This study is part of our series of verse by verse studies of Matthew, the 40th book in the Bible. Taught by our pastor, Simeon Forder, at our Sunday morning service on the 9th March 2025.

About this book

The gospel of Matthew was aimed primarily at the Jew who was familiar with the Old Testament, quoting it more than any other of the gospels. And in its 28 chapters it presents Jesus as the Messiah, the King of the Jews, with Matthew wasting no time, starting with Jesus’ royal lineage back to king David of Israel in the opening chapter. But as well as looking back, it looks forward too, being the only gospel to mention the church by name. And so make no mistake, this is a very necessary book for us to read too.

About this passage

We began chapter 13 by reading the parable of the sower, which is found in the opening 9 verses of this chapter, which Jesus then explained in verses 18-23. In between those things, we read how Jesus explained the purpose of the parables. 

This morning, as we continue on, we’ll see that verses 24-30 record the parable of the wheat and tares, which is later explained in verses 36-43, and in verses 31 & 32 we’ll read the parable of the mustard seed, before verse 33 records the parable of the leaven (one of the shortest of these parables).

In verses 34-35 we’ll see Jesus point to how Him teaching in parables fulfilled prophecy, then in verse 36 on (as already mentioned) we’ll read His explanation of the parable of the tares. In verse 44, we’ll read the parable of the hidden treasure, while verses 45-46 record the parable of the pearl of great price. The finale parable is the parable of the dragnet, as recorded in verses 47-52 — though there is possibly another parable within those verses too, which we’ll look at too. 

So then, we’ll find as we go through this chapter, that v1-35 record Jesus’ words to the multitude, including the first 4 of these parables, as He spoke from the boat. v36-52 then record the words that He spoke to His disciples back in a house. And the final 5 verses record what happened once He was back in His hometown of Nazareth, where we will see that He was rejected.

Application questions

• Are you being vigilant, that you be not deceived?
• Are you taking heed, lest you fall?
• Are you valuing the church, as you ought?