Matthew 13

The chapter opens with a picture worth pausing over: The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore (vv. 1-2). The crowd is so large He teaches from a boat pushed off the beach, the water carrying His voice back to the people lining the shore. And what He gives them is a whole gallery of pictures, each opening with the same words - The kingdom of heaven is like. A sower scattering seed; a field sown with tares; a mustard seed; hidden leaven; buried treasure; a pearl; a dragnet. Ordinary scenes from field and market and shore, every one of them a window into the kingdom of God.³

But the parables are not simply illustrations to make hard things easy. When the disciples ask why He teaches this way, Jesus answers that the stories both reveal and conceal: Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given… because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (vv. 11-13). A parable lays one thing alongside another; the truth is right there in the open, yet it asks something of the hearer. To the heart that wants to understand, the story unlocks; to the heart already closed, the same story stays shut. So Jesus interprets the sower and the tares to those who come asking, and lets the crowd carry the pictures home to ponder.¹

The chapter moves outward in widening circles. First the long parable of the sower and its meaning; then a cluster of shorter pictures - tares, mustard seed, leaven - with the explanation of the tares for the disciples alone; then treasure, pearl, and dragnet; and a final word about the scribe who brings out of his treasure things new and old. And it ends, pointedly, back in Jesus' own country, where the people who watched Him grow take offence at Him: Is not this the carpenter's son? (v. 55). The seed of the kingdom had come to them as surely as to anyone - and the ground was hard. He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (v. 58).²

Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.

Matthew 13:1-23A Sower Went Forth to Sow

1The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

The first picture is the simplest and the deepest, and Jesus sets it up with a single word: Behold. A sower went forth to sow (v. 3). In the farming of that world a man walked his ground with a bag of seed and flung it by hand in wide arcs, and the seed fell wherever it fell - on the beaten footpath that crossed the field, on thin soil over hidden rock, among the roots of thorns not yet cleared, and on the good open ground. Jesus traces all four. The seed on the way side never even sinks in; the birds take it (v. 4). The seed on stony places springs up fast precisely because it has no depth - and then the sun finds it, and with no root it withers in a day (vv. 5-6). The seed among thorns grows, but the thorns grow too and choke it (v. 7). Only the seed in good ground comes to fruit - and it comes in abundance, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold (v. 8). The whole weight of the parable rests on a fact easy to miss: in every case it is the same seed. The sower does not change his throw. What differs is the ground. And so the story ends not with explanation but with a summons that pries the listener open: Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (v. 9).

10And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

The disciples are puzzled, and they ask plainly: Why speakest thou unto them in parables? (v. 10). Jesus' answer turns on a single contrast. It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given (v. 11). A parable is not a sugar-coating that makes the truth go down easy; it is a thing laid alongside that both shows and screens. To the one who comes wanting to understand, the picture opens like a door. To the one whose heart is already shut, the same picture stays a riddle - they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand (v. 13). Jesus reaches back to words spoken to Isaiah about a people whose heart is waxed gross, whose ears are dull, whose eyes are deliberately closed (v. 15). The closing did not begin with the parable; the parable meets a closing already there. There is real solemnity in this. The same words that wake one person harden another, not because the words change but because of what they land on - the very lesson the sower was teaching about the seed and the soils. And then, tenderly, He turns to the Twelve: blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear (v. 16). To be given understanding is sheer gift, and a thing to be glad of.³

18Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Now Jesus does the rare thing of interpreting His own parable, and the key He hands over governs the whole chapter: the seed is the word of the kingdom (v. 19), and the four grounds are four kinds of hearing. The way side is the hearer who does not understand at all; the word never penetrates, and the wicked one snatches away what lay on the surface (v. 19). The stony ground is the hearer who receives the word anon with joy - gladly, quickly, all on the surface - but has no root in himself, so that when tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he is offended and falls away (vv. 20-21). The thorny ground is the saddest case, because the word does take and does grow - only the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches grow alongside it and choke it, so the man becomes unfruitful (v. 22). The thorns are not gross sins; they are anxiety and the lure of wealth, ordinary cares grown wild. Only the good ground both heareth the word, and understandeth it, and so beareth fruit (v. 23). Notice that genuine reception is described not as a feeling but as a hearing that takes root and bears - understanding that grows into fruit. The seed was never in doubt. The whole question is what kind of ground we will be.¹

Christ Connection - The Sower Scattering the Word

Behind the parable stands the Sower Himself. A sower went forth to sow (v. 3) - and the seed, Jesus says, is the word of the kingdom (v. 19). The Gospels show us who went forth scattering exactly that: Jesus went about all the cities and villages… preaching the gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 9:35); He said of His own mission, I must preach the kingdom of God… for therefore am I sent (Luke 4:43). He scatters the word widely, on every kind of ground, the same seed to the hardened and the hungry alike - for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good (Matt. 5:45). And the harvest does not depend on the seed, which is perfect, but on the ground that receives it. So the parable becomes a call: to be good ground is to be one who heareth the word, and understandeth it, in whom it takes root and beareth fruit (v. 23). This is the reception the Lord looks for - not a flash of joy without roots, not a hearing crowded out by the cares of the world, but a word that goes deep and bears. Take heed therefore how ye hear (Luke 8:18), He says elsewhere of this very parable. The Sower has gone forth; the seed is in the ground; the only question left is the soil.

The parable hands you a mirror, and the honest use of it is to ask which ground you are - not in general, but this week. Hardened way side: is there a place the word simply cannot get in, a subject you have quietly fenced off from God? Stony ground: do you receive truth with quick gladness and then let it die for lack of root - long on enthusiasm, short on the slow work of prayer and obedience that puts roots down? Thorny ground is the one to watch most, because the seed there is alive; it is being choked, not by scandalous sin but by the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches (v. 22) - the ordinary anxieties and ambitions that crowd the word until it bears nothing. So do one concrete thing: name your thorns. Write down the two or three cares that are actually choking the word in you right now - the worry you rehearse, the money or status you are quietly serving - and bring each one to God by name, asking Him to clear that ground. Good soil is not produced by trying harder to feel; it is produced by hearing the word and letting it root deep enough to survive the sun and outgrow the thorns.

Matthew 13:24-43Let Both Grow Together Until the Harvest

24Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The second parable answers a question the first might raise - if the good seed is being sown, why is the field so mixed? The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat (vv. 24-25). The tares are most likely darnel, a weed that looks almost exactly like wheat in the early blade and only declares itself when the heads form. So the field grows up indistinguishable, and only later appeared the tares also (v. 26). The servants are alarmed and eager to act: Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? (v. 28). The owner's answer is the heart of the parable: Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them (v. 29). The roots are tangled; a hasty purge would tear out the wheat along with the weeds. So the word is patience: Let both grow together until the harvest (v. 30). There is restraint here that runs against every instinct - the owner is neither blind to the tares nor indifferent to them. He knows exactly what the enemy has done, and he has not abandoned justice. He has set a time for it. The separation is certain; it is simply not yet, and it is not the servants' to carry out.

31Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 33Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 34All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: 35That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

Two short pictures now answer a different worry - not the mixed field, but the small beginning. The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed… which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof (vv. 31-32). The contrast is the whole point: the smallest of seeds becomes the largest of garden plants, big enough to shelter birds. And the leaven makes the same point from the inside: the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened (v. 33). A little leaven, hidden - the word is striking - works unseen through a great mass of dough until the whole batch is changed. Together the two pictures say one thing about the kingdom: it begins tiny and hidden, easy to despise, and yet it grows and spreads until it fills the field and the loaf. Three measures is a large baking, enough to feed a crowd; the point is that the small, hidden working reaches all of it. To eyes that wanted the kingdom to come with armies and spectacle, this is bracing news - God's reign does not arrive that way. It arrives like seed and leaven, and it does not stop at the edges.

Matthew pauses the parables to tell us what they are: All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world (vv. 34-35). The line is drawn from the Psalms, and it frames the whole chapter. The parables are not Jesus making the kingdom obscure for its own sake; they are Jesus uttering what had been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Here is the paradox the chapter keeps turning over. A parable hides - they seeing see not - and yet a parable is, by Jesus' own account, an opening of the mouth, a bringing forth of long-kept secrets. Both are true at once. The mysteries of the kingdom are genuinely being disclosed, set out in the open air for a whole crowd to hear; and at the same time they remain veiled to the heart that will not receive them. What was secret is now spoken aloud. Whether it lands as revelation or stays a riddle is decided, again, in the hearer.²

36Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. 37He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. 41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

In the house, away from the crowd, the disciples ask Him to explain the tares, and He gives the meaning piece by piece. He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy… is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels (vv. 37-39). Every part is named, and the parable opens into the largest possible frame: the whole world is the field, and history itself is the growing season before the harvest. This is where the chapter must be read with gravity and with restraint, letting Jesus' own words stand without straining them. He speaks of a real and final separation: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (vv. 41-42). The images are sobering and are meant to be; Jesus does not soften them, and neither should we. Yet the parable is just as emphatic about the other side, and it ends there: Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (v. 43). The same harvest that removes what offends also reveals the children of the kingdom in glory. And the chapter's refrain returns, asking each hearer to take it to heart: Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Christ Connection - The Patience of the Sower and the Certain Harvest

Jesus names Himself the sower of this parable: He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man (v. 37). So the long patience of the field - Let both grow together until the harvest (v. 30) - is His patience: He sees the tares the enemy has sown, and He does not tear up the field, because the harvest is set for its time. The apostle reads that delay as mercy: The Lord is… longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). But patience is not indifference, and Jesus is plain that the harvest is certain. He places the final separation in His own hands and the hands of His angels: The Son of man shall send forth his angels (v. 41) - the same scene He sets elsewhere, when the Son of man shall come in his glory… and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another (Matt. 25:31-32). The text holds two things together and we may not let go of either: a God who waits, unwilling that any should perish, and a harvest in which the children of the kingdom shine forth as the sun (v. 43; cf. Dan. 12:3) while what offends is removed. The Son who sows the good seed is the Son who will gather it home. Until then the field grows on, and the call is to be wheat and not tares - and to leave the harvest, and its timing, to Him.

Matthew 13:44-50Treasure, Pearl, and the Dragnet

44Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. 45Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Two more pictures come in quick succession, and they are twins. The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field (v. 44). And again: the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it (vv. 45-46). The two men come at the treasure from opposite directions. The first stumbles on it by accident, working an ordinary field; the second is a professional, deliberately seeking goodly pearls. One finds the kingdom when he was not looking; the other after a lifetime of searching. But the response is identical, and that is the point: each sold all that he had to gain the one thing. Notice too the note struck in the first parable - for joy thereof. This is not a grim, calculating sacrifice, the reluctant payment of a steep price. The man sells everything gladly, because what he has found is worth incomparably more than what he gives up. That is the right reckoning. To the outsider it looks like he has lost everything; to the man himself it is the best trade he ever made. The kingdom is the one possession that makes parting with all the rest feel like gain.

47Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: 48Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. 49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, 50And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The last of this cluster returns to the shore where the chapter began. The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away (vv. 47-48). A dragnet is hauled through the water and sweeps up whatever is there - fish of every kind, the edible and the inedible together. The sorting comes only when the net is full and drawn to land. The picture echoes the wheat and the tares, and Jesus draws the same lesson, plainly and soberly: So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (vv. 49-50). As with the tares, the chapter holds the line between now and then. In the present age the net gathers all kinds; the kingdom's call goes out widely and draws in a mixed catch. The separating is real, but it belongs to the end and to the angels, not to us in the meantime. These are weighty words, and they ask to be received with the seriousness Jesus gives them - neither explained away nor pressed beyond what He says. The repeated image is meant to settle one thing in the hearer: the gathering is wide now, the sorting is certain later, and the time to become good ground, and good fish, is the present.

Christ Connection - The Pearl of Great Price

On the surface the treasure and the pearl say one thing about the kingdom: it is worth everything. The man and the merchant each sold all that he had (vv. 44, 46), and the picture is not of loss but of overwhelming gain. This is the very reckoning the apostle made when he met Christ: what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord (Phil. 3:7-8)². To find the kingdom - to find Him - is to discover the one treasure that makes selling all the rest feel like joy, exactly as the man buys the field for joy thereof. Jesus says the same to the rich young ruler, holding out the same trade: sell that thou hast… and thou shalt have treasure in heaven (Matt. 19:21). But the parable can be turned, and turning it lights up the whole gospel. There is also One who found a treasure and gave all He had to purchase it - for Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it (Eph. 5:25), and gave himself for us, that he might redeem us (Titus 2:14). Read that way, we are the pearl He counted worth the selling of all, the field He bought at the cost of His own life. Either reading lands on the same truth: nothing in the kingdom is held cheaply. He valued His people enough to give everything for them; and the only fitting answer is to value Him enough to do the same.

The treasure and the pearl press a single, uncomfortable question: is the kingdom of God actually your treasure, the thing you would gladly trade everything for - or is it one good item among many in a crowded life? The man in the field did not haggle or hesitate; for joy thereof he went and sold all he had (v. 44). Most of us hold the kingdom more loosely than that, willing to keep it only as long as it costs us nothing we really want. So this week, find the gap between what you say you value and what your calendar and your bank statement say you value. Look honestly at where your time, money, and attention actually go - those are the truest confession of what you treasure. Then name one thing you are clinging to that is competing with Christ for first place, and loosen your grip on it on purpose: give it away, lay it down, reorder it under Him. The aim is not grim self-denial; it is the joy of the man in the field, who discovered that what he was selling was nothing next to what he was buying. You will only know the kingdom is your treasure when you have actually let go of something for it.

Matthew 13:51-52Things New and Old

51Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. 52Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.

The parables close with a question and a final picture. Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord (v. 51). The question matters, because understanding has been the whole burden of the chapter - the good ground both heareth the word, and understandeth it. The disciples claim they have understood, and Jesus gives them, in reply, one more comparison aimed squarely at them: Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old (v. 52). A scribe was a trained keeper and teacher of the Scriptures, a man whose life was the old, written word. Jesus says that a scribe now instructed unto the kingdom becomes like a householder with a well-stocked storeroom, who can bring out both new and old as the household needs. The old is the law and the prophets, the long treasure of what God had already spoken; the new is the kingdom now breaking in, the mysteries Jesus has just been uttering. The picture is not of discarding the old for the new. It is of a storeroom rich enough to hold both, and a wise steward who knows how to draw on each. The one who truly understands the kingdom does not throw away the Scriptures he was raised on; he finds them opened, fulfilled, and full of fresh treasure in the light of Christ.

Christ Connection - New and Old in One Treasure

The householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old (v. 52) is a picture of how the whole gospel relates to all that came before. Jesus did not arrive to scrap the old and start over. He said it Himself: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil (Matt. 5:17). The old treasure - the law, the prophets, the long story of God with His people - is not thrown out; it is brought to its fullness in Him. On the road to Emmaus He took the disciples through that very storeroom: beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24:27). The new does not erase the old; it unlocks it, so that the old is seen at last for what it always was - a treasure pointing forward to Christ. This is why the scribe instructed unto the kingdom needs both. To hold only the old, without the One it foretold, is to miss its meaning; to grasp at the new while discarding the old is to lose its roots. The gospel that fulfils the law and the prophets sets the whole storeroom open, new and old together, and at the centre of it stands the One of whom all of it speaks.

Matthew 13:53-58Is Not This the Carpenter's Son?

53And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. 54And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? 55Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? 57And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. 58And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

The chapter that opened with seed scattered on every kind of ground ends with a vivid case of hard ground - and it is His own hometown. When he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? (v. 54). They cannot deny the wisdom or the works; both are plainly before them. But instead of opening to it, they trip over what they think they already know: Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? (vv. 55-56). Every question is a fact, and every fact becomes a stumbling block. They knew His family, His trade, the house He grew up in - and that very familiarity blinded them. The One they had watched grow up could not, surely, be more than they had always assumed. And they were offended in him (v. 57). It is the thorny and the wayside ground in human form: not ignorance of Jesus, but a settled, second-hand acquaintance that felt no need to look again.

Jesus answers their offence with a proverb that has the weight of long experience behind it: A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house (v. 57). The very nearness that should have given them the readiest welcome gave them instead the deepest blindness. Then comes one of the most arresting lines in the Gospels: he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief (v. 58). It is not that He could not; it is that their unbelief shut the door against the very thing they had just marvelled at. The mighty works are not magic performed on passive bystanders; they meet faith, and where there is no faith to meet, they are largely withheld. This is the lesson of the sower written into a single town. The seed had come to Nazareth as surely as anywhere - the wisdom and the works were right there in their synagogue - but the ground was packed hard with familiarity and assumption, and almost nothing took root. Knowing about Jesus, even knowing Him for thirty years, is not the same as believing in Him. The chapter ends on that sober note, and it leaves the reader with the question the parables have been pressing all along: when the seed comes to you, what kind of ground will it find?

Christ Connection - He Came Unto His Own

The rejection at Nazareth is a small, local enactment of something John names at the very start of his Gospel: He came unto his own, and his own received him not (John 1:11). The people who had the most reason to welcome Him - who knew His mother, His brothers, His trade, the streets He had walked since boyhood - were the very ones who took offence, because they could not see past the carpenter's son to the One standing in front of them. It is the pattern of the whole parable chapter: the same word, the same works, meeting wildly different ground. And it foreshadows the larger story still to come, for the offence of Nazareth will widen until the stone which the builders refused becomes the head stone of the corner (Ps. 118:22), the rejected One lifted up. There is searching mercy in the warning, too. Familiarity is its own kind of unbelief, and it is a danger to anyone who has known about Jesus a long time - who has heard the stories since childhood and assumes there is nothing left to see. The Nazareth crowd proves that you can stand closest to Him and miss Him entirely. The seed of the kingdom is still the same perfect seed. What it does in a life is decided, as it was that day in the synagogue, by whether the ground will believe.

There is a particular danger this passage names, and it belongs especially to those who have been around Jesus a long time. The people of Nazareth did not reject Him out of ignorance; they rejected Him out of over-familiarity - they assumed they already had Him figured out. Is not this the carpenter's son? If you grew up with the Bible stories, if church has been part of your life for years, this is your temptation more than open unbelief: a settled, second-hand acquaintance with Jesus that no longer expects to be surprised by Him, that hears the familiar passage and thinks, I know this one already. That assumption is exactly the hard ground where almost nothing took root, even with the wisdom and the works in plain sight. So this week, take one passage you are sure you know cold - a parable from this very chapter, a story you have heard since childhood - and come to it as if for the first time, asking God to show you what your familiarity has hidden. Refuse to let knowing about Him stand in for actually trusting and seeking Him. The mighty works were withheld at Nazareth not for lack of power but for lack of faith; do not let long acquaintance harden into the unbelief that stops expecting anything from Him.

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Further study

Matthew 13 · Greek interlinear + word studyBible Hub
The Greek text of Matthew 13 word by word, with parsing and lexicon links - useful for parabolē (vv. 3, 10, 34, the “parable” that is a thing laid alongside), for mustēria (v. 11, the “mysteries” of the kingdom now disclosed), and for the harvest and judgment vocabulary of verses 39-43.
Matthew 13 ↔ Psalm 78 · Daniel 12 · Isaiah 6 · Philippians 3Intertextual Bible
Traces the threads tying Matthew 13 to the rest of Scripture - the parables as the opening of what was kept secret from the foundation of the world (v. 35; Ps. 78:2), the righteous who shine forth as the sun (v. 43; Dan. 12:3), the seeing-but-not-perceiving of verse 14 read against Isaiah 6:9-10, and the treasure worth selling all (vv. 44-46) beside Paul counting all things loss (Phil. 3:7-8).
Matthew 13 - Translators' NotesNET Bible
The NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Matthew 13 - the setting of the teaching from a boat (vv. 1-2), the meaning of the four soils and the rate of the harvest (vv. 8, 23), the difficult quotation of Isaiah in verses 14-15, and the imagery of the mustard seed and the leaven (vv. 31-33).

Where this echoes in Scripture

A Sower Went Forth to Sow

Let Both Grow Together Until the Harvest

Treasure, Pearl, and the Dragnet

Things New and Old

Is Not This the Carpenter’s Son?

Matthew 13

Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.

Matthew 13:1-23A Sower Went Forth to Sow

Christ Connection - The Sower Scattering the Word

Matthew 13:24-43Let Both Grow Together Until the Harvest

Christ Connection - The Patience of the Sower and the Certain Harvest

Matthew 13:44-50Treasure, Pearl, and the Dragnet

Christ Connection - The Pearl of Great Price

Matthew 13:51-52Things New and Old

Christ Connection - New and Old in One Treasure

Matthew 13:53-58Is Not This the Carpenter's Son?

Christ Connection - He Came Unto His Own

· · ·

Further study

Matthew 13 · Greek interlinear + word studyBible Hub
The Greek text of Matthew 13 word by word, with parsing and lexicon links - useful for parabolē (vv. 3, 10, 34, the “parable” that is a thing laid alongside), for mustēria (v. 11, the “mysteries” of the kingdom now disclosed), and for the harvest and judgment vocabulary of verses 39-43.
Matthew 13 ↔ Psalm 78 · Daniel 12 · Isaiah 6 · Philippians 3Intertextual Bible
Traces the threads tying Matthew 13 to the rest of Scripture - the parables as the opening of what was kept secret from the foundation of the world (v. 35; Ps. 78:2), the righteous who shine forth as the sun (v. 43; Dan. 12:3), the seeing-but-not-perceiving of verse 14 read against Isaiah 6:9-10, and the treasure worth selling all (vv. 44-46) beside Paul counting all things loss (Phil. 3:7-8).
Matthew 13 - Translators' NotesNET Bible
The NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Matthew 13 - the setting of the teaching from a boat (vv. 1-2), the meaning of the four soils and the rate of the harvest (vv. 8, 23), the difficult quotation of Isaiah in verses 14-15, and the imagery of the mustard seed and the leaven (vv. 31-33).

Matthew 13

Matthew 13:1-23A Sower Went Forth to Sow

Matthew 13:24-43Let Both Grow Together Until the Harvest

Matthew 13:44-50Treasure, Pearl, and the Dragnet

Matthew 13:51-52Things New and Old

Matthew 13:53-58Is Not This the Carpenter's Son?