes a receptacle for various virtues.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria, addressing each of us, advises: “Be you, too, a mustard seed, small in appearance. For one should not boast of good deeds, but should be ardent, zealous, agile and accusatory, and not a caresser and a hypocrite. In this case, you will become larger than other imperfect people, so that the birds of heaven, that is, the angels, will be with you, as with a person leading an angelic life, for they rejoice in the righteous.

33. He spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and put into three measures of meal until it was all leavened.

34. All these things Jesus spoke to the people in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them,

35. May it be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, who says: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what is hidden from the foundation of the world.”

In the previous parables, the external power of the growth of the Kingdom of Heaven is depicted under the images of the seed, and the obstacles to its spread are under the image of the tares. And in this parable and in the following ones, the inner power of growth and influence on the people of this Kingdom are depicted. Here - under the guise of leaven (i.e. yeast), which a woman, in order to bake bread, put in three measures (a certain amount) of flour.

St. John Chrysostom says: “Just as leaven over a large amount of flour produces that the power of the leaven is transferred to the flour, so the apostles will transform the whole world. Pay attention to the meaning: the Lord chooses for the image what happens in nature, in order to show that His word is just as immutable as what is seen in nature, occurring according to its laws.

The Savior always spoke mysteriously to the crowd, impervious to lofty truths. He was never completely clear to her. Therefore, the Evangelist Matthew, in order to show that preaching in parables is not something new, cites here a quotation from the 77th psalm, signed with the name of Asaph. Both Asaph and the other persons whose names the psalms were signed were called prophets along with David. St. John Chrysostom explains that Christ did not speak in parables in order to leave his listeners in a state of incomprehension, but in order to excite them to questions, i.e. to basic curiosity. “And yet,” continues Chrysostom, “no one asked Him, although the prophets were often asked, as, for example, Ezekiel and many others. Now not a single question was put to Him, although what was said was enough to disturb the listeners and prompt them to questions. Even the threat of the greatest punishment expressed in parables did not make any impression on them. That's why the Lord left them and went away. And not one of the scribes followed Him. This shows that they followed Christ solely with the intention of catching Him in the word. But since now they did not understand what was said, they left Him.”

44. Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which, having found, a man hid, and out of joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

The man found out about the treasure, which is located in a field that does not belong to him. In order to use this treasure, he covers it with earth, sells everything he has, buys this field, and then takes possession of the treasure. For a wise person, such a treasure trove also represents the Kingdom of God, understood as internal sanctification and the receipt of ineffable spiritual gifts. That is, the gospel message of the Kingdom is so attractive that a person gives everything he has to hear this message.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria explains this parable in this way: “The field is the world, the treasure is the preaching of faith and the knowledge of Christ. It is hidden in the world. The one who seeks knowledge about God finds him, and everything that he has, that is, pagan teachings, and evil customs, and riches, immediately abandons and buys a field, that is, the world. For he who knows Christ owns the wealth of the whole world as property, having nothing, possesses everything.

45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls,

46 who, finding one pearl of great value, went and sold everything he had and bought it.

The good pearls that the merchant is looking for, according to St. Jerome of Stridon, are the law and the prophets, and the most precious pearl is the knowledge of the Savior and the sacraments of His suffering and resurrection.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria speaks of the same parable: “The present life is the sea; merchants are those who roam this sea and try to acquire some kind of knowledge. The opinions of many wise men are many pearls; but only one pearl of great price, for there is one truth, which is Christ.”

From this we conclude: in order to acquire the Kingdom of Heaven as the highest jewel for a person, you must sacrifice everything, all your blessings, which you only possess.

47. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea and capturing every kind of fish,

48. which, when it was full, they dragged it ashore, and sat down, and gathered the good things into vessels, and threw the bad things out.

49. So it will be at the end of the age: angels will come out and separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous,

50 And they will cast them into the fiery furnace: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This parable has an explanation. The sea is the world, the seine is the doctrine of faith, the fishermen are the apostles and their successors. This seine collected the fish, i.e. people of all kinds - barbarians, Greeks, Jews, fornicators, tax collectors, robbers. Under the image of the coast and the analysis of the fish, we mean the end of times and the Last Judgment, when the righteous will be separated from the sinners, just as a good fish in a net is separated from a bad one.

When interpreting the parables of Christ, one must always keep in mind that the Lord took examples not fictitious, but from the everyday life of His listeners, and acted in this way, according to the explanation of St. John Chrysostom, in order to make His words more expressive, to clothe the truth in a living image, to imprint it deeper in human memory. Therefore, in parables it is necessary to look for similarities, similarities only in general, and not in particulars, not in every word taken separately. In addition, of course, each parable must be understood, connecting it with others, homogeneous, and with the general spirit of the teachings of Christ.

It is important to note that in His sermons and parables, the Lord Jesus Christ very precisely distinguishes the concept of the Kingdom of Heaven from the concept of the Kingdom of God. He calls the Kingdom of Heaven that eternal blissful state of righteous people, which will be revealed to them in the future life after the final Dread Judgment. He calls the Kingdom of God, founded by Him on earth, the Kingdom of those who believe in Him and strive to do the will of the Heavenly Father. This Kingdom of God, which opened with the coming of Christ the Savior to earth, inconspicuously takes root in the souls of people and prepares them on earth to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that opens at the end of time. These parables are devoted to the disclosure of these concepts.

Bliss. Theophylact of Bulgaria concludes: “This parable is truly terrible, for it shows that even if we have faith, but do not lead a good life, we will be cast into the fire. So, although we believed, but if we find ourselves without good deeds, we will be cast out; on the contrary, those who have good works will be put into vessels, that is, they will inherit eternal dwellings (eternal life). Every action, whether good or evil, is food for the soul; therefore the soul also has its mental teeth. Then she will gnash with them, thus crushing her active forces for the fact that, having the opportunity to do good, she did not do, but, on the contrary, did more evil.

51. And Jesus asked them: Have you understood all this? They say to Him: Yes, Lord!

52. He said to them: Therefore, every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a master who brings out of his treasury both new and old.

53. And when Jesus finished these parables, he went from there.

When the disciples were asked if they understood everything that was said, the apostles answered the Lord in the affirmative, He called them “scribes”, but not those Jewish scribes who were hostile to Him, who knew only the “old Old Testament” teaching, and even then they distorted, perverted, understanding and misinterpreting, but by scribes trained in the Kingdom of Heaven, capable of being preachers of this Kingdom of Heaven. Taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, they now know both the “old” prophecy and the “new” teaching of Christ about the Kingdom of Heaven and will be able to use, as needed, in the work of their forthcoming sermon, like a house-witted owner who brings out the old and the new from his treasury. or others. Similarly, all the successors of the apostles in their preaching must use both the Old and the New Testament, for the truths of both are revealed by God.

54. And when he came into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, Where did he get such wisdom and strength?

55. Is he not the son of carpenters? Is not His Mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

56. And are not His sisters all among us? where did he get all this?

57. And they were offended by Him. Jesus said to them: There is no prophet without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.

58. And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

The Savior comes to Nazareth, the hometown of His Mother, the place where He was brought up. There He taught His countrymen in the synagogue in such a way that they marveled. It was not the wonder that He met in other places where He preached, but the wonder, combined with contempt: "Is not this the son of carpenters?" The inhabitants of Nazareth either did not know or did not believe in the miraculous incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, considering Him simply the son of Joseph and Mary. But this does not justify the inhabitants of Nazareth, for in former times there were many cases when ignorant parents had children who later became glorious and famous. Such were David, who was born into the family of a humble farmer, the prophet Amos, whose father was a goat herder, Moses, and others. from human learning, but from divine grace. This was, of course, from the usual envy inherent in people, which is always crafty. People often look with envy and hatred at those who, having left their midst, discover extraordinary talents and become higher. Maybe that is why His comrades in worldly affairs and peers with whom He constantly communicated did not want to recognize in Him an extraordinary Person. That is, people often pay more attention not to what is preached to them, but to the one who preaches, and if they are used to seeing the one who has been awarded the Divine election and calling as an ordinary person in their midst, then they continue to look at him in a different way. still, not believing his words as the words of a prophet.

St. Apostle James in his Catholic Epistle to Christians writes that: “ if you have bitter envy and strife in your heart, then do not boast and do not lie against the truth. This is not wisdom descending from above, but earthly, spiritual, demonic. For where there is envy and strife, there is disorder and every evil "(James 3:14-16). The word “envy” is associated with something black that eats the soul. But such is envy. It produces sadness in the soul of an envious person from the happiness of other people, causes annoyance at the sight of someone else's good. In its full development, envy is a constant evil feeling in the soul, which is directed against one or many persons.

Following the biblical story, we see envy as the first of human passions after the fall of the forefathers in paradise. She meets us in the very first family. Cain envied his brother Abel, and - his envy broke out into a new terrible sin - fratricide. Envy begins each time because an envious person sees or hears something better in the position of others than he himself does not own. For example, he sees how another builds a big house for himself, and begins to envy; meets an equal to himself, but more industrious, and therefore more capable and talented, and mourns with envy; hears how they praise another or want to elevate a famous person, and - suddenly, as if someone pricks him in the very heart. It is through sight and hearing that envy appears every time.

They will say: “we do not envy, but we just cannot put up with how unworthy people succeed everywhere, how they receive positions, awards or benefits in life beyond their merits.” But they forget that our Lord Jesus Christ said on this occasion: from anyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and to whom much is entrusted, from him more will be exacted ". (Luke 12:48). God will “demand” and “require” in His judgment.

St. John Chrysostom advises everyone: “Let us thank God for the good deeds rendered not only to us, but also to others. Thus, we will destroy envy, affirm love and make it more sincere.

The Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian says that “ and his brothers did not believe in him "(John 7.5). The brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ were half-brothers, they were the children of the righteous elder Joseph, the betrothed of the Virgin Mary, whom the wife of his brother Cleopas bore him. Since Cleopas died childless, the righteous Joseph, according to the law of piety, took his wife for himself, and they had six children: four sons and two daughters. The daughters were called Mary, who, according to the law of Moses, was called the daughter of Cleopas, and Salome. After the resurrection of the Savior from the dead, they all believed in Him and became preachers of the faith of Christ along with other disciples of the Lord. James was later an apostle and the first bishop of the Jerusalem Church. After him, his brother Judas became the bishop of this Church. Behind him is Simon, who suffered under the Roman emperor Trajan, ending his life with almost the same death that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered. Simon was 11 years older than the Savior. Nothing is known about the second brother of the Savior Josiah from church history. Nothing is known about the fate of the sisters of Christ.

Nowhere did Christ find so much opposition to Himself and His teaching as in His native city, where they even tried to kill Him (Luke 4:28-29). " And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. ”, for the performance of miracles depends not only on the power of God working miracles, but also on the faith of the people over whom miracles are performed. St. John Chrysostom explains why the Savior does not perform miracles here: “so as not to kindle greater envy in the Jews, and so as not to condemn them more severely for their increased unbelief.”

I. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER (13:1-23)

Matt. 13:1-9(Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8). In continuing his ministry to the people, Jesus resorted to what he had not resorted to before. For the first time in the Gospel of Matthew we read that He spoke in parables. In Greek, "parable" corresponds to two words that can be translated as "to walk side by side." Like an example, a parable makes it possible to compare a known truth with an unknown one, that is, it puts them "side by side".

In the first of the seven parables spoken by Jesus and recorded in this chapter, He speaks of a sower who went out to sow in his field. At the same time, the emphasis is on the result of sowing by the Savior, for the seeds thrown by the sower fell on four types of soil: along the road (3:4), on stony places (verse 5), among thorns (verse 7) and on good ground (verse 8). ). That is why he got four different results.

Matt. 13:10-17(Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:9-10). The disciples immediately noticed the change in Jesus' method, and so they asked Him, Why do you speak to them in parables? The Lord gave several reasons for this. First, He spoke in parables in order to continue to reveal the truth to His disciples - those who have already been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the New Testament, "mystery" refers to truths that were not revealed in the Old Testament, but now, that is, in the New Testament time, are revealed to the elect.

Here the question arises, why does Matthew so often use this term "Kingdom of Heaven", while Mark, Luke and John only speak of the "Kingdom of God" and never about the "Kingdom of Heaven"? Some theologians explain this by the fact that when they said "heaven", the Jews meant God, but they avoided pronouncing the word "God" (out of a sense of reverence for the Creator). (We recall that Matthew was guided in his Scripture by the Jews.) And yet, at least occasionally, Matthew also has the "Kingdom of God" (12:28; 19:24; 21:31,43), and the word "God" he uses about 50 times.

One way or another, the use of these various "terms" is apparently not accidental with him, for when he writes about the "Kingdom of God", he has in mind only the saved; the concept of the "Kingdom of Heaven" is used by him when, along with the saved, people who call themselves Christians are also meant, but in reality they are not. This is evident from the parable of the wheat and the tares (interpretation on 13:24-30,36-43), from the parable of the mustard seed (interpretation of verses 31-35), and from the parable of the net (interpretation of verses 47-52).

It is noteworthy that Jesus did not say anything about the "mysteries" of the Kingdom of Heaven until the people as a whole had made a decision regarding Him. This decision was preordained by the leaders of the people when they attributed His divine power to Satan (9:34; 12:22-37). After that, Jesus began to reveal some additional things not revealed in the Old Testament regarding His reign on earth. Many Old Testament prophets predicted that the Messiah would deliver the people of Israel and establish His kingdom.

And so Jesus came to offer it to the Jews (4:17). But they rejected the Messiah in the person of Jesus (12:24). What, in the light of this rejection, was now to happen to the Kingdom of God? From the "mysteries of the Kingdom" revealed by Christ, it followed that between the rejection of the Tsar and the subsequent acceptance of Him by Israel, an indefinitely long time, a whole Age, would pass.

The second reason Jesus began to speak in parables was His desire to hide the meaning of what He revealed from unbelievers. The "secrets" of the Kingdom of God were designed for His disciples, and not for the scribes and Pharisees who rejected Him (11b: ... but it was not given to them). In essence, even what they knew before was "taken away" from them (verse 12), while the knowledge of the disciples was "multiplyed" (verse 12). That is, the teaching of Jesus in parables, as it were, contained an element of punishment. Jesus spoke to a large gathering of people, but what the disciples did not fully understand, he could explain to them in private.

Editor's note: There is also such an understanding of the words of Christ recorded by Matthew in verse 13. The lofty but "abstract" truths that the Kingdom of Heaven conceals in itself were not available to people in their mass. But embodied in images familiar to them, they nevertheless became "closer" to them: their eyes opened, their ears opened, and their minds "became interested"; thus arose an impulse to comprehend further truths, which in the parables were presented in symbols and images. In essence, for those who "seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear," it is generally useless to speak. But Jesus also spoke to them in parables. At the same time, he could mean the following: if they do not want to understand, then they will not understand in any form, but with the slightest desire to understand - a parable with its familiar images, perhaps they will understand it sooner, and if they want to understand deeper, maybe they will learn discern the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven under the cover of the parable.

Thirdly, when the Lord spoke in parables, Isaiah's prophecy came true over the people (Isaiah 6:9-10). This Old Testament prophet, upon entering his ministry, God said that people would not understand his words. The same thing happened with Jesus. He preached the word of God, and many listened to Him, but did not understand (Matt. 13:13-15).

Unlike "many", the disciples were blessed, because their eyes were given the privilege of seeing (understanding), and their ears were given the privilege of hearing those truths (verse 16), which the Old Testament prophets and righteous people would have been happy to know (verse 17; compare 1- Pet. 1:10-12).

The disciples of Jesus heard the same thing as the leaders of the people, and the people themselves, confused by them, but their attitude to what they heard was different: the first responded to it with faith, the second rejected what they heard. But God did not want to give additional light to those who turned away from the light.

Matt. 13:18-23(Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15). In explaining the parable of the sower, Jesus compared the four results of sowing with the four reactions to the Kingdom preaching. The news about him was the word preached by John the Baptist, Jesus, and later the apostles.

So, to a person who listens to a sermon, but does not understand it, the evil one comes (Matt. 13:38-39; 1 John 5:19) and steals the word sown in him. It means sown along the way. The next two results correspond to one sown on stony soil and having no root, and also one sown in thorns (a symbol of the cares of this world and the deception of wealth): "thorns" drown out the word. In both cases, we are talking about people who at first listen with interest to the sermon, but in whom it does not find a deep response.

What was sown in a “rocky place” corresponds to a person who hears the word of God and accepts it with joy, but then is offended (Matt. 13:57; 15:12), i.e., falls away if sorrow and persecution come upon him for the word. And only what is sown on good land brings a bountiful harvest - a hundred times ... sixty times or thirty times. In other words, what is sown in the believer's heart brings forth spiritual fruit many times over. The one who believes the words of Christ (hearing ... and understanding) is fruitful. He is "fruitful" in the sense that he will more and more "absorb" God's truth into himself and understand it more and more.

Differences are thus not due to the "seed" but to the "condition of the soil" on which the seed has fallen. Ever since the Good News of the Kingdom has been preached, this message has not changed. However, the people who listen to it are different. The Lord did not mean, of course, that only 25% of those who listen to the word of God will receive it by faith. He wanted to say that the majority of those listening to the word will not find the proper response.

The parable of the sower explains in this way also why the scribes and Pharisees rejected the message with which Jesus came. The "soil" of their heart was not "prepared" to receive it. This was the "secret" about the Kingdom revealed by Christ in the first sermon: most people will reject the Good News they heard. This truth was not revealed in the Old Testament.

2. THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE TARES (13:24-30; 36-43)

Matt. 13:24-30. In the second parable, Christ again resorts to the image of the sower, but gives the parable a different twist. After the owner of the field had sown wheat, his enemy came in the night and sowed tares on the same land. As a result, both the wheat and the tares had to be allowed to grow together until the harvest, because by pulling out the tares earlier, it was possible to accidentally pull out the wheat along with them (verses 28-29). At harvest time, the tares will be gathered first and thrown into the fire. And then the wheat will be gathered into the barn.

Matt. 13:31-35. These verses are dealt with later, after verse 43.

Matt. 13:36-43. When Christ, having sent the people away, entered the house, and His disciples were with Him, they asked to explain to them the parable of the wheat and the tares. And this is what the Lord said to them, who sowed the good seed. This moment is fundamentally important for understanding all the parables, as it testifies that they "cover" the period of time beginning with the coming of the Lord to earth and the preaching of the Good News. Further: the field is the world in which the Good News is preached. The good seed are the sons of the Kingdom.

In other words, the good seed in this parable corresponds to the seed sown in the "good ground" of the first parable, the one that brings forth a bountiful harvest. The weeds are the sons of the evil one (compare verse 19), who were "sown" among the wheat by the enemy of human souls, i.e. the devil. Nothing was said about the Kingdom of Heaven from this side in the Old Testament; there it appears only as the Kingdom of righteousness, in which evil is defeated.

Finally, Jesus reveals that the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels (verse 49). This revelation indicates the end of the period of time presented in the parables. The “end of the age” is the end of our Age, which will be replaced by the Messianic Kingdom of Christ. Thus the parables retold by Matthew in chapter 13 cover the period of time from Christ's first coming to earth to His return to judge the world.

At the second coming of Christ, the angels will gather all the wicked and cast them into the fiery furnace (compare verses 40-42 with verses 49-50; 2 Thess. 1:7-10; Rev. 19:15). There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew repeatedly speaks precisely in such words about the reaction of the wicked to the punishment that befell them (Matt. 8:12; 13:42,50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30). In Luke they occur only once (Luke 13:28).

Each time these words mean "judgment" over sinners before the establishment of the Millennium Kingdom. "Weeping" speaks of soul-rending sadness, that is, of the emotional state of those who will go to hell, and "gnashing of teeth" speaks of the physical torment they experience. In contrast, the righteous are said to shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13:43; compare Dan. 12:3).

In the indicated period of time, between the rejection of Jesus and His return in the future, the Kingdom will remain without a King, but will "continue" in the form that is revealed here, suggesting the "coexistence" of "good seeds" and "tares." This period or "Age" is more than the "Age of the Church", although it includes it. After all, the beginning of the Church was laid on the day of Pentecost, and her "age" will end with her rapture - at least seven years before the end of the indicated period of time (interpretation on the book of Revelation). This entire period is associated with the "mystery" revealed by Christ in parables.

Its meaning is that the confession of faith during this period will be accompanied by its distortion and rejection, and one cannot be separated from the other until the day of judgment. The "period of mystery" will not be the period of the victory of the Gospel on a global scale, as post-millennialists hoped for (interpretation of the book of Revelation), and Christ will not come to earth until it ends. It is only the time between His two comings, after which He will return to establish on earth the Kingdom promised by God to David.

3. PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED (13:31-32) (MARK 4:30-32; LUKE 13:18-19)

Matt. 13:31-32. In the next parable, Christ compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed. Of the known seeds, it is one of the smallest. And for this reason, it even became a proverb: "Small as a mustard seed" (compare with the words of Christ in 17:20 - "if you have faith the size of a mustard seed ...").

Despite such a small seed, black mustard (not only cultivated, but also wild) reaches 4-5 (!) meters in height in one season, and heavenly birds nest in its branches.

Jesus did not give a direct interpretation of this parable. However, the meaning of it, perhaps, is that the Christian movement, starting small, quickly grows. By "birds", perhaps, unbelievers are understood, striving for one reason or another or for one purpose or another to "nest" in Christianity. This is the opinion of some interpreters. Others, however, believe that the birds do not symbolize evil here, but rather the prosperity and abundance (spiritual) that are inherent in Christianity.

4. THE PARABLE OF THE LEVEL (13:33-35) (MARK 4:33-34; LUKE 13:20)

Matt. 13:33-35. In this fourth parable, Christ compared the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven put into a large amount of flour until it was all leavened.

Many theologians believe that leaven represents evil, the presence of which is inevitable in the period of time between the two comings of Christ. In the Bible, leaven often symbolizes evil (for example, Exodus 12:15; Lev. 2:11; 6:17; 10:12; Matt. 16:6,11-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12: 1; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; Galatians 5:8-9). However, if here too she was a symbol of him, would not the idea of ​​evil be overemphasized in parables? After all, it has already been eloquently spoken about in the second parable ("tares"). On this basis, many theologians believe that in this case Jesus meant the active action of the leaven.

Its property is such that the fermentation process caused by it cannot be stopped. Thus, Jesus could mean that the number of those seeking to enter His Kingdom will constantly grow, and no one and nothing will stop this process. It is precisely this, and not another interpretation, that more, apparently, turns out to be in the general "stream" of parables. (On the one hand, most people reject the Good News, but on the other hand, there are more and more Christians in the world, and life itself convinces us that one does not contradict the other. Ed.).

Matthew's addition (13:34-35) corresponds to what the Savior Himself said earlier (verses 11-12). He spoke in parables in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Ps. 77:2) and at the same time revealed to his disciples truths not previously revealed.

Matt. 13:36-43. Comment on these verses in the section entitled "The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares" (13:24-30,36-43).

5. PARABLE OF THE HIDDEN TREASURE (13:44)

Matt. 13:44. In the fifth parable, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a treasure hidden in a field. The person who learned about this treasure bought a field to take possession of the treasure. Since Jesus did not explain this parable either, several interpretations are offered for it. Based on the general meaning of chapter 13, we can assume that this parable is about Israel, God's "hidden treasure" (Ex. 19:5; Ps. 134:4). One of the reasons why Christ came to earth was to redeem Israel, and therefore one can think that it is He who sold all that he had (i.e., refused the glory of heaven; John 17:5 ; 2 Corinthians 8:9; Phil. 2:5-8) to acquire this treasure.

6. PARABLE OF THE PEARL (13:45-46)

Matt. 13:45-46. This parable was not explained by the Lord; it seems to be related in meaning to the previous one. The precious pearl, perhaps, personifies the Church - the bride of Christ. It is known how unusual pearls are formed. “The reason for their formation is the painful irritation of the delicate tissue of the mollusk,” writes J. F. Walvoord. “In a certain sense, the formation of the Church “from the wounds of Christ” can be compared with this, which would not have arisen if it were not for His death on the cross.

In this comparison, the merchant who went and sold everything he had in order to buy a precious pearl is Jesus Christ, who redeemed those who would believe in Him by His death. And here is the close semantic connection of this and the previous parable: "treasure in the field" and "precious pearl" indicate that in the period between the first and second comings of the King, Israel will exist, the Church will grow.

7. THE PARABLE OF THE NET (13:47-52)

Matt. 13:47-50. In the seventh parable spoken by Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a net thrown into the sea, into which many fish were caught. The fishermen, having stretched out the net to the shore, collected the good in vessels, and threw the bad out. This Jesus directly likens to what will happen at the end of the age, when the angels ... will separate the wicked from the righteous (verse 48; compare verses 37-43). This will happen when Christ returns to earth to establish His Kingdom (25:30).

Matt. 13:51-52. Jesus asked the disciples if they understood everything He said. Their answer "yes" may seem strange - after all, they hardly fully understood the meaning of these parables. This is evidenced by their subsequent questions and actions. Nevertheless, Jesus, as if summing up the parables, speaks of Himself as a scribe who knows the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, and as a master of the house, bringing both new and old out of his storerooms. (The word "everyone" before "scribe" apparently means that Jesus also likened the disciples - potentially for the future - to a "master", who, if necessary, will be able to use both the "new" and "old" from his "treasury ". From ed.) The fact is that in these seven parables the Lord set forth, along with the truths well known to the disciples, and those that were completely new to them.

Thus, they knew about the kingdom that the Messiah would rule, but they did not know that this kingdom, being offered to Israel, would be rejected by them. Or they knew that righteousness would be inherent in the kingdom of the Messiah, but that evil too, they did not know. Jesus pointed out (and this was new to His listeners) that in the period between His rejection and the second coming, there would be both righteous and wicked people among His "disciples". The beginning of the process as a whole will be subtle, but, gaining momentum, it will lead to the emergence of a great "kingdom" of the followers of Christ.

Once started, this process cannot be stopped by anything (the parable of the leaven), and "within" it, God will preserve His people Israel and at the same time form His Church. This "intermediate" period will end with God's judgment, at which God will separate the wicked from the righteous and lead the latter into the earthly Kingdom of Christ. The parables of Christ thus contain the answer to the question: What will happen to His Kingdom? Here it is: the Kingdom of God will be established on earth at the second coming of Christ, and until that time, evil and good will coexist on it.

E. Challenge to the King - as seen from various events (13:53 - 16:12)

1. THE REJECT OF THE KING IN THE CITY OF NAZARETH (13:53-58) (MARK 6:1-6)

Matt. 13:53-58. Having finished His instructions with parables, Jesus returned to Nazareth, the city where He spent His childhood and youth (Luke 1:26-27; Matt. 2:23; 21:11; John 1:45), and there began to teach the people about the synagogue them. During His previous visit, the inhabitants of Nazareth rejected His teaching, and they wanted to throw Him off the cliff (Luke 4:16-29). This time the people were impressed by the wisdom and power of Jesus, and yet again they rejected Him, whom they knew as Carpenter's…son (Matt. 13:55). Discussing Him among themselves, they mentioned Him...

Mother ... Mary and His mother brothers, children of Mary and Joseph (two of them - Simon and Judas - should not be confused with the apostles, who bore the same names). So, the inhabitants of Nazareth not only refused to believe in Jesus Christ, but also interfered in every possible way with His ministry in this city. The complexity of their problem was that they saw in Jesus only the young man who grew up before their eyes.

And the idea that such an "ordinary" person is the promised Messiah did not fit into their minds. These feelings of theirs were conveyed by the evangelist in words and were tempted about Him. Jesus was not surprised by this, but only said to His fellow citizens the words that have become a well-known saying: There is no prophet without honor, except in his own country.

And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.