Chapter 13

Chapter 13. — On the Parables of the Sower and of the Kingdom of the Heavens

¹ And on that day Jesus went out from the house, and sat by the sea. And great crowds were gathered together to him, so that he entered into the boat and sat, and all the crowd stood upon the shore. He sat down in the boat, that he might set all the hearers before his face, and that all might hear. And as it were from the sea he fishes for those upon the land.

² And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying: To the guileless crowds upon the mountain he speaks without parables; but here, the deceitful Pharisees being present, he speaks in parables, so that, even as not understanding, they might ask and learn. And besides, since they were unworthy, the teachings ought not to be set before them bare. For one must not cast the pearls before the swine. And he speaks first the parable that makes the hearer more attentive; for hear:

³ Behold, the sower went out to sow his seed. He calls himself the sower, and the seed the word. And he went out, not in place; for he was everywhere; but inasmuch as he drew near to us with flesh, in this respect he is said to have gone out, namely from the bosom of the Father. He went out, then, to us, since we were not able to come to him. And to do what did he go out? that he might burn up the earth on account of its many thorns? that he might punish? No, but to sow. And he called it his seed, because the prophets too sowed. But [they sowed] not their own seed, but that of God. But he, being God, sowed his own proper seed; for he was not made wise by divine grace—far from it!—but he himself was the wisdom of God.

⁴ And in his sowing, some [seeds] fell by the wayside; and the birds of heaven came and devoured them. And others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth; but when the sun was risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away. Those by the wayside are the slack and slothful, who do not at all receive the word. For their reasoning is a road, trodden down and hard, and not plowed at all; from these, then, the birds of heaven—that is, of the air, the spirits, that is, the demons—snatch the word. And those upon the rocky places are they who hear, indeed, but on account of weakness do not withstand temptations or afflictions, but betray their own salvation; for by the sun that rose understand the temptations, because temptations make men manifest, and reveal, like the sun, the hidden things.

⁵ And others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. These are they who choke the word through cares; for even if the rich man seem to do some good deed, yet this deed does not increase, nor advance, being hindered by anxieties.

⁶ And others fell upon the good earth, and gave fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. The three parts of the seed were lost, and only the fourth was saved; for few are they who are saved. And later he speaks concerning the feeble earth, giving us hope of repentance; for it is possible, even if one be rocky, or by the wayside, or thorn-bearing, for him to become good earth. Yet not all who receive the word bear fruit equally; but the one a hundredfold, perhaps he who has perfect poverty and the highest ascetic discipline; the one sixtyfold, perhaps the cenobitic monk, still in the active life; the one thirtyfold, he who has chosen honorable marriage, and earnestly pursues the virtues as far as he is able. And observe the goodness of God, how he receives all—both those who do the great things, and those the middling, and those the small.

⁷ He who has ears to hear, let him hear. He makes clear that these things must be understood spiritually by those who have acquired the spiritual ears. But many have ears, yet not for hearing; for this cause, then, he put forth the [saying], He who has ears for hearing, let that man hear.

⁸ And the disciples, coming, said to him: Why do you speak to them in parables? But he, answering, said to them, that To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those it is not given. For whoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but whoever has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Seeing much obscurity in the things spoken by Christ, the disciples, as kindly guardians of the multitude, come asking; and he says: To you it is given to know the mysteries—that is, since you have eagerness and zeal, it is given to you; but to those, who have no zeal, it is not given. For that man receives, who seeks. For seek, he says, and it shall be given to you. See, then, how here the Lord spoke the parable, but only the disciples, having sought, received. So that we said well, that to him who has zeal, to that man is given the knowledge, and it is given in abundance. But from him who has neither zeal nor worthiness, even what he seems to have shall be taken away from him; that is, even if he have some little spark of the good, [the Lord] quenches even this, because he does not fan it through the Spirit and through spiritual works and [spiritual] men.

⁹ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, neither do they understand. Attend. For from this is resolved the question of those who say that some are evil by nature and from God. For Christ also said, they allege, that To you it is given to know the mysteries, but to the Jews it is not given. We say, then, to those who say such things, in God, that God indeed makes all to understand what is needful, by nature. For he enlightens every man that comes into the world; but our own choice darkens us. This, then, is what is shown here also. For he says, that Seeing by nature—that is, having been fashioned by God to understand—they do not see by [their] choice; and hearing—that is, having been fashioned by God by nature, so as to hear and understand—they do not hear, neither do they understand, from [their] choice. For tell me, did they not see the wonders of Christ? Yes, but they made themselves blind, and accused him. This, then, is the [meaning of], seeing they do not see. He therefore brings forward also the prophet as a witness.

¹⁰ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown gross, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with the eyes, and hear with the ears, and understand with the heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Do you see what the prophecy says? That it is not for this [reason] that you do not understand, because I created your heart gross, but because it grew gross, being subtle before; for that which is being thickened was subtle before. And when this had grown gross, so they closed their eyes. But he did not say that God closed their eyes, but that they did, from [their] choice. And this they did, he says, lest they should be converted and I should heal them; for they willfully and maliciously took pains to remain unhealed and unconverted.

¹¹ But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. For amen I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and saw it not, and to hear what you hear, and heard it not. The bodily eyes and ears of the apostles are indeed blessed; yet far rather are the soul’s eyes and ears worthy of blessing, because they recognized Christ. And he prefers these to the prophets, because these also saw Christ bodily, while those [saw him] only with the mind; but also because those were not deemed worthy of so many mysteries and of such knowledge as these. In two respects, then, the apostles surpass the prophets: both in seeing bodily, and in being initiated more spiritually into the divine things. He explains, then, the parable to the disciples, saying:

¹² Hear, then, the parable of the sower. To everyone who hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, comes the evil one and snatches away that which was sown in his heart; this is he who was sown by the wayside. He exhorts us to understand the things spoken by those who teach, that we too may not be like those by the wayside; and perhaps, since Christ is the way, those outside of Christ are by the wayside. They are not in the way, but beside the way.

¹³ But he who was sown upon the rocky places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but is for a season. And when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he is offended. He said affliction, since many, being afflicted by parents or by other misfortunes, immediately blaspheme; and persecution, on account of those who fall away under the tyrants.

¹⁴ But he who was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, and the care of this age and the deceit of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. He did not say that The age chokes [it], but The care of the age; nor that riches [choke it], but The deceit of riches. For wealth, when it is scattered abroad, does not choke, but increases the word; but the thorns—the cares and the indulgences—kindle the fire both of desire and of Gehenna. And just as the thorn, being sharp, sinks into the body, and is hardly cast out, so too indulgence, if it master a soul, sinks in, and is hardly rooted out.

¹⁵ But he who was sown upon the good earth, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, the one a hundredfold, the one sixtyfold, the one thirtyfold. Diverse are the forms of virtue, diverse also are those who make progress. And observe that there is an order in the parable. For we must first hear the word and understand it, that we be not as those by the wayside. Then [we must] hold firmly what we have heard; not to be lovers of money. For what profit is it if I hear and hold [the word], but through love of money choke it?

¹⁶ Another parable he set before them, saying: The kingdom of the heavens is likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat, and went away. But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then appeared also the tares. And the servants of the householder, coming, said to him: Lord, did you not sow good seed in your field? Whence, then, has it the tares? But he said to them: An enemy, a man, did this. And the servants said to him: Do you wish, then, that we go and gather them up? But he said: No; lest, while gathering the tares, you root up the wheat together with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers: Gather first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. In the former parable he said that the fourth part of the seed fell into the good earth; but in the present [parable] he shows that not even that very [seed] which fell into the good earth did the enemy leave incorrupt, because of our sleeping and being slack. The field, then, is the world, or the soul of each one. The sower, Christ. The good seed, the good men, or [good] thoughts. The tares, the heresies, or the wicked thoughts. And he who sowed these, the devil. And the men who slept, those who through slackness give place to the heretics and to the wicked thoughts. And the servants, the angels, who are indignant at there being heresies, or wickednesses, in the soul, and wish to pluck up and cut off from life both the heretics and those who think wicked things. God does not permit the heretics to be consumed through wars, lest the righteous also suffer with them and be consumed together. Likewise neither, on account of the wicked thoughts, does God wish to cut off the man, lest the wheat too be destroyed with [them]. For example, if Matthew, being a tare, had been cut off from life, there would have been cut off together with him also the wheat of the word that was afterward to spring up from him; likewise also Paul, and the thief; for these, being tares, were not cut off, but were permitted to live, that their virtue thereafter might grow. He says, therefore, to the angels, that, At the consummation, then you shall gather the tares, that is, the heretics. But how? Into bundles, that is, having bound their hands and feet; for no one can then any longer work, but every active power is bound. But the wheat, that is, the saints, are gathered by the reaper-angels into the heavenly barns. Likewise, then, also the wicked thoughts which Paul had when he persecuted were burned by the fire of Christ, which he came to cast upon the earth; but the wheat, that is, the good thoughts, were gathered into the barns of the Church.

¹⁷ Another parable he set before them, saying: The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which is indeed the least of all the seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than all the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and lodge in its branches. The grain of mustard seed is the preaching and the apostles; for these, seeming to be few, embraced the whole inhabited world; so that the birds of heaven—that is, those who have a light and winged mind toward the things above—rest in them. And you too, then, be a grain of mustard seed: small in appearance, but ardent and zealous and keen and reproving; for thus you will become greater than the herbs—that is, than the weak and imperfect—being yourself perfect, so that the birds of heaven, that is, the angels, may rest in you, who live an angelic life. For these too rejoice over the righteous.

¹⁸ Another parable he spoke to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, until the whole was leavened. By the leaven he means the apostles, as also [by] the grain of mustard seed. As, then, the leaven, being small, transforms the whole [batch of] meal into itself, so too you will transform the whole world, even though you are few. And a measure was a certain measure among the Jews. But some understand by the leaven the preaching; and by the three measures, the three powers of the soul, the rational, the spirited, and the appetitive; and by the woman, the soul, which hid the preaching in all the powers, and mingled it in, and was leavened, and wholly sanctified by it; for we must all be leavened and transformed unto the better. For he says, until the whole was leavened.

¹⁹ All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. He brings forward the prophet foretelling how Jesus was to teach, namely that [it would be] in parables, lest you suppose that Christ devised some new manner of teaching. And the [word], That it might be fulfilled, do not take in a causal sense, but from the issue of the matter. For Christ did not teach in this manner in order that the prophecy might be fulfilled, but because he taught in parables, the [saying] of the prophet is found, from the result, to have been fulfilled in him. And without a parable he did not speak to them—then only [was this so]; for he did not always speak in parables. For the Lord uttered the things that were hidden from the foundation of the world. For he himself revealed to us the mysteries in the heavens.

²⁰ Then, dismissing the crowds, Jesus came into the house. He dismissed the crowds then, when they were profited nothing by the teaching. For he himself spoke in parables, that they might ask him; but they, not caring for this, nor seeking to know anything, are reasonably dismissed by him. And his disciples came to him, saying: Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. Concerning this one alone they ask, as the others were thought by them to be plainer. And tares are all the destructive things that grow up upon the wheat: darnel, vetch, wild oats, and the rest.

²¹ But he, answering, said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; and the field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the tares are the sons of the evil one. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the consummation of the age; and the reapers are the angels. As, then, the tares are gathered and burned with fire, so shall it be in the consummation of this age: the Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all the things that cause stumbling, and those who work iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Whatever needed to be said has been said above. For we said that he is here treating of the heresies, which are permitted to be until the consummation. For if we slew the heretics and cut them off, there would be insurrections and battles, and perhaps many of the faithful would be destroyed in the insurrections; but also Paul and the thief had tares before they believed; they were not cut off, then, at that time, on account of the wheat that was to spring up in them; and the tares were burned by the fire of the Spirit and by the [Spirit’s] fervor.

²² Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father; he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Since the sun seems to us the most brilliant of all the stars, for this cause he compares the brilliance of the righteous to the sun. Yet they shall shine even beyond the sun; and perhaps, since Christ is the Sun of righteousness, then the righteous shall shine forth as Christ; for they too shall be gods.

²³ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man, having found, hid, and from his joy goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. The field is the world; the treasure, the preaching and the knowledge of Christ. And it is hidden in the world. For we preach, says Paul, a wisdom that has been hidden; and he who seeks the knowledge of God finds it; and all that he has, whether Hellenic doctrines, or wicked habits, or money, he straightway lays aside, and buys the field—that is, the world; for he who has the knowledge of Christ has the world as his own possession; for, having nothing, he holds all things, and has the elements as his servants, commanding them as did Jesus, as did Moses.

²⁴ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. The sea is the present life. The merchants are those who pass through it and seek to find some knowledge. Many things, then, seem to be pearls, [namely] the opinions of the many wise; but one is the precious [pearl]. For the truth is one, which is Christ. As, then, the pearl is recorded to be born in an oyster, into which, when it opens its valves, lightning flashes; then again, when it closes these, from the lightning and the dew the pearl is conceived, and for this cause it is most white; so too Christ was conceived in the Virgin from the lightning from above, [namely] the Holy Spirit; and just as he who has a pearl, often holding it in his hand, himself knows how much wealth he has, while others are ignorant of it; so too the preaching is hidden in the obscure and lowly. We must, then, acquire this pearl, giving all things.

²⁵ Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a net cast into the sea and gathering of every kind, which, when it was filled, they drew up upon the shore, and sitting down, gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away; so shall it be in the consummation of the age. The angels shall go forth, and shall separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Fearful is this parable; for it shows that, even if we believe, yet have not a good life, we shall be cast into the fire; for the net is the teaching of the fisher-apostles, which was woven from both signs and prophetic testimonies. For the things which the apostles taught, they confirmed both by the wonders and by the voices of the prophets. This net, then, gathered from every kind: barbarians, Greeks, harlots, publicans, robbers. But when it was filled—that is, when the world is consummated—then those in the net are sorted out. For even if we have believed, yet be found bad, we are cast away; but those who are not such are put into vessels, I mean the eternal dwellings. And every deed, whether good or wicked, is said to be food of the soul. For the soul has intelligible teeth. Then, therefore, the soul gnashes these, that is, being crushed in its active powers, since it did such things.

²⁶ Jesus says to them: Have you understood all these things? They say to him: Yes, Lord. But he said to them: Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple unto the kingdom of the heavens is like a man, a householder, who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old. Do you see how the parables made them more attentive? Behold, then, those who were otherwise unintelligent and unlearned understood the things hardly spoken. Whence the Savior, praising them, says, that Every scribe, and so forth. For he calls them scribes, as learned in the law; but even if they were learned in the law, they did not remain in the law, but were made disciples unto the kingdom—that is, unto the knowledge of Christ—and are able to bring forth both the things of the New and of the Old. The householder, then, is Christ, as rich. For in him are the treasures of wisdom. He, teaching the new things, then thus props them up with testimonies from the old; for example, he said that you shall give account for an idle word—this is the new. Then he adduced a testimony: For by your words you shall be justified, and shall be condemned—this is the old. Like to these, then, are the apostles, such as Paul, saying: Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.

²⁷ And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue. He spoke these parables, since he was also about to speak others a little later. And he passes over, that he might benefit others also by his presence. And by his own country understand Nazareth; for in it he was brought up. And in the synagogue he teaches, speaking in public and with boldness, that they might not afterward be able to say that he taught certain unlawful things.

²⁸ So that they were astonished, and said: Whence has this man this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence, then, has this man all these things? And they were offended in him. Being unintelligent, the Nazarenes supposed that the low birth and the meanness of one’s forebears hinder a man with regard to being useful to God. For granted that Jesus was a mere man, and not God; what hindered him from becoming great in wonders? They are found, then, both unintelligent and envious. For they ought rather to have prided themselves, that their own country had brought forth such a good. And the Lord had brothers and sisters, the children of Joseph, whom he begot of the wife of his brother Clopas; for when Clopas had died childless, Joseph took his wife according to the law, and begot of her six children, four males and two females, [namely] Mary, who was called the daughter of Clopas according to the law, and Salome. And the [phrase], are with us, [stands] instead of, dwell here among us. They too, then, were offended in the Lord, just as Herod supposed him [to cast out] the demons by the demons.

²⁹ But Jesus said to them: A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and in his own house. And he did not do there many mighty works, because of their unbelief. Observe Christ, how he does not insult them, but meekly says: A prophet is not without honor, and so forth. For we men are accustomed always to despise the things in familiarity, but to welcome the foreign. And he added the [phrase], in his own house, because his brethren also, those of the same house, envied him. And he did not do there many mighty works, because of their unbelief, sparing them, lest, remaining unbelieving even after the signs, they should be the more chastised. Many [works], then, he did not do, but a few, that they might not be able to say, that, If he had done [them] at all, we would have believed. But understand also thus, that even to this day Jesus is dishonored in his own country—that is, among the Jews; but we, the foreigners, honor him.