Matthew 13:24-35
24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
29 “ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’ ”
31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.” v [1]
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Jesus’ parables of the kingdom teach important truths that speak to our lives today. In the parable of the weeds, we are reminded that there is a real enemy who is actively at work seeking to thwart the growth of the kingdom by planting weeds in an among the believers. This opposition to the kingdom, Jesus indicates, will continue until the harvest when Christ returns.
The parable of the mustard seed, however, assures us that the kingdom will continue to grow, despite the work of the enemy. The growth in fact will be greater than what could have been imagined given its humble beginnings.
The parable of the yeast depicts the hard work of the kingdom. The yeast of the kingdom is to be worked through a sixty pound lump of dough. Can you imagine how much work that would be? This is the kingdom task to which we are called.
And so my prayer today is for faithfulness to my Lord in light of these truths. I pray for Christ to thwart the work of the enemy in his efforts to hinder the work of the kingdom. I pray for the growth of the kingdom of God, in the hearts of believers and in the lives of those to whom the gospel comes as we live His mission. And I pray for faithfulness in the hard work of the kingdom, that God would be at work in me and others, working His yeast of the kingdom throughout us, His church and His world.
Lord Jesus, thwart the work of the enemy who opposes your kingdom at every turn. But instead grant growth to your kingdom in me and in the world, and equip me for the work to which I am called today.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
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[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Mt 13:24–35). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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