And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
After He had spoken the parable of the sower to the multitude, His disciples came to Him to ask why He taught the people in parables. It is given to the receptive to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the unreceptive it is not given, for whoever has shall be given more and whoever has not shall lose even what he has. He veiled the clearness of truth beneath symbols and familiar scenes when speaking to those whose hearts were misled and determined not to be convinced and who would misuse plain truth, while He spoke plainly to His disciples and awakened inquiry so that anyone who desired further understanding enough to ask could receive instruction. He speaks in parables because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand, for their heart is waxed gross and their ears dull and their eyes closed lest they be converted and healed, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy that hearing they shall hear and not understand and seeing they shall see and not perceive. His disciples' eyes and ears are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear but did not, and fruitful hearing is in proportion to receiving the Word into a good and honest heart with faith.
Setting and Question
After He had spoken to the multitude the parable of the sower and the seed, the disciples came to Jesus. They asked Him why He spoke to the people and taught the crowds in parables. Their question concerned His use of parables in teaching the people. The words He gave in Matthew 13:1-12 were greatly needed by the people who heard them, with some receiving them as good ground and bringing forth fruit, and those same words are greatly needed now, with every person needing to be in a position to understand His precious words.
Purpose of Parables
To the disciples it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the multitude it is not given, for whoever has shall be given more abundantly and whoever has not shall lose even what he has. Understanding is given to those who receive the light and perceive it, while those who do not receive lose even what they have. The crowds hear and see without understanding because their hearts are hardened and they have closed their eyes and ears to truth. The parables do not blind people; light was given, but it was rejected.
Truth was veiled beneath symbols, figures, and similitudes when spoken to those who would misuse plain statements, while it was spoken plainly to disciples, with presentation differing according to readiness to receive. This veiling guarded truth from Pharisees and Sadducees who would misuse what was plainly said. It also hid great truths under similitudes from persons without the truth or love of it, whose hearts are misled by temper and gratified inclination and who are determined not to be convinced. Yet an honest and pure heart discerns doctrine even when given in parables.
Parable teaching was the only way to reach the people and to rebuke sin without causing personal offense. By clothing lessons in figures, teaching could proceed without provoking the opposition of the Pharisees. It provided a way to speak to those who would not listen to direct truth. The great desire in this was to open blinded eyes to see the uselessness of the many traditional ceremonies making up their religion.
Evil angels in the form of men mingled with the hearers, making suggestions, criticizing, misapplying and misinterpreting the words spoken. The same work continues now, with evil angels in the form of men talking with those who know the truth and misinterpreting and misconstruing the statements of God's messengers. Because of this, hearts are not moved by the proclamation of the gospel, good seed is sown but the soil is unprepared, and suggestions and insinuations cause the words of life to lose force so that no fruit springs up.
Parables were meant to awaken inquiry and thought that would lead to clearer understanding of truth. Anyone who desired further understanding and showed enough interest to ask what the words meant, as the disciples did, could receive instruction. The disciples came to ask for explanations and were instructed, for willingness to teach answers such interest.
Parables communicated spiritual and moral truths through simple language and familiar scenes and things from nature and daily life. This made spiritual teaching easy to grasp and helped hold the attention of hearers. Such teaching held the attention and respect even of priests, rulers, and people of other nations. It gave force to rebuke, awakened inquiry, and helped hearers remember truth. Varied and familiar illustrations were used to reach different people and press important truths home, some applying broadly and others suited to particular experiences and hearers. Some listeners would later discern the hidden meaning, while many would not grasp its deeper spiritual truth.
In presenting truth to the Jews, truth that had become mixed with error was separated from error and placed again within the framework of the gospel. Its original brightness was thus restored so that it could illuminate the world.
Hardened Hearts and Prophecy
Jesus answers in parables because the crowds look without seeing and listen without hearing or grasping, for their heart has grown dull and gross, their ears heavy, and their eyes deliberately shut, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and be healed. The mysteries of the kingdom are entrusted to those who receive the light, while to the hardened multitude they are not entrusted, since whoever has and uses will be given more and whoever has not and will not receive will lose even what he has. The parables themselves do not blind anyone, for light was freely given and then rejected by closed eyes and ears.
This seeing without perceiving and hearing without understanding is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that by hearing they shall hear and not understand and by seeing they shall see and not perceive. Those who hear and then reject truth stand accountable for turning away its instruction and warnings. Neglect to receive brings loss of even the little once possessed.
The unfruitful hearers are the skeptical, the superficial, and the secular, who cannot discern the moral glory of truth nor its practical, personal claim upon their own hearts, because they lack the faith that overcomes the world, and so the world overcomes them. It is not learned men who make the heart feel, but close connection with God that opens the understanding and makes it quick and sharp. Deceivers blinded by prejudice will neither hear nor understand even the plainest declaration, and by unconquerable obstinacy they grieve His Spirit away, drawing both pity and just displeasure for their injustice and wrongdoing.
The Pharisees show this hardening in full, for their hearts are barren, hopeless, and profitless soil where heavenly seed cannot take root. Self-exaltation, suspicion, condemnation, and a cherished feeling of superiority keep truth from growing, while exalted self claims all their faith, honor, and love. Supposing others always at fault, they speak reproof and condemnation hard as nether millstones that crush all hope and courage out of the soul. They suspect even the purest, make a man an offender for a word, and stir roots of bitterness whereby many are defiled.
Blessing on Receptive Hearers
The eyes and ears of the disciples are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets and righteous men longed to see and hear but did not. To them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, while to the multitude who see without seeing and hear without hearing or understanding it is not given. Their blessing stands in contrast to hardened hearts, dull ears, and closed eyes that fulfill Isaiah's prophecy of hearing without understanding and seeing without perceiving.
Understanding of the mysteries of God's kingdom is given to those who receive the light and perceive it. Parables do not blind people, for light was given but rejected by those who hardened their hearts and closed eyes and ears against truth. Those who do not receive lose even what they have, and those who hear and reject remain accountable for rejecting its instruction and warnings.
An honest and pure heart discerns doctrine even when it is hidden under similitudes and parables. Fruitful hearing is in proportion to understanding the Word and receiving it into a good and honest heart, and in proportion to faith. It is not learning that makes the heart feel, but close connection with God that opens the understanding and makes it quick and sharp, while the skeptical, the superficial, and the secular cannot discern the moral glory of truth or its practical personal application because they lack the faith that overcomes the world, so the world overcomes them.
Some who heard received the word as good ground and brought forth fruit. His heavenly teaching was precious nourishment to those who desired light and knowledge, and its seed was sown for the disciples to cultivate. Those same words are greatly needed now, and every person needs to be in a position to understand them.
Sower Shows Varied Responses
The parable of the sower lays open the different dispositions of those Christ taught and the tendencies of the human heart, with the same gospel seed from the same sower bringing forth different results according to the condition of the hearer's heart. Some have hardened hearts and lose regard for truth, others receive it eagerly but fall away when tested because they lack deep-rooted principle, some are offended when truth exposes their faults and refuse its sanctifying work, and others let love of the world, riches, cares, and pleasures choke the word until they turn from the truth. His ministry had limited immediate results because people were free to accept or reject Him and were not forced to believe or obey, and merely hearing His teaching did not correct sinful nature but required joining human effort with divine power to overcome sin. Hearers are responsible for resisting God's word, and by God's help their hearts can be changed so the word can take root and grow.
The heart is a garden where good or bad seed is sown and must be prepared like soil for natural seed, the soil broken up by repentance and the evil growths that choke the good grain uprooted, and as land overgrown with thorns can be reclaimed only by diligent labor, so evil tendencies of the heart can be overcome only by earnest effort in the name and strength of Christ, a lesson to be taught practically to children and youth as they prepare soil and sow seed themselves. There is a striking similarity between an uncultivated field and an untrained mind, for the minds of children and youth are soil that must be cultivated with unceasing care and sown with the precious seed of Bible truth, while the enemy sows tares there that will bear evil fruit unless parents keep watchful guard, so children must be taught to reject trashy, exciting tales and turn to sensible reading that throws light upon the Sacred Volume and quickens desire to study it. The seed is heavenly truth and the soil is the heart, and the spoken word as seed can carry truth to many hearts.
Clear and pointed words that cut hearers to the heart may show no effect at once, yet seed of truth sown in minds can lodge, lie dormant, and later spring up and bear fruit to God's glory. After the crucifixion and resurrection the lessons of that day would be revived in many attentive listeners who would repeat them for future generations to the close of time, with some hearers growing into abundant faith and later facing trials for faith as disciples, and some eagerly hearing yet only dimly understanding at first. He knew the hearts receiving His teaching and its fruit could take time to appear, as seen when Nicodemus watched and pondered His works and teachings without publicly acknowledging Him for three years, until seeing Lazarus raised from the dead gave him compelling evidence of His Messiahship.
Sowing Truth Today
The work illustrated by the sower is to sow truth everywhere, even where the soil is poor, and to carry it to neglected people through earnest work, without stopping because immediate results cannot be seen. The divine Teacher sowed seeds of truth with care, anxiety, and self-denial in a life of continued sacrifice for others' good, and following that example requires having the mind of Christ so as not to become weary in well-doing. Sowing means trusting God to quicken the seed to life even when it lies dormant for a time until grace convicts the heart and awakens it to spring up and bear fruit to God's glory, laboring unselfishly, earnestly, and perseveringly as co-workers with Christ and heavenly angels in saving others.
Christian service plants truth whose effects may remain hidden for a time, yet when the work is wrought in God the Spirit works in the heart and waters the seed so that lessons linger even in the most careless memory and often after many days spring up and bear fruit to God's glory. Workers are therefore to do their part and leave results to God. The same gospel seed bears different results according to the condition of the hearer's heart, and sowers are to prepare hearts through personal, Christlike care, for even a hard, beaten-pathway heart may be softened by love revealed in personal ministry so that seed takes root. Believers must be taught the foundations of Christian life so the word is not choked by worldly concerns or hindered by shallow faith, living Christ's life and character, bearing burdens, denying natural inclination, working for Christ, and trusting His care. Working for the lost turns attention from self and weakens attraction to worldly pleasures, while truth breaks up fallow ground and removes thorns at their roots.
Hearts as soil must be cultivated by personal effort beyond public preaching, for preaching in public discourse sows precious seed upon hearts, yet much is lost unless the heart is softened and subdued by God's Spirit. Servants must not only preach from the pulpit but come into personal contact, observe those who seem interested, speak privately after the service where a few words often do more good than the whole discourse, inquire how subjects appear and whether the matter is clear, show by kindness and courtesy real interest and care for souls, appeal for conversion to Christ, and sweep away prejudice. God prepares hearts to receive the message, which brings joy when presented. Truth should be presented in a way people can understand by meeting them where they are, beginning with what hearers can receive, explaining it fully, and advancing gradually rather than confronting prejudiced people with truths they are unprepared to understand. Unfamiliar religious terms should be explained clearly rather than used in ways that confuse or agitate, disputed subjects should not be pressed on those who have not asked, and patient, considerate teaching and quiet influence lessen prejudice and prepare hearts more than open controversy.
Truth must be presented with Christ and His redeeming love so the seed may bear fruit, since argument and evidence alone can miss leading hearers to Christ. Parents are given the work of preparing the soil of their children's hearts, making the Word the standard and training them in cheerful obedience for usefulness and Christian manhood and womanhood, with good seed sown in good soil in early minds taking root and bearing fruit unto eternal life. The living seed is to be sown deeply, including through patient work with children not yet in Christ. The parables contain precious truths of highest value to be sown as seeds by giving instruction in the best methods of presenting them. The sower is a lesson to study about varied results of preaching present truth, for some harden their hearts and lose regard for truth, others receive eagerly but fall away when tested for lack of deep-rooted principle, some are offended when truth exposes faults and refuse its sanctifying work, and others let love of the world, riches, cares, and pleasures choke the word until they turn from truth. The sower with the wheat and tares teaches that hearers respond differently and that harmful or unfruitful members should not be removed hastily because doing so can injure those who might yet be strengthened in faith.
The instruction in Matthew 13 is to be read as for life and taken to self, letting no human sophistries or mocking burlesque of sacred things blind the mind. It calls for prayerful self-examination over who shall stand acquitted without spot or stain before Christ's judgment seat, for Christ in His teaching looks to the future destiny of those for whom He gave His life and shows the saved must form characters without fault before a pure and holy God. God has given every man his work, and Christ will cooperate with everyone who will cooperate with Him by wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, teaching followers daily the meaning of the divine beatitudes, since at the great day every man will be judged according to deeds done in this life.
After He had spoken the parable of the sower to the multitude, His disciples came to Him to ask why He taught the people in parables. It is given to the receptive to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the unreceptive it is not given, for whoever has shall be given more and whoever has not shall lose even what he has. He veiled the clearness of truth beneath symbols and familiar scenes when speaking to those whose hearts were misled and determined not to be convinced and who would misuse plain truth, while He spoke plainly to His disciples and awakened inquiry so that anyone who desired further understanding enough to ask could receive instruction. He speaks in parables because seeing they see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand, for their heart is waxed gross and their ears dull and their eyes closed lest they be converted and healed, fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy that hearing they shall hear and not understand and seeing they shall see and not perceive. His disciples' eyes and ears are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets and righteous men desired to see and hear but did not, and fruitful hearing is in proportion to receiving the Word into a good and honest heart with faith.
Setting and Question
After He had spoken to the multitude the parable of the sower and the seed, the disciples came to Jesus. They asked Him why He spoke to the people and taught the crowds in parables. Their question concerned His use of parables in teaching the people. The words He gave in Matthew 13:1-12 were greatly needed by the people who heard them, with some receiving them as good ground and bringing forth fruit, and those same words are greatly needed now, with every person needing to be in a position to understand His precious words.
Purpose of Parables
To the disciples it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to the multitude it is not given, for whoever has shall be given more abundantly and whoever has not shall lose even what he has. Understanding is given to those who receive the light and perceive it, while those who do not receive lose even what they have. The crowds hear and see without understanding because their hearts are hardened and they have closed their eyes and ears to truth. The parables do not blind people; light was given, but it was rejected.
Truth was veiled beneath symbols, figures, and similitudes when spoken to those who would misuse plain statements, while it was spoken plainly to disciples, with presentation differing according to readiness to receive. This veiling guarded truth from Pharisees and Sadducees who would misuse what was plainly said. It also hid great truths under similitudes from persons without the truth or love of it, whose hearts are misled by temper and gratified inclination and who are determined not to be convinced. Yet an honest and pure heart discerns doctrine even when given in parables.
Parable teaching was the only way to reach the people and to rebuke sin without causing personal offense. By clothing lessons in figures, teaching could proceed without provoking the opposition of the Pharisees. It provided a way to speak to those who would not listen to direct truth. The great desire in this was to open blinded eyes to see the uselessness of the many traditional ceremonies making up their religion.
Evil angels in the form of men mingled with the hearers, making suggestions, criticizing, misapplying and misinterpreting the words spoken. The same work continues now, with evil angels in the form of men talking with those who know the truth and misinterpreting and misconstruing the statements of God's messengers. Because of this, hearts are not moved by the proclamation of the gospel, good seed is sown but the soil is unprepared, and suggestions and insinuations cause the words of life to lose force so that no fruit springs up.
Parables were meant to awaken inquiry and thought that would lead to clearer understanding of truth. Anyone who desired further understanding and showed enough interest to ask what the words meant, as the disciples did, could receive instruction. The disciples came to ask for explanations and were instructed, for willingness to teach answers such interest.
Parables communicated spiritual and moral truths through simple language and familiar scenes and things from nature and daily life. This made spiritual teaching easy to grasp and helped hold the attention of hearers. Such teaching held the attention and respect even of priests, rulers, and people of other nations. It gave force to rebuke, awakened inquiry, and helped hearers remember truth. Varied and familiar illustrations were used to reach different people and press important truths home, some applying broadly and others suited to particular experiences and hearers. Some listeners would later discern the hidden meaning, while many would not grasp its deeper spiritual truth.
In presenting truth to the Jews, truth that had become mixed with error was separated from error and placed again within the framework of the gospel. Its original brightness was thus restored so that it could illuminate the world.
Hardened Hearts and Prophecy
Jesus answers in parables because the crowds look without seeing and listen without hearing or grasping, for their heart has grown dull and gross, their ears heavy, and their eyes deliberately shut, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn and be healed. The mysteries of the kingdom are entrusted to those who receive the light, while to the hardened multitude they are not entrusted, since whoever has and uses will be given more and whoever has not and will not receive will lose even what he has. The parables themselves do not blind anyone, for light was freely given and then rejected by closed eyes and ears.
This seeing without perceiving and hearing without understanding is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that by hearing they shall hear and not understand and by seeing they shall see and not perceive. Those who hear and then reject truth stand accountable for turning away its instruction and warnings. Neglect to receive brings loss of even the little once possessed.
The unfruitful hearers are the skeptical, the superficial, and the secular, who cannot discern the moral glory of truth nor its practical, personal claim upon their own hearts, because they lack the faith that overcomes the world, and so the world overcomes them. It is not learned men who make the heart feel, but close connection with God that opens the understanding and makes it quick and sharp. Deceivers blinded by prejudice will neither hear nor understand even the plainest declaration, and by unconquerable obstinacy they grieve His Spirit away, drawing both pity and just displeasure for their injustice and wrongdoing.
The Pharisees show this hardening in full, for their hearts are barren, hopeless, and profitless soil where heavenly seed cannot take root. Self-exaltation, suspicion, condemnation, and a cherished feeling of superiority keep truth from growing, while exalted self claims all their faith, honor, and love. Supposing others always at fault, they speak reproof and condemnation hard as nether millstones that crush all hope and courage out of the soul. They suspect even the purest, make a man an offender for a word, and stir roots of bitterness whereby many are defiled.
Blessing on Receptive Hearers
The eyes and ears of the disciples are blessed because they see and hear what many prophets and righteous men longed to see and hear but did not. To them it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, while to the multitude who see without seeing and hear without hearing or understanding it is not given. Their blessing stands in contrast to hardened hearts, dull ears, and closed eyes that fulfill Isaiah's prophecy of hearing without understanding and seeing without perceiving.
Understanding of the mysteries of God's kingdom is given to those who receive the light and perceive it. Parables do not blind people, for light was given but rejected by those who hardened their hearts and closed eyes and ears against truth. Those who do not receive lose even what they have, and those who hear and reject remain accountable for rejecting its instruction and warnings.
An honest and pure heart discerns doctrine even when it is hidden under similitudes and parables. Fruitful hearing is in proportion to understanding the Word and receiving it into a good and honest heart, and in proportion to faith. It is not learning that makes the heart feel, but close connection with God that opens the understanding and makes it quick and sharp, while the skeptical, the superficial, and the secular cannot discern the moral glory of truth or its practical personal application because they lack the faith that overcomes the world, so the world overcomes them.
Some who heard received the word as good ground and brought forth fruit. His heavenly teaching was precious nourishment to those who desired light and knowledge, and its seed was sown for the disciples to cultivate. Those same words are greatly needed now, and every person needs to be in a position to understand them.
Sower Shows Varied Responses
The parable of the sower lays open the different dispositions of those Christ taught and the tendencies of the human heart, with the same gospel seed from the same sower bringing forth different results according to the condition of the hearer's heart. Some have hardened hearts and lose regard for truth, others receive it eagerly but fall away when tested because they lack deep-rooted principle, some are offended when truth exposes their faults and refuse its sanctifying work, and others let love of the world, riches, cares, and pleasures choke the word until they turn from the truth. His ministry had limited immediate results because people were free to accept or reject Him and were not forced to believe or obey, and merely hearing His teaching did not correct sinful nature but required joining human effort with divine power to overcome sin. Hearers are responsible for resisting God's word, and by God's help their hearts can be changed so the word can take root and grow.
The heart is a garden where good or bad seed is sown and must be prepared like soil for natural seed, the soil broken up by repentance and the evil growths that choke the good grain uprooted, and as land overgrown with thorns can be reclaimed only by diligent labor, so evil tendencies of the heart can be overcome only by earnest effort in the name and strength of Christ, a lesson to be taught practically to children and youth as they prepare soil and sow seed themselves. There is a striking similarity between an uncultivated field and an untrained mind, for the minds of children and youth are soil that must be cultivated with unceasing care and sown with the precious seed of Bible truth, while the enemy sows tares there that will bear evil fruit unless parents keep watchful guard, so children must be taught to reject trashy, exciting tales and turn to sensible reading that throws light upon the Sacred Volume and quickens desire to study it. The seed is heavenly truth and the soil is the heart, and the spoken word as seed can carry truth to many hearts.
Clear and pointed words that cut hearers to the heart may show no effect at once, yet seed of truth sown in minds can lodge, lie dormant, and later spring up and bear fruit to God's glory. After the crucifixion and resurrection the lessons of that day would be revived in many attentive listeners who would repeat them for future generations to the close of time, with some hearers growing into abundant faith and later facing trials for faith as disciples, and some eagerly hearing yet only dimly understanding at first. He knew the hearts receiving His teaching and its fruit could take time to appear, as seen when Nicodemus watched and pondered His works and teachings without publicly acknowledging Him for three years, until seeing Lazarus raised from the dead gave him compelling evidence of His Messiahship.
Sowing Truth Today
The work illustrated by the sower is to sow truth everywhere, even where the soil is poor, and to carry it to neglected people through earnest work, without stopping because immediate results cannot be seen. The divine Teacher sowed seeds of truth with care, anxiety, and self-denial in a life of continued sacrifice for others' good, and following that example requires having the mind of Christ so as not to become weary in well-doing. Sowing means trusting God to quicken the seed to life even when it lies dormant for a time until grace convicts the heart and awakens it to spring up and bear fruit to God's glory, laboring unselfishly, earnestly, and perseveringly as co-workers with Christ and heavenly angels in saving others.
Christian service plants truth whose effects may remain hidden for a time, yet when the work is wrought in God the Spirit works in the heart and waters the seed so that lessons linger even in the most careless memory and often after many days spring up and bear fruit to God's glory. Workers are therefore to do their part and leave results to God. The same gospel seed bears different results according to the condition of the hearer's heart, and sowers are to prepare hearts through personal, Christlike care, for even a hard, beaten-pathway heart may be softened by love revealed in personal ministry so that seed takes root. Believers must be taught the foundations of Christian life so the word is not choked by worldly concerns or hindered by shallow faith, living Christ's life and character, bearing burdens, denying natural inclination, working for Christ, and trusting His care. Working for the lost turns attention from self and weakens attraction to worldly pleasures, while truth breaks up fallow ground and removes thorns at their roots.
Hearts as soil must be cultivated by personal effort beyond public preaching, for preaching in public discourse sows precious seed upon hearts, yet much is lost unless the heart is softened and subdued by God's Spirit. Servants must not only preach from the pulpit but come into personal contact, observe those who seem interested, speak privately after the service where a few words often do more good than the whole discourse, inquire how subjects appear and whether the matter is clear, show by kindness and courtesy real interest and care for souls, appeal for conversion to Christ, and sweep away prejudice. God prepares hearts to receive the message, which brings joy when presented. Truth should be presented in a way people can understand by meeting them where they are, beginning with what hearers can receive, explaining it fully, and advancing gradually rather than confronting prejudiced people with truths they are unprepared to understand. Unfamiliar religious terms should be explained clearly rather than used in ways that confuse or agitate, disputed subjects should not be pressed on those who have not asked, and patient, considerate teaching and quiet influence lessen prejudice and prepare hearts more than open controversy.
Truth must be presented with Christ and His redeeming love so the seed may bear fruit, since argument and evidence alone can miss leading hearers to Christ. Parents are given the work of preparing the soil of their children's hearts, making the Word the standard and training them in cheerful obedience for usefulness and Christian manhood and womanhood, with good seed sown in good soil in early minds taking root and bearing fruit unto eternal life. The living seed is to be sown deeply, including through patient work with children not yet in Christ. The parables contain precious truths of highest value to be sown as seeds by giving instruction in the best methods of presenting them. The sower is a lesson to study about varied results of preaching present truth, for some harden their hearts and lose regard for truth, others receive eagerly but fall away when tested for lack of deep-rooted principle, some are offended when truth exposes faults and refuse its sanctifying work, and others let love of the world, riches, cares, and pleasures choke the word until they turn from truth. The sower with the wheat and tares teaches that hearers respond differently and that harmful or unfruitful members should not be removed hastily because doing so can injure those who might yet be strengthened in faith.
The instruction in Matthew 13 is to be read as for life and taken to self, letting no human sophistries or mocking burlesque of sacred things blind the mind. It calls for prayerful self-examination over who shall stand acquitted without spot or stain before Christ's judgment seat, for Christ in His teaching looks to the future destiny of those for whom He gave His life and shows the saved must form characters without fault before a pure and holy God. God has given every man his work, and Christ will cooperate with everyone who will cooperate with Him by wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness, teaching followers daily the meaning of the divine beatitudes, since at the great day every man will be judged according to deeds done in this life.