Matthew 13:34-43, Tares, Mustard Seed, Leaven (2)

·        The Parable of the Tares: the visible Church has both SAVED and UNSAVED people in it. 

Jesus interprets this parable but none of the rest.  He gives the explanation only to His disciples (v36).  He, the Son of Man, is the one who sows the good seed.  The good seed are the sons of the kingdom while the tares are the sons of the wicked one (1 John speaks this way and deals with this issue; cf. 3:1-12).  The tares are sowed by the enemy, the devil.  The harvest, when the two are separated comes at the end of the age (i.e. the end of the time between the two advents).

The Kingdom of Heaven is the visible expression of God’s people and thus, it includes true and false as did Israel in the OT.  The angels cannot tell the difference, which you might find amazing, until the fruit is borne.  In the Church, the Body of Christ, which exists on earth between the two advents, we are taught the need to examine teachers to see if they are true or false; we are to exercise discipline.  But in the end, God alone knows the hearts, and the truth will come out at the judgment.  Jesus noted this as a principle in His Kingdom in Matt. 7:21-24.

·        The parable of the Mustard Seed: the Church will flourish IN THE WORLD.

In this story the Kingdom begins extremely small and then comes to a significant size.  This is what happened in the Church.  It even becomes a benefit to the world as the birds nest in the tree that is the Kingdom of Heaven.  This increases the Church’s contact with the world and thus increases the potential for the world influence.

In v32, the "birds of the air" has been referred by some to demons, as in the first parable (v19), seeing the parable as depicting the growth of a "false Church" during this age. Passages like Gen. 15:11 and Gen. 40:19 speaks of birds in this kind of negative sense. Others see symbolism of Gentiles who have a place in the steadily growing Church.  But the tree itself, representing the Kingdom of Heaven, is filled with Gentiles already.  It may be that Jesus simply refers to the birds as part of emphasizing the great size and benefit of the tree to the rest of nature around it.

·        The parable of the Leaven: the world will gain influence IN THE CHURCH. 

Some interpret this as referring to the Church’s permeating influence in the world.  Leaven is certainly a good thing in bread, giving it texture and taste.  But normally in Scripture leaven speaks of evil.  That is not demanded here since Jesus says the “Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven”.  But it is hard to see leaven in a positive light since even Jesus used it of evil influences that could corrupt what He was building.  The NT indicates that evil men will wax worse and worse (2 Tim. 3:13) so that one might despair of finding faith on the earth when the Son of Man returns (Lk. 18:8). 

o   Jesus spoke of the leaven of the Pharisees (Lk. 12:1), referring to their legalistic form of separation from the world (how they try to deal with the fact that the wheat and tares exist together). 

o   He spoke of the leaven of the Sadducees (Mt. 16:6,12), referring to their skepticism and denial of the inerrancy and infalibility of Scripture.

o   Jesus spoke of the leaven of Herod (Mk. 8:14-15), referring to his “secularism” or atheistic approach to life, that he could be successful without God. 

The three parables together are powerful.  We, God’s people, live in this world but are not of this world.  We are sent into the world to preach the gospel, but must be separate from what this world is all about.