Russian synodal translation. Gospel of Matthew

Used fragments of commentaries from the Geneva Bible

13:1-8 And Jesus went out of the house that day and sat down by the sea.
2 And a great crowd gathered unto him, so that he entered into a 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 as he sowed, some fell by the wayside, and birds came and devoured them;
5 Some fell on rocky places where there was little soil, and quickly sprang up, because the soil was shallow.
6 But when the sun rose, it withered away, and, as if it had no root, it withered away; 7 Some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them;
8 Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit: some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
Jesus had to find the sheep of God. How to find them among many people, you ask? According to the reaction to parables (comparison, image, juxtaposition, likeness, parable, saying) - such simple stories with spiritual overtones. Those who are attuned to a spiritual wave and realize that Jesus is not just telling fairy tales, but is looking for his own through allegory, reacted to the parables accordingly: he not only listened, but also asked: “Why are you saying that?”

It’s 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 of “medical”) - he would discover his colleagues with similar interests. Speaking in parables about God's Kingdom helped Jesus find their spiritual “colleagues” and extract sheep of God from the masses.

13:9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
It would seem that everyone has ears and everyone heard the speech of Christ. However, Jesus specifically had in mind the ears of those who wanted to understand Christ, were tuned to the right spiritual wavelength and were 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 word of God - they did not want to hear the picture of Christ, because it did not coincide with their own.

There is a modern parable: an Indian came to New York to visit a friend and, in the middle of a noisy avenue, said: “Can you hear the grasshopper singing?” The friend, understandably, grinned: “What, where is the grasshopper from here?” Then the Indian poured a handful of coins onto the sidewalk, and people instantly turned around at this quiet sound. The Indian said: “You see, whoever is tuned in to what hears it.”

13:10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
Jesus speaks in parables, but at the same time is in no hurry to reveal the meaning of what, in fact, he tells his parables for. Jesus does not force anyone to understand the spiritual meaning of his speech.
I listened to one, turned around and walked away, well, it didn’t interest me, didn’t touch my heart, everything was primitive and understandable. Or, on the contrary, everything is too complicated and too pretentious to originality or does not correspond to its own picture. Understanding the meaning is necessary strain, and when you understand, you’ll have to act, maybe even radically change something in your approach, but you don’t want to.

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

There is something else interesting in this approach of Christ - using 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 ceased to hear as they should hear. Then God asked his prophets to do something unusual, as if to specially cause fire on themselves: to lie on their sides naked for forty days, bake cakes on human feces, shave off the hair of the beard (spoil the edge of the beard), weigh and divide into parts - and that’s all it is PUBLIC to be seen.

Why, you ask? It turned out that it was just to attract the attention of the sleeping people and try to ASCENT in them a DESIRE to work with their brains and BE INTERESTED in what is really going on?:
Ezekiel 37:18,19: And when the children of your people ask you, “Will you explain to us what this is with you?”Then!!!tell them: this and that...
That is why Jesus explained the meaning of the parables only to those who asked.

13:11,12 He answered 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,
So, the allegorical parables of Christ are also from this series: only for the curious, for those interested in the meaning of what was said, who do not ignore the allegory. 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 is hidden in it secret meaning, explaining some facets of the Kingdom of Heaven.

At the time of Christ's coming, everyone had the same source - sacred scriptures Old Testament - and were in approximately equal conditions for perceiving the words of Christ. But some tried to delve into them and acquire knowledge about the Messiah, while others did not, because they did not have much desire for this.

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

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 is fulfilled over them, which says:
Jesus explains why he has to use parables to attract people to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom: parables help reveal spiritual hunger. Here are the reasons why the secrets of the Kingdom remain closed to many to this day:
You will hear with your ears and not understand, and you will look with your eyes and not see,
15 for heart hardened they can hardly hear these people with their ears, and closed their eyes, let them not see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and they don't understand in their hearts and let them not turn so that I may heal them.
Moreover, when the parable sounds and we're talking about 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 hardened heart will quickly close itself off 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 from the outside objectively. (Matt. 21:45.)
So, what categories of people are among those who hear the word of God today?

1) Seeing, but not exactly what needs to be seen. For example, I saw the action, but did not understand the motives; in a large picture, the midge (details) is examined with pleasure, but the elephant (the essence of everything) was lost sight of.
2) Those who heard, but did not understand what they heard. It was foreign to them, because they had to judge it not according to the flesh, not literally, but according to the spirit, delving into the essence and trying to grasp the meaning intended by the author.
3) Those who have not accepted the truth God's mind and with their hearts, having understood the Scriptures, because the evil one worked with the “soil” of their hearts and made them stone, unable to accept the seeds of the truth of God.

13:16,17 Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear,
17 For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men 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 a messenger of heaven and understand that the secret of meaning is hidden in the allegory Kingdom of Heaven, which the prophets who predicted the events of the coming of Christ and the explanation of the message about the Kingdom would like to know about.

13:18-23 Listen to the meaning of the parable of the sower:
19 To everyone who hears the word about 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 But what is sown on rocky places is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21 But it has no root in itself and is fickle: when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, it is immediately offended.
22 And what was sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
23 But what is sown on good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, and who bears fruit, so that some bear fruit a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
The meaning of Christ’s explanation of the reasons for the rejection of the word of God due to the different state of the “soil” of hearts comes down to the fact that only by the presence of fruit is it 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 you understand, then there is an opportunity to react somehow. For someone who does not understand what a doctor is saying, for example, about the danger of hepatitis infection, it would not even occur to him to respond by washing his hands or stopping communication with an infected patient. And the one who understands will show the “fruit” by reacting to the doctor’s word: 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, there can actually be only two types of “soil” in human hearts: either it bears fruit or not, or there is something good in a person or not.
See more details.Luke 8:11-16

13:24-30 Parable of the Wheat and 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 proposed another parable to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed on your field;
25 And while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away;
The likeness of God's Kingdom is shown here on the estate of the owner, whose slaves are busy sowing grain of wheat in his field.
When people were sleeping- stopped being spiritually awake.
We will consider all meanings in more detail below (from 37 text).

26 When the greenery came up and the fruit appeared, then they appearedAND tares.
27 Having come, the servants of the householder said to him: Master! did you not sow good seed in your field? where does the tares come from?
The sowing of the tares occurred together with the sowing of the wheat, so the greenery of the wheat and the tares appeared almost simultaneously.Let us pay attention to the fact that the tares were CLEARLY VISIBLE to the Master’s slaves, otherwise they could not understand that the Master’s field was spoiled by weeds. This means that the Master’s good fruit (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 slaves said to him: Do you want us to go and choose them?
29 But he said, “No,” so that, choosing the tares,Youthey did not pull up any wheat with them,
Some Christians advocate the idea visible Church Christ on this text, believing that the Master forbade his slaves to weed the field because they did not distinguish where the sprouts were tares and where the wheat. That is, since it is impossible for a person to distinguish between the sons of the Kingdom and God’s servants on this earth, it means that God’s visible Church does not and cannot exist, and there is no point in looking for it. But is this true?
We have just noticed that the weeds in the Master’s field were CLEARLY VISIBLE to the slaves, otherwise they, not suspecting that weeds were also sown, would have mistaken all the greenery of the field for the good fruit of wheat.

30 Leave both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, and put away the wheat into my barn.
The owner decided to leave both wheat and weed in his field: the small sprouts of the weed, although visible, are difficult to pull out, so as not to damage the roots of the wheat sprouts. Therefore, the Owner decides to wait until all the wheat has grown, strengthened with roots and started to spike, so that he can safely pull out all the barren weeds and collect only the grain into the granary.

13:31,32 He proposed 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, although smaller than all seeds, yet when it grows, is greater than all herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and take refuge 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, find protection under the shadow of its “branches” (assemblies) .

Indeed, at the time of Christ’s coming, the fruit of his Father’s Kingdom 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 worldwide Christian brotherhood, and then of the world order of God, where all the righteous will find refuge and peace.

The tree on whose branches birds build nests is reminiscent of Ezek. 17:23 and 32:6, where the birds are the 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 abundant. (Geneva)

13:33 He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour 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 throughout 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 dough occurs according to the Creator’s plan, man cannot influence either the speed of growth of the “mustard tree”, or the speed of the spread of the word of God across the earth, or the speed of change in the hearts of people “leavened” by the word of God .

And how the good news of the Kingdom of God spreads or 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 rate God intended (God grows, 1 Cor. 3:7)
Thanks to the understanding that he who sows is nothing and he who waters is nothing, but everything - God who gives rise, all who preach the gospel for the benefit of the work of the Kingdom of God - will learn to think of themselves modestly, 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 Jesus spoke all these things to the people in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them,
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the creation of the world.
And again - about the hidden meaning of parables for the majority and their frankness for those who have ears to hear. This will stir up the interest of the disciples for further questioning about the meaning of what Christ just said.

13:36 Then Jesus dismissed the crowd and entered 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 had dispersed and they came to the house, that is, they were left alone. I thought: they didn’t interrupt him in public, they simply listened and took into account everything he said in their hearts, giving him the opportunity to speak out to the end. And after all, they remembered what exactly - they decided to ask later. It turns out that they really wanted to understand WHAT Christ meant when he spoke in parables.

And one more thought: it turns out that NO ONE from the rest of the people was interested in what the Teacher’s “fairy tales” meant.

13:37- 43 The meaning of the parable of the tares and wheat: This parable is about the state of affairs in the world of this century. 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 sowed 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 Christendom, as some people think).

good seed, these are the sons of the Kingdom - Jesus sows good seeds - those of his disciples who accepted his word, took root, turned green and subsequently “spread” - matured(sowing the word of God - of course, but since Jesus called the SONS of the Kingdom good seeds - the stage of sowing good seeds begins with the sowing of those who responded to the word of God, took root of faith, grew and matured into sons of Jehovah, similar to Christ.
In other words, the sowing begins with the disciples, who are subsequently anointed and chosen as 144,000 co-rulers ( Rev. 14:1,4,5; 20:4,6).
WITH the word of God is the guarantor of the germination and growth of the “wheat” class on earth. Before the parable of the tares and wheat, it was no coincidence that Jesus told a 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 into good soil: the word of God either sprouts in the heart and a person becomes “wheat”, or it does not sprout. Having learned the previous parable about different soils, the disciples now had the opportunity to understand how the sower Jesus Christ was able to sow the grain of God's word on earth and wait for the wheat to sprout in the form of the sons of the Kingdom. Therefore, those who received the spiritual word of Christ and bore the fruit of the SONS of the Kingdom are called sons of the Kingdom already in this century(for not everyone in this century will be recognized as the SONS of God; some will only be called sons at the end of 1000 years - Rev. 21:4,7).
Jesus Christ sowed a seed on the field of the world in the form of a teaching about God and His Kingdom, and it sprouted very well in the form of his first disciples, who themselves became its bearers.

Not all the sprouts of Christ’s disciples 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 grew their heads during their lives in this century, because some fell away and withered back in the 1st century. Good seeds grew and turned into ripe wheat (Paul, for example, knew that he would receive the reward of being a co-ruler with Christ/crown, 2 Tim. 4:8). Sowing occurs throughout the action of N.Z. in this age (the 2 prophets from Rev. 11:3-6 are the last of the 144,000 ripe and high-quality “wheat”), all the anointed ones must strengthen the roots of faith and ripen into an “ear” of wheat - each at their own stage of life. Whoever matures will be elected to the 144,000.

Returning to 29 text, we answer: how can one hinder the sons of the Kingdom if the weed were pulled out immediately by God’s servants (angels)?
The sons of the Kingdom can harden and strengthen their “roots” only if there is 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. Jesus said figuratively about this that by pulling out the weeds, the sprouts of wheat 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 the absence of testing).

And one more thing: to whom will the Church of God or the sons of the Kingdom be visible? To the 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 a weed. For everyone else, it makes sense to check the words of all spiritual teachers against the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). And the state of affairs in the world of believers will be such that many will choose teachers who “tickle” 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 perceive not the word of God, but the word of the devil, for he too was the main sower of weeds in God’s field at the dawn of mankind: after all, it was he who misled Eve with the false “truth” from God (Gen. 3:1-5), as a result, she became his daughter, and Adam his son. Since the coming of Christ, all his children have been sowing grains of weed on the earth, spreading words of false truth, from them grow false Christians, sons of the evil one, hindering 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 by nature atheists and believers, for example, namely about people of different spirituality, about the anointed of God and the devil).

However, figuratively, anyone who can prevent one from approaching God can be considered the sons of the devil. Those who lead an unrighteous lifestyle in the world, thrive in evil, thereby tempting everyone who wants to achieve prosperity in any way; False teachers can lead those seeking God down the wrong path, and family members or work colleagues, for example, can prevent them from making a decision to serve God. Both will turn out to be tares if they choke out the “sprouts of wheat” in the believer.

Let's remember the moment here:
13:25 “While the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat.”
The enemy is the devil. It sows enemies of God initially, but since the coming of Christ it has also become more sophisticated in sowing false Christianity (the tares are false Christianity in the New Testament + the rest are fighters with the future co-rulers of Christ - the anointed firstborns)

People were sleeping: one might conclude that the period of sleep begins with the death of the apostles. But there is a “BUT” here, we’ll show you.
Sleep is lack of vigilance over the word of God and His Christ, as well as over maintaining oneself in righteousness from the moment of accepting Christ until death(in the N.Z. period) And this dream began during the lifetime of the apostles (false apostles appeared). The following text talks about this:

13:26 When the greenery sprang up and the fruit appeared, then the tares also appeared. -
The fruit appeared- when after Pentecost the apostles became stronger in trials and the fruit of their “ear” (maturity) became visible - the fruit of the activity of the mature anointed ones of the 1st century - then appeared 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(they were) revealed tares).

Therefore, the period of PEOPLE SLEEPING is not after the death of the apostles, but in the absence of wakefulness in the meetings, when they relax and move away from what was conveyed 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 perform miracles. And the devil sowed “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 strength 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 are in the maturity of their strength to oppose the apostles of Christ.

13:30 "Let them grow together until the harvest" Both Jehovah's anointed and the devil's "anointed" are present in the world until the end of this century. 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 us 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 (see 13:28).

the harvest is the end of the age (Satan's reign)
The harvest of the end of the age is a period of summing up the long period of gathering the 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 what is suitable for God and what is not suitable. The result of this sorting will be the end of this century and the destruction of all worthless fruit. It is illustrated figuratively using the example of agricultural harvesting:

God's reapers gather good grain into God's granary and prepare bundles of weeds for destruction.
As we remember, the beginning of the harvest started at Pentecost, and by the end of this century the first harvest of ripened “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 analysis of Rev. 14). The rest, who have not ripened into ripe fruit, will be given a chance to “ripen” (achieve spiritual perfection) - in the millennium of Christ (Heb. 11:40).

Since the devil will “work” on people once again - after a thousand years (Rev. 20:7-10) - there will be a need to carry out another, final “harvest” to collect a later “spiritual harvest” that has ripened in 1000 years. The second harvest will occur after 1000 years, as a result on earth for eternity good spiritual fruit will remain (people who have 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 take part in the harvest and not people? Because such a delicate task as sorting the harvest cannot be entrusted to a sinful person. Imperfection makes him unable to carry out the spiritual work of separating the sons of the Kingdom from the sons of the evil one, for he does not see the hearts.

40 Therefore, just as the tares are gathered up 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 them from His kingdom all temptations and workers of iniquity,
42 and they will be cast into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;
Since before the thousand-year 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.
Echoes from 13:30:
13:30 ..at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather up the tares first and bind them in bundles to burn them, and put the wheat into my barn. “First gather the weeds... and then go and gather the wheat.”
Slaves/reapers are angels.
At first weed collection: false Christians and everyone who persecuted the sons of the Kingdom are figuratively “separated” from heaven from the anointed Christians - they determine who is who. First, the angels find the weeds so they know who to burn at Armageddon.

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

will be gathered from His kingdom (from the "country" of the thousand-year reign) all temptations and workers of iniquity...
What does the word "temptation" mean? How will they be thrown into the furnace (removed from God's world forever)?
Temptations, first of all, include false teachings about God and the meaning of life, leading away from God and orienting towards an unrighteous path of life.
What else?
As we remember, the fallen angels were tempted to beautiful girls before the flood, and Eve - for the fruit of 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 within themselves. Temptation is also wrong attitude to what intelligent creatures face in God’s universe. For example, envy, the desire to possess what belongs to others, etc.

However, in this century there are provocateurs of a wrong attitude towards something, for example, bad communities can provoke temptation or form our wrong attitude towards something, as the provocateurs point out (for example, the serpent helped Eve to have a wrong attitude towards the fruit from the tree of knowledge) .
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 buy correct and equal knowledge about God, His intention and meaning of life;
2) all inhabitants of the new world will be taught treat correctly to everything that exists in God’s universe.
3) won't be there provocateurs of temptations: everyone will have good conditions, and bad communities, if they arise and provoke someone to temptation, will be immediately punished (they will die the second death (Is. 65:20)

43 then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who 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 in 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 about instant judgment in the world for the sons of the evil one for the sake of identifying 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, the sons of the devil will “work” on the spirituality of humanity. Every “weed” and every sprout of “wheat” is taken into account with God. Which of them will live to see the harvest - before the end of the age - will be "worked on" by the angels, to whom Christ will show how to "reap" the world and who - where to assign. 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.
This parable partially echoes the parable of the net (Matt. 13:47-50)

13:44-46 Parables of the Treasure and the Pearl
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 everything he has and buys that field.
45 Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking good pearls,
46 who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The parable is about the power of desire to possess only what, in the eyes of the finder, is a treasure. The same applies to the desire to buy a pearl.
Let’s imagine that there was one who spent his ENTIRE fortune on just one pearl: it was so valuable in his eyes. Well, yes, beautiful pearl, many might think. It's tempting to have it. But someone is ready to give 100 dollars for it (for example). Someone - 1000. And this one is ready to pay the price of his entire property for just one pearl. And he is ready to remain completely empty for the sake of possessing her. Well, isn’t he a fool by the standards of the earth: without shelter and means of subsistence - for the sake of a pearl in the palms of his hands? 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 completely “empty themselves” for the sake of the desire to achieve the Kingdom of God, just as the merchant emptied himself for the sake of the desire to possess the pearl?
Who has the same desire to enter the Kingdom of God and devotes all his “real estate” (life) to this, sacrificing personal life, position in society, comfort of life, material well-being, etc., such as the Apostle Paul - he actually considers the Kingdom to be his only true treasure and the only thing in life that makes sense to acquire in this century.

13:47-50 Parable of the Net shows the state of things in the assembly of the people of the Most High as a whole, existing against the backdrop of the “sea” of the unbelievers of this age.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and caught fish of all kinds,
48 which, when it was full, they pulled ashore and sat down, collecting the good in vessels, and throwing out the bad.
49 So it will be at the end of the age: angels will come out and separate evil ones from among righteous,
50 And they will throw them into the fiery furnace: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Fishermen (disciples of Christ) catch fish (people) with a net (the word of God) throughout the entire fishing period of human existence on earth since the coming of Christ. When they are told from above “enough is enough”, they will drag everyone who is caught by the news of the Kingdom to the “shore” for sorting by the angels (all those caught by the news of the Kingdom will be evaluated).
And when tested, it turns out that among those who accepted the word of God (caught fish), some, from God’s point of view, will turn out to be unsuitable for his Kingdom.

So from Wednesday true Church servants of the Most High ( from among the righteous, since the rest of the world and false religions true God do not serve and cannot be among the righteous) - those Christians who only disguised themselves as God’s servant, without being one in reality, will be taken away. All false servants of God face the same fate as the “fish” from the “sea” of outer darkness who were not “caught” by the net of Christ for the Kingdom of God (death at Armageddon).

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

The same thing is shown in Rev. 14:
Rev.14:1 - 144,000 gathered in heaven; Rev. 14:13 - they are completing the gathering of those who will be resurrected in the Millennium. And in the winepress of God’s wrath (in Armageddon) the bad grapes will be trampled, 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 others who died up to this moment and died before Armageddon will be able to come to life in the millennium of Christ, if it is God’s will for each of them. And in the millennium of Christ they will manifest themselves in the final “harvest”: this “harvest” (the harvest 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 final 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 is taught in the kingdom of heaven is like a master who brings out of his treasury new and old things.
Jesus asks the disciples: did you understand the meaning of the parable? They answer: yes. He needed to make sure how well the disciples could accommodate his spiritual allegories, for they had to teach themselves (take them out of their treasury). Then he talks about the scribe who takes out both new and old from the treasury, because BOTH ARE VALUABLE.

In other words, much of the “OLD” (from the Law of Moses), which the disciples were taught in Judea, did not have to be rejected, but the “NEW” (Christ’s) also had to be UNDERSTANDED and ACCEPTED before bringing into the world the spiritual treasure received from Christ, for it did not reject the unshakable truths of the Old Testament (for example, the requirements: do not kill, do not steal, do not put a stumbling block in front of the blind, etc.), but only deepened their understanding.

13:53-58 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there.
54 And when he came to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said, “Where did he get such wisdom and power?”
55 Is not this the son of carpenters? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers Jacob and Joses and Simon and Judas?
56 And are not His sisters all among us? Where did He get all this from?
57 And they were offended because of Him. 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 perform 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 much 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 their attitude is wrong and that a simple carpenter’s son is actually the son of God.

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

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

Matt. 13:1-9(Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-8). As Jesus continued his ministry to the people, he did something he had never done before. For the first time in the Gospel of Matthew we read that He spoke in parables. In Greek, “parable” has two words that can be translated as “walking side by side.” Like an example, a parable makes it possible to compare a known truth with an unknown one, that is, it seems to put them “side by side.”

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

Matt. 13:10-17(Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:9-10). The disciples immediately noticed a change in Jesus' method, and therefore 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 the ability to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the New Testament, "mystery" refers to truths that have not been revealed in Old Testament, but now, that is, in New Testament times, they 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 speak only of the “Kingdom of God” and never of the “Kingdom of Heaven”? Some theologians explain this by saying that when they said “heaven,” the Jews meant God, but avoided saying the word “God” itself (out of a sense of reverence for the Creator). (Matthew, let us recall, focused his Scripture on the Jews.) And yet, at least occasionally, the “Kingdom of God” is also found in Matthew (12:28; 19:24; 21:31,43), and the word He uses “God” about 50 times.

One way or another, the use of these various “terms” is apparently not accidental for him, for when he writes about the “Kingdom of God”, he means only the saved; The concept of the “Kingdom of Heaven” is used by him when, along with the saved, he also means people who call themselves Christians, but in fact are not. This can be seen from the parable of the wheat and the tares (commentary on 13:24-30,36-43), from the parable of the mustard seed (commentary on verses 31-35) and from the parable of the net (commentary on 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 predetermined by the leaders of the people when they attributed Him Divine power Satan (9:34; 12:22-37). After this, Jesus began to reveal some additional things that were not revealed in the Old Testament - regarding His reign on earth. Many Old Testament prophets predicted that the Messiah would liberate 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 supposed to happen to the Kingdom of God? From the “secrets of the Kingdom” revealed by Christ, it followed that between the rejection of the King and His subsequent acceptance Israel will take place vague for a long time, a whole century.

The second reason why Jesus began to speak in parables was His desire to hide the meaning of what He was revealing from unbelievers. The “mysteries” of the Kingdom of God were intended 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 thus “taken away” from them (verse 12), while the knowledge of the disciples was “increased” (verse 12). That is, Jesus’ teaching in parables seemed to contain an element of punishment. Jesus spoke to a large crowd of people, but what the disciples did not fully understand, he could explain to them in private.

From the editor: 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 within itself were not accessible to people in their mass. But embodied in images familiar to them, they still became “closer” to them: their eyes opened, their ears opened and their minds became “interested”; Thus, an incentive arose to understand further truths, which in the parables were presented in symbols and images. In essence, to those who “seeing do not see, and hearing do not hear,” it is generally useless to speak. But Jesus spoke to them too - in parables. He could have meant the following: if they don’t want to understand, then they won’t understand in any form, but if they have the slightest desire to understand, they will perhaps understand the parable with its familiar images sooner, and if they want to understand more deeply, perhaps they will learn discern the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven under the cover of parables.

Thirdly, when the Lord spoke in parables, the prophecy of Isaiah came true over the people (Isaiah 6:9-10). When entering his ministry, God told this Old Testament prophet that people would not understand his words. The same thing happened to Jesus. He preached the word of God, and many heard 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 men 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, who were 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 four reactions to the preaching of the Kingdom. The message about him was the word that John the Baptist, Jesus and subsequently the apostles preached.

So, the evil one comes to a person who listens to a sermon but does not understand it (Matt. 13:38-39; 1 John 5:19) and snatches away the word sown in him. This means what was sown along the way. The next two results correspond to those sown on stony ground and having no root, as well as those sown among thorns (a symbol of the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth): “thorns” choke the word. In both cases we are talking about people who at first listen to the sermon with interest, but in whom it does not find a deep response.

What was sown on a “rocky place” corresponds to a person who listens to the word of God and receives it with joy, but then is tempted (Matthew 13:57; 15:12), that is, falls away if tribulation and persecution come upon him because of the word. And only what is sown on good soil brings a bountiful harvest - a hundred times... sixty times or thirty times. In other words, what is sown in the heart of a believer bears multiple spiritual fruit. He who believes the words of Christ (hearing... and understanding) is fruitful. He is “fruitful” in the sense that he will “absorb” God’s truth more and more and understand it more and more.

The differences are thus not due to the “seed” but to the “condition of the soil” on which the seed fell. Since the Good News of the Kingdom has been preached, this message has remained constant. However, the people who listen to it are different. The Lord, of course, did not mean that only 25% of those who listen to the word of God will accept it by faith. He wanted to say that the word would not find the proper response from most of those listening.

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

2. PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE TARE (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 sowed wheat, his enemy came at 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 up the tares earlier, the wheat might inadvertently be pulled up along with them (verses 28-29). During the harvest, the tares will be the first to be gathered and thrown into the fire. And then the wheat will be gathered into the granary.

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

Matt. 13:36-43. When Christ, having dismissed the people, entered the house, and His disciples with Him, they asked to explain to them the parable of the wheat and the tares. And this is what the Lord, who sowed the good seed, told them. This moment is fundamentally important for understanding all parables, since it indicates 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 on the “good ground” of the first parable—the one that produces a bountiful harvest. The tares are the sons of the evil one (compare verse 19), who were “sown” among the wheat by the enemy of human souls, that is, 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 angels (verse 49). This revelation indicates the end of the time period represented 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 until His return to judge the world.

At the second coming of Christ, the Angels will gather all the wicked and throw 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 in precisely these 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 imply “judgment” of sinners before the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom. “Crying” speaks of soul-tearing sadness, i.e. emotional state those who will go to hell, and the “gnashing of teeth” is about 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).

During the designated period of time, between the rejection of Jesus and His future return, 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 greater than the "Church Age", although it includes it. After all, the beginning of the Church was laid on the day of Pentecost, and its “age” will end with its rapture - at least seven years before the end of the specified period of time (interpretation of the book of Revelation). This entire period is associated with a “mystery” revealed by Christ in parables.

Its meaning is that the confession of faith during this period will be accompanied by distortion and rejection of it, and one cannot be separated from the other until the day of judgment. The “Period of Mystery” will not be a period of victory of the Gospel on a global scale, as the post-millennialists (interpretation of the book of Revelation) hoped for it, and Christ will not come to earth until its end. This 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; LUK 13:18-19)

Matt. 13:31-32. In the following parable, Christ compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed. It is one of the smallest known seeds. 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 as 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 birds of the air build nests in its branches.

Jesus did not give a direct interpretation of this parable. However, its meaning may be that the Christian movement, starting small, grows quickly. The “birds” may perhaps be understood as non-believers who, for one reason or another or for one purpose or another, strive 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. PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN (13:33-35) (MARK 4:33-34; LUK 13:20)

Matt. 13:33-35. In this fourth parable, Christ compared the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven placed in large number flour until everything is 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 Cor. 5:7-8; Gal. However, if here too she were a symbol of it, would not the idea of ​​evil be overly emphasized in the 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 active action sourdough

Its property is such that the fermentation process caused by it cannot be stopped. Thus, Jesus could mean that the number of those striving to enter His Kingdom will constantly grow, and no one and nothing will stop this process. It is this interpretation, and not any other, that seems to be in the general “stream” of the 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.).

What Matthew added (13:34-35) corresponds to what the Savior Himself said earlier (verses 11-12). He spoke in parables to fulfill the Scriptures (Ps. 77:2) and at the same time revealed to his disciples truths that had not previously been revealed.

Matt. 13:36-43. Commentary 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 treasure hidden in a field. The man who learned about this treasure bought a field to take possession of the treasure. Since Jesus did not explain this parable, several interpretations are offered for it. Based on the general meaning of chapter 13, it can be assumed that this parable is about Israel, the “hidden treasure” of God (Ex. 19:5; Ps. 135:4). One of the reasons why Christ came to earth was to redeem Israel, and therefore one can think that it was He who sold all that he had (i.e., gave up the glory of heaven; John 17:5 ; 2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:5-8) to acquire this treasure.

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

Matt. 13:45-46. The Lord did not explain this parable; it seems that in meaning it is connected with the previous one. The pearl of great price perhaps represents the Church - the bride of Christ. It is known how unusually 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, this can be compared with the formation of the Church “from the wounds of Christ,” which would not have arisen if not for His death on the cross.”

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

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

Matt. 13:47-50. In the seventh parable told by Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a net thrown into the sea, into which many fish were caught. The fishermen, having pulled the net ashore, collected the good things into vessels, and threw the bad ones out. Jesus directly compares this to what will happen at the end of the age, when the angels... will separate the wicked from among 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 are unlikely to fully understand the meaning of these parables. This is evidenced by their subsequent questions and actions. However, Jesus, as if summing up the parables, speaks of Himself as a scribe, knower of secrets the Kingdom of Heaven, and as the owner of the house, taking out both new and old from his storerooms. (The word “everyone” before “scribe” apparently suggests that Jesus likened the disciples - potentially for the future - to a “master” who, if necessary, will be able to use both “new” and “old” from his “treasury” ". From the editor.) The fact is that in these seven parables the Lord set forth, along with 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 the kingdom of the Messiah would be characterized by righteousness, but that there would also be evil - they did not know this. Jesus indicated (and this was new to His listeners) that in the period between His rejection and His second coming, there would be both righteous and wicked people among His “disciples.” The beginning of the process as a whole will be unnoticeable, but, gaining strength, it will lead to the emergence of a great “kingdom” of followers of Christ.

Once started, this process cannot be stopped by anything (the Parable of the Leaven), and “within the framework” of 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 bring 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.

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

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

Matt. 13:53-58. Having finished His instructions in 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 of the synagogue their. During His previous visit, the people of Nazareth rejected His teaching, and they wanted to throw Him Himself off a 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 the Carpenter's son (Matt. 13:55). While discussing Him among themselves, they mentioned Him...

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

And the idea that such an “ordinary” person was the promised Messiah did not fit into their consciousness. 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 became a well-known saying: A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country.

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

And Jesus went out of the house that day and sat down by the sea.And a great multitude gathered unto Him, so that He entered into a boat, and sat down; and all the people stood on the shore.And he taught them many parables, saying:

Behold, a sower went out to sow;and as he sowed, some fell by the road, and birds came and devoured them;some fell on rocky places where there was little soil, and soon sprang up because the soil was shallow.When the sun rose, it withered and, as if it had no root, withered away;some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked it;some fell on good soil and bore fruit: one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

He answered them: because it is given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them,for whoever has, more will be given to him and he will have an increase, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him;Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, and they do not understand;and the prophecy of Isaiah comes true over them, which says: “You will hear with your ears and not understand, and you will look with your eyes and not see,For the heart of this people is hardened, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and lest they be converted, so that I may heal them.”

Blessed are your eyes that see, and your ears that hear,For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear.

Just listen meaning parables of the sower:To everyone who hears the word about the Kingdom and does not understand, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart - this is who is meant by what was sown along the way.And what is sown on rocky places means one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;but it has no root in itself and is fickle: when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, it is immediately tempted.And what was sown among thorns means one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.What is sown on good soil means one who hears the word and understands it, and who bears fruit, so that some bear fruit a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

He told them another parable, saying: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;while the people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away;When the greenery sprang up and the fruit appeared, then the tares also appeared.Having arrived, the servants of the householder said to him: “Master! did you not sow good seed in your field? where does the tares come from?”He told them: “The enemy man has done this.” And the slaves said to him: “Do you want us to go and choose them?”But he said: “No, so that when you choose the tares, you do not pull up the wheat along with them,leave both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, and put the wheat into my barn.”

He proposed another parable to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,which, although smaller than all seeds, when it grows, is larger than all grains and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air fly and take refuge in its branches.

He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened.

Jesus spoke all these things to the people in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them,that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the creation of the world.”

Then Jesus dismissed the crowd and entered the house. And coming to Him, His disciples said: Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.

He answered them: he who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;the field is the world; the good seed are the sons of the Kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one;the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.Therefore, just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of this age:The Son of Man will send His angels, and from His kingdom they will gather all temptations and workers of iniquity,and they will be cast into the fiery furnace; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth;then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

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 everything he has and buys that field.

Again: The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for good pearls,who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Again: The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of all kinds,which, when it was full, they pulled ashore and, sitting down, collected the good things into vessels, and threw the bad things out.So it will be at the end of the age: the angels will come out and separate the wicked from among the righteous,and they will be thrown into the fiery furnace: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And Jesus asked them: did you understand all this?

They say to Him: Yes, Lord!

He told them: Therefore, every scribe who has been taught the Kingdom of Heaven is like a master who brings out new and old things from his treasury.

And when Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.And having come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said: Where did He get such wisdom and power?Isn't He the son of carpenters? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers Jacob and Joses and Simon and Judas?And are not His sisters all among us? where did He get all this from?And they were offended because of Him.

Jesus said to them: A prophet is never without honor, except in his own country and in his own house.And he did not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief.

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

Parable of the Sower
(Matt. 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 precise sense means a short saying expressing the rule of life (such as, for example, "Proverbs of Solomon"); “paravols” is a whole story that has a hidden meaning and, in images taken from the everyday life of people, expresses the highest spiritual truths. Gospel parable Actually there are “paravoles”. The parables set out in the 13th chapter of Ev. from Matthew Fei and in parallel places by two other weather forecasters Mark and Luke, were pronounced at a gathering of such a large people that the Lord Jesus Christ, wanting to get away from the crowd that was pressing Him, entered the boat and from the boat spoke to the people standing on the shore of Gennesaret lakes (sea).
As St. explains Chrysostom, “The Lord spoke in parables in order to make His word more expressive, to imprint it more deeply in the memory and to 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 meant 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 some places overgrown with prickly bushes - thorns, in others rocky, covered only with a thin layer of earth. Sowing is a beautiful image of preaching the Word of God, which, falling on the heart, depending on its condition, it remains sterile or bears more or less fruit.
To the disciples’ question: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” The Lord answered: “It has been given to you to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to you to eat.” The disciples of the Lord, as future heralds of the Gospel, through a special grace-filled enlightenment of their minds, were given knowledge of Divine truths, although not in full perfection until the descent of the Holy Spirit, and everyone else was 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 (6:9-10). If you show such morally corrupt, spiritually coarsened people the truth as it is, without covering it with any veils, then even when they see, they will not see it, and when they hear, they will not hear it. Only clothed in an influent cover, connected with ideas about well-known objects, does truth become accessible to perception and understanding: non-violently, by itself, the coarsened thought ascended from the visible to the invisible, from outside to a higher spiritual meaning.
“Whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away” - a saying repeated many times by the Lord in different places Gospels (Matt. 25:29; Luke 19:26). Its meaning is that the rich, with diligence, get richer and richer, and the poor, with laziness, lose everything. In a spiritual sense, this means: you, Apostles, with the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God already given 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 had, if, at the revelation of these mysteries, they had not been given to help them with a speech that was more suitable for them. St. Chrysostom explains it this way: “Whoever himself desires and tries to acquire the gifts of grace, to him God will grant everything; but whoever does not have this desire and effort will not benefit from what he thinks he has.”
Whoever's mind is so darkened and his heart has become coarse in sin that he does not understand the Word of God, for him it lies, so to speak, on the surface of his mind and heart, without taking root inside, like a seed on the Road, open to all who pass by, and the evil one - Satan or a demon - easily abducts him and makes hearing fruitless; rocky ground is represented by those people who are carried away by the preaching of the Gospel as good news, sometimes even sincerely and sincerely, find pleasure in listening to it, but their hearts are cold, motionless, hard as stone: they are not able, for the sake of the demands of the Gospel teaching, to change their usual way of life, to lag behind their favorite 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; By thorny ground we mean the hearts of people entangled in passions - addictions to wealth, to pleasures, and in general to the blessings of this world; “The good earth” means people with good, pure hearts, who, having heard the Word of God, firmly decided to make it the guide of their entire lives and to create the fruits of virtue.” “The types of virtues are different, different and successful in spiritual wisdom” (Blessed Theophylact).

Parable of the Tares
(Matt. 13:24-30 and 13:36-43)

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

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

In the East, the mustard plant reaches enormous sizes, although its grain is extremely small, so that the Jews of that time also 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 inglorious, the power hidden in it overcomes all obstacles and transforms it into a great and universal kingdom. “I speak as 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 most humiliated of all, however, since the hidden power in them was great, it (the sermon) spread to the entire universe.” The Church of Christ, small in the beginning, unnoticeable to the world, has spread on earth so that many peoples, like birds of the air in the branches of a mustard tree, take refuge under its shadow. 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 the receptacle of various virtues.

Parable of the Leaven
(Matt. 13:33-35; Mark 4:33-34; Luke 13:20-21)

The parable of the leaven has exactly the same meaning. “Like leaven,” says St. Chrysostom: "above a large number flour is produced by the fact that the flour acquires the power of leaven, so you (the Apostles) will transform the whole world." Likewise, in the soul of each individual member of the Kingdom of Christ: the power of grace invisibly, but actually, gradually embraces all the powers of his spirit and transforms them, sanctifying By three measures, some understand the three powers of the soul: mind, feeling and will.

The Parable of the Treasure Hidden in a Field
(Matt. 13:44)

A man learned about a treasure that was located in a field that did not belong to him. To use it, he covers the treasure with earth, sells everything he has, buys this field and then comes into possession of this treasure. For the wise, the Kingdom of God, understood in the sense of inner sanctification and spiritual gifts, represents a similar treasure. Having hidden this treasure, the follower of Christ sacrifices everything and renounces everything in order to possess it.

Parable of the Pearl of Great Price
(Matt. 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 possess.

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

This parable has the same meaning as the parable of the wheat and tares. The sea is the world, the net is the teaching of faith, the fishermen are the Apostles and their successors. This net collected from every kind - barbarians, Greeks, Jews, fornicators, tax collectors, robbers. By the image of the shore and sorting out the fish we mean the end of the age and the Last Judgment, when the righteous will be separated from sinners, as good fish in the net he is separated from the thin one. We must pay attention to the fact that Christ the Savior often takes advantage of opportunities 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 Lord's parables, one must always keep in mind that when teaching in parables, the Lord always took examples not fictitious, but from everyday life His listeners, and did so, 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 we must 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 the teaching of Christ.
It is important to note that in His sermons and parables the Lord Jesus Christ very accurately 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 open for them in the future life, after the last Last Judgment. He calls the Kingdom of God the kingdom He founded on earth 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, quietly moves into the souls of people and prepares them on earth to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven that will open at the end of the age. The above parables are devoted to the disclosure of these concepts.
In that 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, as a prophet, he served as a prototype of the Messiah, which is also evident from the fact that the following words: “I will speak hidden things from the foundation of the world” befit only the Omniscient Messiah, and not a mortal man: hidden secrets The kingdom of God is known, of course, only to the hypostatic Wisdom of God.
When the disciples asked whether 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 who have been taught 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 the preaching ahead of them, like a thrifty owner taking out old and new from his treasury, to use, as needed, that or others. Likewise, all the successors of the Apostles in the work of their preaching must use both the Old and New Testaments, for the truths of both are revealed by God.

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

Then Jesus came again “to His own country,” i.e. to Nazareth, as the fatherland of His Mother and His imaginary father Joseph, and as the place where He was raised. There He taught His countrymen in their synagogue, “so that they were amazed, and said: “Where does He get such wisdom and power?” This was not the surprise that was surprised in other places, but surprise combined with contempt: “not carpenters.” Is He the son?" etc. The Nazarenes either did not know or did not believe the miraculous incarnation and birth of Jesus Christ, considering Him simply the son of Joseph and Mary. But this cannot be considered excusable, for in former times there were many cases when humble parents gave birth to children who later became glorious and famous. Such were David, Amos, Moses, etc. They should rather have revered Christ for this very reason. ordinary parents, revealed such wisdom that clearly showed that it was not from human learning, but from Divine grace. This was, of course, from the usual envy characteristic of people, which is always crafty. People often look with envy and hatred at those who, having emerged from their midst, discover extraordinary talents and become superior to them. Perhaps His comrades in everyday affairs and peers with whom He constantly interacted did not want to recognize Him as an extraordinary person. “A prophet is without honor except in his own country” - this is not how it should be, 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 is worthy of Divine election and vocations, they are accustomed to seeing an ordinary person among themselves, 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 likelihood, a popular proverb, “and in his own house,” meaning that, as Ev. John in ch. 7:5, “and His brethren believed not 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 perform 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 on whom miracles are performed.

. And Jesus went out of the house that day and sat down by the sea. And a great multitude gathered unto Him, so that He entered into a boat, and sat down; and all the people stood on the shore.

The Lord sat down in the boat so that he could face all the listeners and so that everyone could hear Him. And from the sea He catches those who are on earth.

. And he taught them many parables, saying:

He speaks to the common people on the mountain without parables, but here, when the treacherous Pharisees were before Him, He speaks in parables, so that they, even if they do not understand, would ask Him a question and learn. On the other hand, they, as unworthy, should not have been offered teaching without coverings, for they should not “throw pearls before swine.” The first parable he speaks is one that makes the listener more attentive. So listen!

behold, a sower went out to sow;

By the sower he means Himself, and by the seed - His word. But He did not come out in a certain place, for He was everywhere; but since He approached us in the flesh, that is why it is said “came out,” of course, from the bosom of the Father. So, He came to us when we ourselves could not come to Him. And he went out to do what? Should the earth be set on fire because of the many thorns, or should it be punished? No, but in order to sow. He calls the seed His own, because the prophets also sowed, but not their own seed, but God’s. He, being God, sowed his own seed, for he was not made wise by the grace of God, but he himself was the wisdom of God.

. and as he sowed, some fell by the road, and birds came and devoured them;

. some fell on rocky places where there was little soil, and soon sprang up because the soil was shallow.

. When the sun rose, it withered and, as if it had no root, withered;

By fallen “by the road” we mean careless and slow people who do not accept words at all, because their thoughts are a trampled and dry, completely unplowed road. Therefore, the birds of the air, or the spirits of the air, that is, demons, steal the word from them. Those who have fallen on the rocky ground are those who listen, but, due to their weakness, do not resist temptations and sorrows and sell their salvation. Under the rising sun understand temptations, because temptations reveal people and show, like the sun, the hidden.

. some fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew and choked it;

These are the ones who choke the word with worries. For although the rich man seems to be doing a good deed, his work does not grow or prosper, because worries hinder him.

. some fell on good soil and bore fruit: one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty.

Three parts of the crop perished and only the fourth was saved, because there were very few people being saved. He speaks about the good land later in order to reveal to us the hope of repentance, for even if someone were stony ground, even if he lay along the road, even if he were thorny ground, he can become good ground. Not all of those who receive the word bear fruit equally, but one bears a hundred, perhaps the one who has complete non-covetousness; another is sixty, perhaps a cenobitic monk, also busy with practical life; the third brings thirty - a person who has chosen an honest marriage and diligently, as soon as possible, goes through the virtues. Pay attention to how the grace of God accepts everyone, whether they have done great or average or small things.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The Lord shows that those who have acquired spiritual ears must understand this spiritually. Many have ears, but not for listening; That’s why he adds: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

. He answered 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,

. for whoever has, more will be given to him and he will have an increase, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him;

Seeing much ambiguity in what Christ said, the disciples, as the general trustees of the people, approach the Lord with a question. He says: “it has been given to you to know secrets,” that is, since you have the disposition and desire, it is given to you, but to those who do not have diligence, it is not given. For he who seeks receives. “Seek,” he said, “and it will be given to you.” Look how the Lord spoke a parable here, but only the disciples accepted it, because they were looking for it. So, it’s good, let’s say that to the one who has diligence, knowledge is given and increases, and from the one who does not have diligence and corresponding thoughts, what he thought he had will be taken away, that is, if someone has even a small spark of good, then he will extinguish that too, without inflating it with spirit and without igniting it with spiritual deeds.

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

Pay attention! For here the question of those who say that the evil are by nature and from God is resolved. They say that Christ Himself said: “It has been given to you to know mysteries, but to the Jews it has not been given.” We say together with God to those who say this: He gives everyone the opportunity by nature to understand what is due, for He enlightens every person who comes into the world, but our will darkens us. This is noted here too. For Christ says that those who see with natural eyes, that is, those created by God to understand, do not see of their own free will, and that those who hear, that is, created of God to hear and understand, do not hear and do not understand of their own will. Tell me: have they not seen the miracles of Christ? Yes, but they made themselves blind and accused Christ, for this is what it means: “seeing they see not.” Therefore, the Lord brings the prophet as a witness.

. and the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled over them, which says (): You will hear with your ears and not understand, and you will look with your eyes and not see,

. For the heart of this people is hardened, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and lest they be converted, that I may heal them.

See what the prophecy says! It is not because you do not understand that I created your heart thick, but because it has become thick, having been, of course, thin before, for everything that becomes thick is first thin. When the heart grew thick, they closed their eyes. He did not say that he closed their eyes, but that they closed them of their own free will. They did this so that they would not be converted and so that I would not heal them. For out of evil will they tried to remain incurable and unconverted.

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

. For verily I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear.

Blessed are the sensual eyes of the apostles and their ears, but their spiritual eyes and ears are even more worthy of blessing, because they knew Christ. He places them above the prophets, because they saw Christ bodily, but they only contemplated Him with their minds; in addition, also because they were not worthy of so many secrets and such knowledge as these. In two respects the apostles surpassed the prophets, namely in that they saw the Lord bodily, and in that they were more spiritually initiated into the divine mysteries. So, the Lord explains the parable to the disciples, saying the following.

. Just listen meaning parables of the sower:

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

He admonishes us to understand what the teachers say, so that we do not become like those who are on the road. Since the road is Christ, those who are on the road are those who are outside of Christ. They are not on the road, but outside this road.

. And what is sown on rocky places means one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

. but it has no root in itself and is fickle: when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, it is immediately tempted.

I spoke about sorrows because many, being exposed to sorrow from their parents or from any misfortunes, immediately begin to blaspheme. Regarding persecution, the Lord spoke for the sake of those who become victims of tormentors.

. And what was sown among thorns means one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

He did not say: “this age drowns,” but “the care of this age,” not “wealth,” but “the deceitfulness of riches.” For wealth, when it is distributed to the poor, does not choke, but multiplies the word. By thorns we mean worries and luxury, because they kindle the fire of lust, as well as hell. And just as thorns, being sharp, dig into the body and can hardly be removed from there, so luxury, if it takes possession of the soul, digs into it and can hardly be eradicated.

. What is sown on good soil means one who hears the word and understands it, and who bears fruit, so that some bear fruit a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

There are different types of virtue, and different types of virtue. Notice that there is order in the parable. For first of all we must hear and understand the word, so that we are not like those who are on the way. Then one must firmly hold on to what one has heard, and then one must not be covetous. Judge, what is the benefit if I hear and preserve it, but drown it out with covetousness?

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

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

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

. Having come, the servants of the householder said to him: Master! did you not sow good seed in your field? where does the tares come from?

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

. But He said: no - so that when you choose the tares, you do not pull up the wheat along with them,

. leave both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather up the tares first and bind them in bundles to burn them; and put the wheat into my barn.

In the previous parable, the Lord said that the fourth part of the seed fell on the good ground, but in the present one he shows that the enemy did not leave this very seed that fell on the good ground unspoilt for the reason that we slept and did not care. The field is the world or soul of everyone. He who sowed is Christ; good seed - good people or thoughts; the tares are heresies and evil thoughts; the one who sowed them, . Sleeping people are those who, out of laziness, give room to heretics and evil thoughts. Slaves are angels who are indignant at the fact that heresies and corruption exist in the soul, and want to burn and expel from this life both heretics and those who think evil. God does not allow heretics to be exterminated through wars, lest the righteous suffer and be destroyed together. God does not want to kill a person because of evil thoughts, so that the wheat would not be destroyed along with it. So, if Matthew, being a tare, had been plucked from this life, then the wheat of the word, which subsequently had to grow from him, would have been destroyed; in the same way both Paul and the thief, for they, being tares, were not destroyed, but they were allowed to live, so that after that their virtue would grow. Therefore, the Lord says to the angels: at the end of the world, then gather up the tares, that is, the heretics. How? “Bound,” that is, by tying their hands and feet, for then no one can do anything, but every active force will be bound. The wheat, that is, the saints, will be collected by the reaper-angels into heavenly granaries. In the same way, the bad thoughts that Paul had when he persecuted were burned up by the fire of Christ, which He came to throw onto the earth, and the wheat, that is, good thoughts, was gathered into the granaries of the church.

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

. which, although smaller than all seeds, when it grows, is larger than all grains and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air fly and take refuge in its branches.

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

. And when he came to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue,

“These parables” he said because the Lord intended to speak others after a while. He crosses in order to benefit others with His presence. By His fatherland you mean Nazareth, for in it He was nourished. In the synagogue he teaches public place and freely for the purpose that later they could not say that He taught something illegal.

so that they were amazed and said: Where did He get such wisdom and strength?

. Isn't He the son of carpenters? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers Jacob and Joses, and Simon and Judas?

. and are not His sisters all among us? Where did He get all this from?

. And they were offended because of Him.

The residents of Nazareth, being unreasonable, thought that the ignobility and ignorance of their ancestors prevented them from pleasing God. Let's assume that Jesus was a simple man and not God. What prevented Him from being great in miracles? So, they turn out to be both senseless and envious, for they should have been more rejoicing that their fatherland gave such good to the world. The Lord had as brothers and sisters the children of Joseph, whom he fathered from his brother’s wife, Cleopas. Since Cleopas died childless, Joseph, by law, took his wife for himself and gave birth to six children from her: four males and two females - Mary, who by law is called the daughter of Cleopas, and Salome. “Between us” instead of: “they live here with us.” So, these too were tempted in Christ; Perhaps they also said that the Lord casts out demons with Beelzebub.

Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.

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

Look at Christ: He does not reproach them, but meekly says: “there is no prophet without honor” and further. We humans always have the habit of neglecting those close to us, but we love what belongs to others. “In his house” he added because His brothers, who were from the same house, were jealous of Him. The Lord did not perform many miracles here because of their unbelief, sparing them themselves, so that, even after the miracles, they would remain unfaithful and would not be subjected to even greater punishment. Therefore, he did not perform many miracles, but only a few, so that they could not say: if he had done anything at all, we would have believed. You also understand this in such a way that Jesus, to this day, is dishonored in His fatherland, that is, among the Jews, but we, strangers, honor Him.