New Testament in a Year
Jesus tells a story about a farmer who planted seeds
13 On that same day, Jesus left the house and he went to Lake Galilee. He sat down near the edge of the lake to teach people. 2 The crowd that came to listen to him was very large. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The big crowd of people stood on the shore. 3 Jesus used stories to teach them many things. He said to them: ‘Listen to me! A farmer went out to plant seeds in his field. 4 While he was throwing the seeds, some of them fell on the path. The birds came and they ate those seeds. 5 Other seeds fell on ground which had rocks. There was not much soil in that place. The seeds quickly began to grow, because the soil was not deep. 6 But when the sun rose, it burned the young plants. They soon died because they had not grown down well into the soil. 7 Some other seeds fell among thorn bushes. Those bushes grew up with the young plants. They stopped the seeds from growing into strong plants. 8 But some seeds fell on good soil and strong plants grew from those seeds. Some plants made 100 new seeds. Some plants made 60 new seeds and some plants made 30 new seeds.’ 9 Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘You have ears, so listen well to what I say!’
Jesus explains to his disciples why he teaches with stories
10 Then Jesus' disciples came to him. They asked him, ‘Why do you use stories to speak to the crowd?’
11 Jesus replied, ‘God has let you know what these stories mean. You understand how God rules in the lives of his people. But these other people do not understand what the stories mean. 12 A person who has received some things will receive even more. He will have lots of good things. Some other people have nothing. Those people will lose even the little bit that they do have. 13 The reason I use stories to talk to other people is this:
These people look. But they do not really see clearly.
They hear the words. But they do not really understand.[a]
14 Long ago, the prophet Isaiah spoke a message from God about those people.[b] Now it has become true. God said:
“You will listen and listen. But you will not understand.
You will look and look. But you will not see anything.
15 These people do not really want to understand.
They are like people who have shut their ears.
They are like people who have shut their eyes.
If they did want to look, then they would really see.
If they did want to listen, then they would really hear.
They would understand my message.
They would turn back to obey me.
Then I would forgive them and I would make them well.” ’
16 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘But as for you, be happy because God has helped you to see. He has helped you to hear and understand his message. 17 I tell you this: Many prophets and good people from a long time ago wanted to see these things. But they did not see the things that you are seeing. They wanted to hear the message that you are hearing. But they did not hear it.’
Jesus explains the story about the farmer who planted his seeds
18 Jesus then said, ‘Listen to me now. I will tell you what this story about the farmer means. 19 Some people hear the message about God's kingdom but they do not understand it. Satan comes and he quickly takes the message away from their minds. The seeds that fell on the path show what those people are like. 20 Other seeds fell on soil with rocks in it. This is like some people who hear God's message. These people are happy to believe it for a time. 21 But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing. 22 Some seeds fell among thorn bushes. This is like people who hear the message from God. But they have many troubles in their minds. They want to get more money and more things. They think that this will make them happy. So they do not let God's message change them. They are like plants that do not grow well and make new seeds. 23 But some seeds fell on good soil. This is like other people who hear the message from God and they understand it. These people are like good plants that grow well. From one seed, some good plants make 100 new seeds. Other good plants make 60 new seeds, and some good plants make 30 new seeds.’[c]
Jesus tells a story about some weeds
24 Then Jesus told the people another story. He said, ‘This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: A farmer planted some good wheat seeds into his field. 25 But one night, when everyone was sleeping, a bad person came to the farmer's field. He did not like the farmer. This bad person planted seeds from weeds among the good wheat seeds. Then the bad person went away again. 26 The good seeds grew and the plants began to make new seeds. But when this happened, the weeds also grew.
27 So the farmer's servants came to speak to him. “Master, you planted only good seeds in your field but now many weeds are also growing there. How did this happen?” they asked him.
28 The farmer said to his servants, “A bad person who does not like me has done this.”
So the servants then asked the farmer, “Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds?”
29 The farmer replied, “No, I do not want you to do that. If you pull up the weeds, you may also pull up some of the good wheat plants. 30 Let the good plants and the weeds grow up together. At harvest time, I will tell the workers to cut down the weeds first. Then they will tie them together and burn them. Then they will cut the wheat and bring it into my building. I will store it there.” ’
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