Sow Good Seed
Jesus set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of the heavens has been likened to a man sowing good seed in his field. But when men were asleep, his enemy came and sowed darnel or poisonous seeds as well, in among the grain, and departed. And when the crop sprouted and bore fruit, the darnel weeds also appeared. And the householder’s slaves, approaching, said to him, ‘Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the darnel weeds come from?’ And he said to them, ‘Someone who is an enemy did this.’ So the slaves say to him, ‘Do you wish then that we should go out and gather them?’ But he says, ‘No, lest in gathering the darnel weeds you should uproot the grain along with them. Let them both grow up together until the harvest and at the time of the harvest, I shall tell the reapers, “First gather the darnel weeds and tie them into sheaves in order to burn them; but gather the grain into my granary.”’” (Matthew 13:24-30)
Mustard Sead
And Jesus said, “How may we depict the Kingdom of God, or by what parable may we present it? The Kingdom of the heavens is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field, which is indeed the smallest of all seeds on earth, but when it grows, it is larger than garden herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches and find shelter under its shade.” [Psalm 1-4:12, Ezekiel 17:23,31:6, Daniel 4:12] (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32)
Like Yeast
Jesus continued with another parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” All these things Jesus told crowds in parables according to what they were able to hear. He told them nothing apart from a parable; so that there was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet when he said, ‘I shall open my mouth in parables. I shall utter things that have been hidden since the foundation of the cosmos.’ [Psalm 78:2] However, in private, Jesus explained everything to his disciples. (Matthew 13:33-34, Mark 4:33-34)
