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 2nd 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

The first nine verses record the parable of the sower, which Jesus then explained in verses 18-23. However, in between those, we’ll read Jesus explain the purpose of the parables. Verses, 24-30 record the parable of the wheat and tares, that 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. Next, 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. Finally, the chapter concludes by noting how Jesus was rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, making this the third longest chapter in Matthew’s gospel account.

So then, there are at least seven parables that Jesus gave, two of of which He explained, plus the purpose of them is given by Jesus Himself, and they range between 1 and 9 verses in length. Some are also recorded by Mark and Luke in their gospel accounts, though not all, and, this morning, we’ll look at one of those that is indeed also recorded by them, which is the parable of the sower, which was our reading this morning.

Application questions

• Are you sharing the gospel faithfully? Or at all?
• Are you distracted by the things of this world?
• Are you bearing Christian fruit?