Home / Commentary / Matthew / Matthew Chapter 13
Jesus teaches a parable about a sower who scatters his seed on four different types of ground. The first three types of ground fail to produce a crop, but the fourth type of ground is good soil and it produces a very good harvest.
The disciples ask Jesus why He speaks to the people in parables rather than teaching them through literal statements. Jesus gives them a full response by explaining that only those whose hearts are open to Jesus can understand the mysteries of the kingdom.
Jesus explains to His disciples the meaning of the Parable of the Sower. The first soil is like a heart that is hard was from the outset and fails to receive God’s word altogether. The second soil is like a heart that is afraid and loses its joy...
Matthew records Jesus’ second parable concerning the kingdom of heaven. He compares it to a man who sows good wheat in his field, but later an enemy sows toxic, unproductive tares.
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed that grows from a small seed into a large life-giving tree.
Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to leaven hidden in flour resulting in a feast’s worth of bread.
Jesus explains the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the tares. It is parable about what happens to the faithful sons of the kingdom and the unfaithful sons of the evil one at their respective judgments.
Jesus tells two short parables about the kingdom of heaven. In each He shows the immeasurable value and worth of finding the kingdom.
Jesus tells another short parable about the kingdom of heaven. It is about a fishing net that catches all manner of fish. The good fish are kept. The bad fish are thrown away.
Matthew concludes Jesus’s teachings on parables with a question from Jesus to His disciples and an exciting riddle about what understanding the scriptures and seeking the kingdom is like.
Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth and begins to preach and perform miracles. But His hometown refuses to believe that this man who grew up among them is the Messiah. Consequently Jesus does only a few miracles among them.
The Gospel of Matthew was written to demonstrate to the Jews of Jesus, the Messiah’s generation that He was indeed the Christ. Matthew thematically substantiates the Messianic identity of Jesus beginning with the genealogy of Jesus, which ran from Abraham, the father of Israel’s people through King David who was promised to have a son who would be on Israel’s throne forever. Throughout his Gospel account Matthew makes use of numerous prophecies both explicitly stated and by way of subtle allusion to support his thesis. Matthew further makes use of parallel events in Jesus’s life to those of Messianic figures from the Old Testament (Moses, Joseph, David, etc.) to bolster his argument.
Jesus came to offer the Jews the chance to participate in the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom. To do this, they would have to receive and follow Him as their Messiah. Jesus’s message was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Ultimately, they rejected Him as their Messiah and condemned Jesus to death by crucifixion. The Jews’ rejection of the Messiah opened the door for Gentiles to enter the kingdom (Matthew 8:11-12, 22:1-10). Matthew’s Gospel is therefore a call for the Jews repent of their murder of Jesus and to embrace Him for the divine Messiah He is.
Matthew shows how their rejection of Him and His brutal death was predicted not only by Jesus Himself, but also was foretold in the Jewish scriptures of the Messiah.
The main proof that Jesus was the Messiah was “the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 12:39, 16:4). This was Jesus’s death and resurrection from the dead. “Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).
Because Matthew’s Gospel was written to people who were already members of God’s eternal family by virtue of their faith in God’s promise to send the Messiah, Matthew emphasizes the “reward of eternal life” (aka “The Prize of Eternal Life”) rather than “the Gift of Eternal Life”. In other words, Matthew’s Gospel focuses on how to “enter the kingdom” rather than how to “be born again”.
Matthew’s Gospel demonstrates how Jesus came to fulfill the law and open a way for God’s people to participate in the Messianic kingdom if they would follow His example of worshiping God from the heart by forgiving and serving others.
For “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). If we have faith to follow the example set forth by the resurrected Messiah, whom all authority on heaven and earth has been granted (Matthew 28:18) and take up our cross for His sake (Matthew 16:24-25), then we will become great in His kingdom (Matthew 20:26).
Finally, Matthew provides extensive samples of Jesus’s teachings including “the Sermon on the Mount”, “the Little Commission”, and “the Olivet Discourse” and many parables, alongside accounts of numerous miracles and wonders, personal moments with His twelve disciples, interactions with seekers, and increasingly as his Gospel account progresses: challenges and confrontations with His adversaries – the Pharisees, Scribes, and Priests.
In this chapter Matthew shares seven parables Jesus told. All seven pertain to the kingdom of heaven. Matthew relates Jesus’s personal explanation for two parables (the parable of the sower and the seeds and the parable of the wheat and the tares) that He gave to His disciples. The other five parables are much shorter. They are the parable of the mustard seed; the parable of the leaven; the parable of the field with hidden treasure; the parable of the pearl of great price; and the parable of the dragnet. After sharing these parables, Jesus returns to teach in His hometown of Nazareth, where He is not believed.