Matthew Chapter 13: The Parable of the Weeds and the Mustard Seed

Bible Answer Man Podcast with Hank Hanegraaff

On today’s Bible Answer Man broadcast (10/20/21), Hank picks back up in Chapter 13 of Matthew’s Gospel, where Jesus tells several parables. In verse 24, Jesus tells the parable of the Weeds. The first thing that comes to mind with this parable is the similarity between wheat and weeds—often translated as darnel or tares. The picture presented in this parable is that of an enemy sowing a kind of grass-like vegetation that resembles the real deal. The devil—the enemy, the one who sows a counterfeit amongst the wheat—is a master of disguise. He does not present deception in its full naked deformity. If he did, few would buy into his horrific deceptions. Instead, he presents the skin of the truth stuffed with insidious lies. Thus, just as darnel might at first seem to be wheat, so Satan fashions his lies to resemble truth. Following the parable of the Weeds, St. Matthew’s Gospel chronicles the parable of the Mustard Seed. Jesus here makes plain that what is rooted in the smallest of beginnings will eventually encompass the whole earth. The seed of faith sown in the heart of humans around the globe has caused them to face even martyrdom because it like the strongest of trees cannot be uprooted by the fiercest storms of this present life.