We need to keep in mind that many of the events here mentioned occurred during the seventh month and in the first few weeks of Jesus’ public ministry. Luke’s mention of Jesus’ teaching and rejection in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30) occurred on the Feast of Trumpets, or the first day of the seventh month. His later mention of the second Sabbath after the first (Luke 6:1) was a reference to the weekly Sabbath that immediately followed the Day of Atonement, which occurred on the 10th day of the seventh month (cp. Matthew 12:1-2). The Sabbaths were back-to-back, which is why the text makes a point to say the disciples were hungry (Matthew 12:1). Therefore, Jesus’ ultimate rejection and the events surrounding that event, including Jesus speaking in parables, occurred in the days leading up to and, no doubt, culminating in the Feast of Tabernacles an eight-day festival, also occurring in the seventh month, which is also bookended by annual Sabbath days on the 15th and the 22nd days of the month.
Understanding this, we can get a kind of ‘picture’ of how events may have occurred in our present study. The multitudes followed after Jesus, when the Jewish authorities accused him of being demonized (Matthew 12:22-24; 13:1-2). Jesus had to get into a boat to put a little distance between himself and the throng of folks on the beach of the Sea of Galilee (cp. Mark 4:1). Yet, when the people left, Jesus had time to teach his disciples about the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:10).
Next, we see the great crowds had returned, whereupon Jesus taught them again in parables and, afterward, sent them away once more (Matthew 13:24-36). The pause between parable sessions may point to a teaching schedule, whereby the Jewish authorities taught the people in the synagogue, while Jesus taught them in his house or on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. A great many people had gathered in Capernaum as a designated city in the place of Jerusalem, whereby folks could gather for worship there in Galilee, during the annual holy days, because everyone couldn’t fit in Jerusalem during the annual pilgrimages. Therefore, after the multitudes had left Jesus, the disciples came to him once more, seeking understanding, this time of the Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:36).
Jesus explained that it was he, who sows the good seed in the field. The field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the seed of the enemy are the children of the wicked (the word “one” is not in the Greek text; cp. Matthew 13:37-38). In other words, folks are born into this world, some of these are called by Christ, touched by him, so they would be sensitive to the word of God. However, those whom Jesus does not touch are the children of the wicked folks who already live in the world in rebellion against God. Jesus offers us a picture that shows how he reaches out to the world, calling folks back to God. Those who are touched by him are his witnesses to the folks who are rebellious and don’t understand spiritual matters (cp. Matthew 13:15).
The enemy who has sown the children of the wicked is the slanderer (“devil” in the text; diabolos – G1228). Keeping in mind that the Lord is speaking parabolically, he “sows” the children of the kingdom in the world by depositing the word of God (Luke 8:11) or the word of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:19) in their hearts. The problem is the hearts of most folks have been corrupted by the slanderer (G1228) and don’t understand (Matthew 13:15, 19). Judas was a slanderer (G1228; cp. John 6:70). The seed of the wicked are such, because the word that was planted in their hearts is false doctrine that opposes the word of God. They have a false worldview and, therefore, are unable to understand or readily receive the word of God. Even folks who do understand are intimidated by this false worldview (cp. Matthew 12:22-24 and John 12:42-43).
The weeds in the text, vis-à-vis the children of the wicked (Matthew 13:38), are gathered together by the reapers, who are Jesus’ messengers (G32 – aggelos; “angels” in the text), sent out into the world preaching the Gospel (Matthew 13:39; cp. 28:19-20). The harvest time is the end of the age, when judgment is made between ‘the children of the Kingdom’ and ‘the children of the wicked’ (Matthew 13:29). Because they do not respond to the Gospel, the children of the wicked separate themselves from the children of the Kingdom. These are then “burned in the fire,” vis-à-vis they are judged and punished at the end of the age, meaning the time of the end (Daniel 12:4, 9) or the latter days (Deuteronomy 31:29), when the children of the wicked will be like Sodom (Deuteronomy 32:5, 32-36). This, in parabolic form, points to AD 70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed.
As for the righteous, the children of the Kingdom, because they have responded to the word of God, the Gospel, they shall shine as lights in the Kingdom of the Father, which is the kingdoms of this world (cp. Revelation 11:15). These, vis-à-vis the children of the Kingdom, are the faithful, and will teach others from generation to generation about the truth that has been from the beginning (Matthew 13:35; cp. Psalm 78:1-8). Such truth wasn’t received and, therefore, never taught by the children of the wicked. They were judged in AD 70, and were removed from their place in the world (Matthew 13:43). [EB1]
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