Matthew 13:24 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we have another reason why Christ spoke in parables, and that reason is that the Scripture might be fulfilled. He was not yet making the kingdom’s mysteries fully plain. Instead, he used parables to keep people listening and expecting more. As the Psalm says, “I will open my mouth in a parable” (Psalm 78:2).

Christ always used the best way to do good to people’s souls. If plain preaching did not move them, he tried parables. The point was not to hide truth for no reason, but to teach in a way that fit the time. The mystery of the gospel had been kept secret from the foundation of the world, hidden in God’s own plan (Ephesians 3:9; Romans 16:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Colossians 1:26). If we enjoy old records and secret things, we should welcome the gospel all the more, since it has both great age and deep mystery.

What had once been wrapped up in types and shadows is now made known. Those secret things are now revealed truths that belong to us and our children (Deuteronomy 29:29). Christ’s parables were wise sayings in picture form, meant to catch attention and lead people to think carefully. Solomon’s short sayings full of comparisons are called proverbs, or parables, and here One greater than Solomon is speaking, one in whom are hidden treasures of wisdom.

Now to the parable of the tares and Christ’s explanation of it. The disciples asked their Master to explain the parable to them. Jesus sent the crowd away, and many of them likely left with no more understanding than before. It is sad how many hear sermons and go away without the word of grace in their hearts.

Christ then went into the house, not mainly for rest, but for private teaching with his disciples. He was ready to do good everywhere, and they took the chance to come to him. Those who want wisdom must be alert to such opportunities, especially the chance to be alone with Christ in prayer and reflection. It is also good, after public worship, to talk over what we heard, to help each other understand, remember, and feel it more deeply.

The disciples asked, “Explain to us the parable of the tares.” Their request shows they were not ashamed to admit ignorance. They likely understood the main idea, but they wanted it explained more fully and wanted to be sure they had it right. Those are in the best position to learn from Christ who know their need and truly want instruction. He teaches the humble (Psalm 25:8, 9), but he also wants to be asked. The first light and first grace come as gifts, and later growth in both should be prayed for every day.

Christ answered them readily. The parable is meant to show the present and future state of the kingdom of heaven, meaning the gospel church, with Christ caring for it, the devil opposing it, and good and bad people mixed in it for now and in the world to come. The visible church is called the kingdom of heaven. Though many hypocrites are in it, Christ rules there as King, and a remnant in it truly belongs to heaven. In that sense, the church is the kingdom of heaven on earth.

The one who sows the good seed is the Son of man, Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of the field and the Lord of the harvest, the one who sends out the good seed. When he ascended on high, he gave gifts to the world, not only good ministers but other good people as well. Every bit of good seed in the world comes from Christ’s hand and from his planting. True teaching, planted grace, and saved souls are all good seed, and all of it is owing to Christ.

Ministers are only tools in Christ’s hand. He uses them to sow good seed, and their work succeeds only by his blessing. So it is right to say that Christ, and no one else, sows the good seed. He is called the Son of man, one of us, so that we would not be driven away by fear. He is also the Mediator, the one who stands between God and people, and he has authority to do this work.

The field is the world, the world of mankind, a large field with room to bear much good fruit. It is all the more sad that it yields so much bad fruit. Here the world means the visible church spread across the earth, not limited to one nation. It is called his field, because the world belongs to Christ. The Father has given all things to him, and whatever power the devil has there is only by theft and wrongdoing. When Christ comes to take possession, he comes as the one to whom the right belongs. It is his field, and because it is his, he took care to sow it with good seed.

The good seed are the children of the kingdom, true believers. They are children of the kingdom not just by outward claim, as the Jews were in a false sense (Matthew 8:12), but in truth. They are inward Jews, true Israelites, joined to Jesus Christ the great King of the church by faith and obedience. They are also good seed, precious as seed that is carefully kept and used for planting (Psalm 126:6).

The seed is the main substance of the field, as in the holy seed in Isaiah 6:13. So it is with the saints, the people who belong to God. They are scattered through the world, some here and some there, though in some places they are more numerous than in others. The seed is also what should bear fruit, and the good that God gets from this world comes through the saints, whom he has planted for himself on the earth (Hosea 2:23).

The tares are the children of the wicked one. This describes sinners, hypocrites, and all ungodly people. They are children of the devil, the wicked one. Even if they do not admit his name, they show his likeness, carry out his desires, and have learned their ways from him. He rules over them and works within them (Ephesians 2:2; John 8:44). They are also like weeds in the field of this world. They do no good, and they do harm. They are useless in themselves and harmful to the good seed, both by tempting it and by persecuting it. They are weeds in a garden, sharing the same rain, sunshine, and soil as the good plants, yet they are fit for nothing. The tares are among the wheat.

God has ordered things so that good and bad are mixed together in this world. In that way, the good are tested, the bad are left without excuse, and a clear difference is shown between earth and heaven.

The enemy who sowed the tares is the devil, a sworn enemy of Christ and of everything good, including the glory of the good God and the comfort and happiness of all good people. He is an enemy of the field of the world, which he tries to claim as his own by sowing his tares in it. Since he became a wicked spirit himself, he has worked hard to spread wickedness. He has made it his business to oppose Christ.

About the sowing of the tares, notice, first, that they were sown while men slept. The rulers slept, who should have used their authority to stop this harm. The ministers slept, who should have used their preaching to prevent it. Satan watches for every chance and uses every advantage to spread evil and ungodliness. He especially harms individual people when reason and conscience sleep, when they are off guard. So we must be sober and watchful. It was done at night, the time for sleep. Satan rules in the darkness of this world, and that gives him room to sow tares (Psalm 104:20). It was while men slept, and yet people must sleep sometime. In the same way, we cannot keep hypocrites out of the church any more than a sleeping farmer can stop an enemy from harming his field.

Second, after the enemy had sown the tares, he went away (Matthew 13:25), so no one would know who did it. When Satan is doing the most damage, he tries hardest to hide himself. His plan would be ruined if he were seen clearly, so when he comes to sow tares, he disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13, 2 Corinthians 11:14). He went away as if he had done no harm, like the adulterous woman in Proverbs 30:20. Human nature is so bent toward sin that if the enemy sows the tares, he can go away and still leave them to grow and do harm. Good seed, by contrast, must be cared for, watered, and protected, or it will come to nothing.

Third, the tares did not appear until the blade sprang up and brought forth fruit (Matthew 13:26). There is much hidden wickedness in people’s hearts, and it may stay covered for a long time under a fair profession. But it eventually shows itself. Just as good seed and tares both lie hidden under the soil for a while, so at first they are hard to tell apart. Yet when a testing time comes, when fruit must be shown, when duty is costly or risky, then the difference appears. Then you can see who is wheat and who is tares.

Fourth, when the servants noticed what had happened, they brought it to their master (Matthew 13:27). “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field?” Of course he did. Whatever is wrong in the church is certainly not from Christ. Given the seed Christ sows, we may well ask in wonder, Where did these tares come from? The rise of false teaching, public scandal, and growing ungodliness is a deep grief to all Christ’s servants, especially faithful ministers. They are directed to bring such troubles to the one whose field it is. It is sad to see such weeds in the Lord’s garden, to see good soil wasted, good seed choked, and Christ’s name and honor damaged, as if his field were no better than the field of a lazy man, all covered with thorns.

Fifth, the master quickly understood where it came from: “An enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28). He does not blame the servants. They could not stop it, though they had done what they could to prevent it. Christ will not judge faithful and diligent ministers, and people should not reproach them either, for the presence of bad mixed with good, or hypocrites mixed with sincere believers, in the church. Such offenses must come, and they will not be counted against us if we have done our duty, even if it does not have the result we hoped for. Even if they sleep, so long as they do not love sleep; even if tares are sown, so long as they did not sow them, water them, or approve of them, the blame will not rest on them.

Sixth, the servants were eager to pull the tares out right away. “Do you want us to go and do it now?” Their zeal was too quick and too little thought through. Christ’s servants can sometimes act too hastily, before they consult their Master, and in doing so they risk harm to the church. “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven?”

Seventh, the Master wisely stopped them (Matthew 13:29). “No, because while you gather the tares, you may also root up the wheat with them.” No human being can always tell tares from wheat without error, so Christ, in his wisdom and grace, would rather allow the tares for a time than put the wheat in danger. Scandalous offenders must be corrected, and we should withdraw from them. Those who openly show themselves to be children of the wicked one should not be admitted to special church privileges. Yet church discipline can be mistaken in its rules or too strict in how it is applied, and that can trouble many who are truly godly and sincere. Great care and moderation must be used in church discipline, both in giving it and in keeping it in place, so the wheat is not trampled, or even pulled up. Wisdom from above is pure, but it is also peaceable, and those who oppose the truth must not be cut off, but taught, with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25). If the tares are kept under the means of grace, they may yet become good grain, so be patient with them.

The harvest is the end of the world (Matthew 13:39).

This world will come to an end. It may last a long time, but it will not last forever. Soon time will be swallowed up in eternity. At the end of the world there will be a great harvest day, a day of judgment. At harvest time, everything is ripe and ready to be cut down, and so both the good and the bad will be ready for that great day (Revelation 6:11).

It is called the harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:15). At harvest, the reapers cut down everything before them, leaving no field and no corner behind. In the same way, at the great day everyone must be judged (Revelation 20:12, 20:13). God has appointed a harvest (Hosea 6:11), and it will not fail (Genesis 8:22). At harvest, each person reaps what they sowed. Every person’s ground, seed, skill, and work will be shown clearly (Galatians 6:7, 6:8).

Then those who sowed precious seed will come back with joy and gladness, with the joy of harvest (Psalm 126:5, 6; Isaiah 9:3). But the lazy person, who would not plow because of the cold, will beg and get nothing (Proverbs 20:4). He will cry, “Lord, Lord,” but it will be too late. For those who sowed for the flesh, that harvest will bring grief and desperate sorrow (Isaiah 17:11).

The reapers are the angels. On the great day, they will carry out Christ’s righteous judgments, both in approving the righteous and condemning the wicked, as servants of his justice (Matthew 25:31). The angels are fit for this work because they are skilled, strong, swift, and obedient to Christ. They are holy enemies of the wicked and faithful friends of all the saints. He who reaps receives wages, and the angels will not serve without reward, for “he who sows and he who reaps will rejoice together” (John 4:36). There is joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of God.

Hell torments are the fire into which the tares will then be thrown, and there they will be burned. At the great day, a clear separation will be made, and the difference will be great. It will be a remarkable day. The tares will be gathered out first. Even though the good and bad are mixed together in this world, they will be separated then. No tares will be found among the wheat, and no sinners among the saints. Then you will plainly see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, which is often hard to see now (Malachi 3:18; 4:1). Christ will not always hold back his judgment (Psalm 50:1, etc.). They will gather out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. When he begins, he will finish completely.

All corrupt teachings, worship, and practices that have offended, scandalized the church, or tripped up people’s consciences, will be condemned by the righteous Judge in that day and consumed by the brightness of his coming. All the wood, hay, and stubble will burn up (1 Corinthians 3:12). Woe to those who do evil and make a business of it, and keep on doing it. This applies not only to those in the last age of Christ’s kingdom on earth, but to people in every age. This may also point to Zephaniah 1:3, “I will consume the stumbling blocks with the wicked.”

Then they will be bound in bundles. Sinners of the same kind will be grouped together on the great day, a bundle of atheists, a bundle of pleasure-lovers, a bundle of persecutors, and a great bundle of hypocrites. Those who were partners in sin will also be together in shame and sorrow. That will make their misery worse, just as the company of glorified saints will add to the joy of the blessed. We should pray as David did, “Lord, do not gather my soul with sinners” (Psalm 26:9), but let it be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord our God (1 Samuel 25:29).

Then they will be cast into a furnace of fire. That will be the end of wicked, harmful people who are in the church like tares in a field. They are fit for nothing but fire, and that is where they will go. Hell is a furnace of fire, lit by the wrath of God and kept burning by the bundles of tares thrown into it. They will be under consuming judgment forever, yet never destroyed. The image then opens into the reality it describes: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This means comfortless sorrow and bitter anger against God, themselves, and one another. That will be the endless torment of lost souls. Knowing these terrors of the Lord, we should be persuaded not to do evil.

Heaven is the barn into which all God’s wheat will be gathered on that harvest day. “Gather the wheat into my barn,” says the parable (Matthew 13:30). In the field of this world, good people are the wheat, the most valuable grain and the best part of the field. This wheat will soon be gathered, taken out from among the tares and weeds. All will be brought together in one great assembly, all the Old Testament saints and all the New Testament saints, not one missing. “Gather my saints together to me” (Psalm 50:5).

All God’s wheat will be lodged together in God’s barn. When individual believers die, they are housed like a shock of corn (Job 5:26). But the full gathering will be at the end of time. Then God’s wheat will be brought together and no longer scattered. There will be sheaves of corn as well as bundles of tares. They will be safe, no longer exposed to wind and weather, sin and sorrow. They will no longer be far away in the field, but near, in the barn. Heaven is also a garner, a place where grain is stored (Matthew 3:12). There the wheat will be separated not only from bad companions, but also from the chaff of their own remaining sin.

In the explanation of the parable, this is shown in a glorious way: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43). First, it is their present honor that God is their Father. “Now we are children of God” (1 John 3:2). Our Father in heaven is King there. When Christ went to heaven, he went to his Father and our Father (John 20:17). It is our Father’s house, indeed, our Father’s palace, his throne (Revelation 3:21). Second, the honor waiting for them is that they will shine like the sun in that kingdom.

Here they are often hidden and hard to notice (Colossians 3:3). Their beauty is covered by poverty, by low outward condition, by their own weaknesses, and by the shame others put on them. But then they will shine out like the sun from behind a dark cloud. At death they will shine to themselves. At the great day they will shine openly before the whole world. Their bodies will be changed to be like Christ’s glorious body. They will shine by reflection, with light borrowed from the Fountain of light. Their sanctification, meaning their being made holy, will be completed, and their justification, meaning their being declared right with God, will be made public. God will own them as his children and bring out the record of all their service and suffering for his name. They will shine like the sun, the most glorious of all visible things.

The glory of the saints was compared in the Old Testament to the sky and the stars, but here it is compared to the sun. The reason is that the gospel brings life and immortality into much clearer light than the law did. Those who shine as lights in this world, so that God is honored, will shine like the sun in the next world, so that they are honored too.

Our Savior ends, as he did before, with a call for attention: “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.” These are things we are blessed to hear about, and it is our duty to listen carefully.

Here is the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31, Matthew 13:32). Its point is that the gospel would begin in a small way, but it would grow greatly in the end. In this way, the gospel church, the kingdom of God among us, would be set up in the world. In the same way, the work of grace in the heart, the kingdom of God within us, would grow in individual people.

The work of the gospel is usually very weak and small at first, like a mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds. The kingdom of the Messiah, which was then being established, made only a small impression. Christ and the apostles, compared with the great people of the world, looked like a mustard seed, weak in the world’s eyes. In particular places, the first appearing of gospel light is only like the dawn of day. In individual souls, it is at first the day of small things, like a bruised reed. Young believers are like lambs that must be carried in his arms (Isaiah 40:11). There is some faith, but much is still missing in it (1 Thessalonians 3:10), and there are groanings too deep for words, so small they can barely be noticed. There is a principle of spiritual life and some movement, but it is hardly visible.

Yet it grows and moves forward. Christ’s kingdom gained ground in a remarkable way. Great additions were made to it, and nations were brought in at once, despite all the opposition from hell and earth. In a soul where grace is real, it will also grow, though perhaps so slowly that it is hardly noticed. A mustard seed is small, but it is still seed, and it has a nature that leads it to grow. Grace keeps advancing and shines more and more (Proverbs 4:18). Holy habits become stronger, actions become quicker, knowledge becomes clearer, faith becomes firmer, and love burns more warmly. This is the seed growing.

In the end, it comes to great strength and usefulness. When it matures, it becomes a tree, much larger in those countries than in ours. The church, like the vine brought out of Egypt, has taken root and filled the earth (Psalm 80:9-11). The church is like a great tree where the birds of the air come to rest. God’s people look to it for food and rest, shade and shelter. In individual people, the principle of grace, if it is true, will endure and be made perfect in the end. Growing grace will become strong grace and will accomplish much. Mature believers should want to be useful to others, as the grown mustard plant is to the birds, so that those who live near them, or under their shadow, are helped by them (Hosea 14:7).

Here is the parable of the leaven (Matthew 13:33). Its aim is much the same as the last parable. It shows that the gospel would spread and succeed little by little, but quietly and without being noticed. Preaching the gospel is like leaven, and it works like leaven in the hearts of those who receive it.

A woman took the leaven, so this was her work. Ministers are used in leavening places and souls with the gospel. The woman is the weaker vessel, and we have this treasure in weak vessels. The leaven was hidden in three measures of meal. The heart is like the meal, soft and ready to be shaped. A tender heart is more likely to benefit from the word. Leaven does not work in unground grain, and the gospel does not work in souls that are not humbled and broken for sin. The law grinds the heart, and then the gospel leavens it. It was three measures of meal, a large amount, because a little leaven leavens the whole lump. The meal had to be kneaded before it could receive the leaven. In the same way, our hearts must be broken and softened, and effort must be taken to prepare them for the word, so they can receive its effect.

The leaven must be hidden in the heart (Psalm 119:11), not mainly for secrecy, since it will show itself, but for safety. Our inner thoughts must be fixed on it, and we must store it up, as Mary stored up the sayings of Christ (Luke 2:51). When the woman hides the leaven in the meal, she intends for it to give the meal its taste and quality. So we must store the word in our souls, so that we may be made holy by it (John 17:17).

Once the leaven is hidden in the dough, it works there and ferments it. The word is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). Leaven works quickly, and so does the word, though usually by degrees. What a sudden change Elijah’s cloak made in Elisha (1 Kings 19:20)! The work is silent and not noticed at first (Mark 4:26), yet it is strong and cannot be resisted. It works without noise, for that is the Spirit’s way, but it never fails. Hide the leaven in the dough, and no one can stop it from giving the dough its taste and quality, though no one sees exactly how it happens. By degrees, the whole lump is leavened.

So it was in the world. The apostles, by their preaching, hid a handful of leaven in the great mass of humanity, and it had an amazing effect. It stirred the world and, in a sense, turned it upside down (Acts 17:6). Little by little, it made a wonderful change in its taste and quality: the fragrance of the gospel was made known everywhere (2 Corinthians 2:14; Romans 15:19). It worked not by outward force, and therefore not by any force that could be resisted or defeated, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, who works and cannot be stopped.

So it is in the heart. When the gospel comes into the soul, it brings a change, not in our substance, but in our character. The dough remains the same, but its quality changes. It makes us enjoy different things than we used to, and it makes other things seem different to us too (Romans 8:5). It brings a whole-life change, spreading through every power and faculty of the soul, and even changing the use of the body’s members (Romans 6:13). This change makes the soul share the nature of the word, just as the dough shares the nature of the leaven. We are handed over to it as into a mold (Romans 6:17), and we are changed into the same image (2 Corinthians 3:18), like a seal pressed into wax. The gospel carries the taste of God, Christ, free grace, and the coming world, and now those things are pleasing to the soul. It is a word of faith, repentance, holiness, and love, and these are worked in the soul by it.

This savor is passed on quietly, because our life is hidden, but it is also lasting, because grace is a good gift that will never be taken away from those who have it. When the dough is fully leavened, it is ready for the oven. Trials and troubles usually come with this change, but in this way saints are fitted to be bread for our Master’s table.