Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. Happily for us, these exquisite parables are, with like charming simplicity and clearness, expounded to us by the Great Preacher Himself. Accordingly, we pass to Matthew 13:36-38.
Then 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. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the son of man (see the note at John 1:52); the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom. In the parable of the Sower, "the seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11). But here that word has been received into the heart, and has converted him that received it into a new creature, a "child of the kingdom," according to that saying of James (James 1:18), "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures." It is worthy of notice that this vast field of the world is here said to be Christ's own - "His field," says the parable. (See Psalms 2:8.)