Jesus told a parable about an evil person who had sown seeds of weeds in a wheat field, while the farmer slept. The estate owner was told of the problem when servants found weeds shooting up among the corn: they wondered if the wheat seed had been contaminated. However the owner knew that he had authorised the very best seed to be sown, and therefore the weeds had been deliberately sown by an enemy.
Jesus was much misunderstood in His day, and still is now. He was not a rabbi wanting to extend Jewishness to the world, nor was He a military revolutionary, nor was He simply a wise teacher and kind miracle-worker. He had come to announce that He is the King, and to explain what His kingdom is like. In this parable He reveals the scale of that kingdom.
Yeast is often used in the Bible as a picture of sin, because it so easily contaminates everything. But here, Jesus uses the little mould to represent the gospel. In the same way that yeast is ineffective if it stays away from the dough, so the gospel has no power unless it is mixed into the world. 30kg for flour is a large batch and Jesus wanted His hearers to imagine the energy expended in kneading the yeast into it. The woman would have worked very hard as she stretched and pounded the moist dough. Inadequate effort at that stage would result in an inconsistent texture to the bread.
The parable of the weeds (Matthew 13:24-30) is separated from its explanation by the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast (Matthew 12:31-35). Why?
Many people in the West have got used to depersonalising the spiritual influences on our lives. They prefer to think in sci-fi terms about 'forces of good and evil'. Life is then a matter of human skill in manipulating those 'force fields'. But such ideas are wrong, completely wrong. The Bible talks about a personal God, and the person who opposes God is the devil.
Real justice often seems in short supply. The righteous seem to suffer while the wicked prosper. But it will not always be like that. Injustice will stop when Jesus comes back because He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:31). The only messenger-role that the angels will have is to call people away to judgement. On Christ's orders, they will select all who have not trusted in His atoning sacrifice and throw them to the fire of God's wrath.
Here are two parables with the same meaning. The disciples would have understood that Jesus was strongly emphasising His point. But what is it? It is all about the kingdom of God, (described here as the kingdom of heaven because heaven is the dwelling place of God). A kingdom is the land which belongs to the king, and where the citizens accept the king's authority. It is a great privilege and responsibility to belong to God's kingdom.
Farming, fishing, and finance were the major industries of Jesus' day; many of these were family businesses. That is why almost all of His parables are based on these themes. At least four of the disciples were fishermen and everybody in the Galilee province was familiar with net-fishing which took place at night with weighted nets supported by floats, to produce a vertical mesh in which the fish were trapped. However not all the fish were good for eating; some were thrown away or burned.
At the end a series of parables, Jesus asked His disciples if they understood. They said they had, but it is difficult to know to what extent. The first time people learn anything, its freshness catches their attention, and with an explanation (the disciples needed the Lord's interpretation of the parables) they have a new insight. However it is only when the teaching has to be used, that the deep significance dawns on them. That would happen after Jesus went back to heaven and the apostles were left to lead the churches.
They knew Jesus. He had grown up in Nazareth and had run the carpentry business. They had traded with him. He had made their doors and ploughs and coffins and mended their broken furniture. Everybody knew Mary and her family (we presume Joseph had died). Jesus had brothers and sisters, everybody knew their names. He was a real life ordinary man who worked hard and supported the family.
