Matthew 13:24-58

Jesus tells another parable dealing with planting seeds. A man sowed good seed in his field. Late at night, an enemy came and sowed tares. Once the plants started to grow, the field hands realized what had happened. They asked the landowner if they should pull them out, but he said to wait for the harvest. Tares looked very much like wheat so that while they were growing, the two plants were very difficult to tell apart. When it was first evident that the tares were among the wheat, it would still be difficult to tell them apart. It would also be difficult to pull up the tares without damaging some portion of the wheat, but at the harvest time, it is easy to tell them apart and to do so without damaging th rest of the crop. On this earth, there are people who will hear God's word and have a life that honors God. There will be others that do not follow or honor God. It can be difficult to tell them apart at first (what does a Christian look like?), but in the end, we will be known by our fruits.

God can take the smallest bit of faith and turn it into something bigger than we can imagine. What starts as something small within us can grow beyond our capacity to hold it in and spread to everyone around us. Likewise, He can use one person to spread His word to thousands. God can make huge changes in our lives when we let His word expand into every aspect of our lives. The parables of the tiny mustard seed growing into an enormous tree and the small bit of leaven needed to make bread dough rise demonstrate this principle.

To explain the value of God's word, Jesus told two parables where someone found something valuable and gave up everything to get it. In one, a man stumbles across a treasure in a field, hides it and then sells everything to buy the property. In the other, a man searching for pearls finds one very valuable pearl. Once again, he sells everything to get it. We have a God who wants us to know Him. He loves us so much that He became man and died for our sin. He did all this so our sins could be blotted out and we can spend eternity with Him. Is that something worth giving up everything for if you had to?

Going back to a familiar theme with a new face, Jesus talks about using a dragnet to catch fish. There is no way to tell what will come up in the net until you get it back in the boat. After that, the good fish must be sorted out and the bad ones tossed away. We will all be judged someday. The question is will you be a good fish or a bad fish?

Jesus went back to His hometown and was preaching in the synagogue. The people recognized His wisdom and miracles, but because they knew Him as the carpenter's son, they dismissed it all. They couldn't understand how He could do these things since they had known Him so long as just a regular guy. We should never take Jesus for granted. We need to come to Him with the awe and reverence He deserves.