Parables of Jesus—

The Parable of the Weeds in the Wheat Field And The Parable of the Fish

A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.

Jesus told stories so people could understand things about heaven.

The Parable of the Weeds in the Wheat Field

Matthew 13:24-30

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed (planted) good seed in his field.

While he slept, bad men came and planted tares among the wheat.”

Tares are a weed that looks much like wheat when it is still growing. When the wheat is ripe—then you can see which is just a weed (tare) and which is the real wheat.

As the wheat was growing, the servants of the man asked if they should try to pull out the tares.

The master/owner said, “No, because you will loosen the roots of the wheat and it will die, too.

Wait until the wheat is ripe. Then we will pull out the tares and burn them. The wheat will be taken into the barn.”

The wheat plants are the true Christians.

The tare plants are people who look like Christians, but they really are not.

They may be pretending to be Christians because they think people will respect them more. They may pretend to be Christian, but do not want to discipline themselves to obey what Jesus has told us to do.

People can only see the outside of other people, so they think they are Christians.

God sees their hearts and knows that they are not truly obeying and following Him. They look like wheat but they are really weeds (tares).

At the end of time when God judges all people, the tares will be burned (sent to hell) and the real “wheat Christians” will go to heaven.

Are you a “real” Christian or are you just pretending?

The Parable of the Fish

Matthew 13:47-51

Jesus said the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that is thrown out to catch fish.

When the net is thrown into the water, all kinds of fish swim into it.

When the net is full, the fisherman pulls it in.

The fisherman sorts the fish. Some of the fish are not good for eating, so he throws the fish away.

The fish that are good for eating, he keeps.

So at the end of the world, God’s angels are like the fisherman.

They sort the “fish” meaning people–if they are good or bad.

The good people–people who believe and obey God– the angels keep them.

Bad people—people who did not believe in Jesus or who did not obey Him– are thrown away.

Jesus said they are thrown away where there is wailing (crying) and gnashing (grinding) of teeth. It will be a place of great pain.