Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Jesus frequently taught using parables — short fictional stories designed to carry deeper truths about God and his kingdom. This verse opens the Parable of the Weeds, which Jesus goes on to explain: a farmer plants good seed, but while he sleeps an enemy secretly plants weeds throughout the same field. When workers ask whether they should pull the weeds out immediately, the farmer says no — wait for the harvest, because yanking weeds in a hurry risks uprooting the wheat alongside them. "The kingdom of heaven" was Jesus's phrase for God's reign breaking into the world — now and fully one day. This parable addresses a tension that troubled early believers deeply: why do good and evil seem to coexist, in the world and even in the church, for so long?
Lord, I confess I sometimes want to be the one who does the sorting. Give me the patience to trust your timing, and the humility to focus on my own growth rather than managing those around me. Help me be the wheat — faithful, even in a complicated field. Amen.
One sentence, and it opens a question that has unsettled sincere believers across every century since: if God is good and all-powerful, why is there so much wrong still growing? Why does the church contain people who seem to be entirely the wrong thing? Jesus doesn't offer a philosophical treatise in response. He tells a farm story. And the farmer's logic is deceptively wise — pulling weeds in a hurry risks tearing up the wheat at the roots. There is a patience embedded in God's timing that can feel, from the inside, like inexcusable slowness. But Jesus is naming something true about the nature of rushed judgment. This parable asks something difficult of you: can you live faithfully in a field that is genuinely mixed — not naive about what's growing nearby, but not so consumed with identifying and removing it that you damage what's good in the process? The church has been badly hurt by people who appointed themselves weed-pullers, convinced they could identify the bad seed precisely enough to excise it, only to uproot real faith along the way. You are not the harvester. You are called to be the wheat — growing, faithful, resilient, even when what's beside you is troubling. There is a day for sorting. Today is a day for growing.
Why do you think Jesus chose a farming image to describe the kingdom of heaven? What does the picture of a mixed field reveal about how God seems to work in the world?
Have you ever been in a situation — a church, a workplace, a family — where you felt surrounded by people who seemed to undermine what was good? How did you respond, and what did you learn?
The parable suggests God is intentionally patient about judgment rather than quick to sort things out now. Does that comfort you, frustrate you, or both — and why?
How does this parable shape the way you think about judging or distancing yourself from people in your community whose faith or character you're genuinely uncertain about?
What would it look like this week to redirect energy you might spend evaluating those around you toward your own faithfulness and growth instead?
For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Matthew 20:1
And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
Genesis 1:12
And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
Mark 4:30
Another 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.
Matthew 13:33
Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it?
Luke 13:18
And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Luke 13:20
Again, 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.
Matthew 13:44
Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
Matthew 25:1
Jesus gave them another parable [to consider], saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
AMP
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
ESV
Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
NASB
The Parable of the Weeds Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
NIV
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
NKJV
Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.
NLT
He told another story. "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field.
MSG