Parables of Jesus Part 2: The Weeds

This free Bible lesson, The Parable of The Weeds, will teach preschool and elementary students about the lesson Jesus taught when He was living on Earth as a human and the greatest teacher of all time.

This lesson is part of a summer series titled "Jesus Makes a Splash: Lessons from the Parables of Jesus".

This lesson comes from the Seeds of Truth Elementary Bible Curriculum that is free to anyone looking for ideas to "plant seeds" into the hearts of children as they are learning about Jesus. Find more details HERE.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeds of Truth podcast, where seeds of biblical truth are planted into the hearts and minds of listeners so they can grow into a relationship with Jesus. I'm your host, Miss Dana. Thank you for joining me today. Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome back. This is part two of a series about parables of Jesus. So remember, a parable is a short and simple story that uses everyday situations or ideas to teach a big lesson. The parable that we're going to learn about today is recorded in one of the four gospel books, and that's Matthew. It is called the Parable of the Weeds. And it's also sometimes known as the parable of the wheat and the weeds, or the parable of the wheat and the tares, and that's T-A-R-E-S. So the parable of the weeds is also about sowing seed, just like the parable of the farmer's seed that we talked about in the last episode. So remember, we use seeds to grow new plants, crops, or fruit. And whenever we sow seeds, that is what is called when we plant seeds so they can start growing new plants. So the parable of the weeds is about weeds in a wheat field. And wheat is a golden-colored grassy crop that is grown by farmers to make food like bread, pasta, and cereal. And I think we know what weeds are. So weeds are any plant that is growing where it is not wanted. It's a plant that's in the wrong place. Weeds are plants that compete with or crowd out other plants. They steal sunlight, water, and nutrients from other plants. They are very tough. They grow quickly and they spread fast. Plants that are unwanted or not useful in a specific place. And weeds are not planted, they just grow. So I'm gonna read to you again from the NIRV translation of the Bible. And this is from Matthew chapter 13, verses 24 through 30. And as I'm reading, I want you to think about the symbols of these things that are in this parable. So who do you think the man who planted seed is? Who do you think the enemy is? What is the wheat a symbol for? And then what are the weeds a symbol for? So remember, we're thinking about symbols or things that represent other things. And remember, Jesus used these parables as stories of these familiar events or familiar experiences to teach a bigger lesson. Okay, so here's what the parable says. It says Jesus told the crowd another story. Here is what the kingdom of heaven is like, he said. A man planted good seed in his field, but while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came. The enemy planted weeds among the wheat and then went away. The wheat began to grow and form grain. At the same time, weeds appeared. The owner's slaves came to him. They said, Sir, didn't you plant good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from? An enemy did this, he replied. The slaves asked him, Do you want us to go and pull up the weeds? No, the owner answered. While you are pulling up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the workers what to do. Here is what I will say to them. First, collect the weeds, tie them in bundles to be burned, then gather the wheat, bring it into my storeroom. Okay, so if you would like to go ahead and pause here and reread the parable and try to decide what you think the meaning is of this parable, or discuss it with someone, you can do that, and then you can come back and hear the explanation. So remember, some of the people did not understand when Jesus taught in parables, and he would often explain the meanings to his disciples or those people who were closest to him. We can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand whenever we don't understand something on our own in the Bible. The Holy Spirit guides believers to comprehend or understand what we read in the Bible. And those of us who believe in, trust, and follow Jesus have the Holy Spirit living inside of us because Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of people when they ask Jesus to be their savior. So with this parable, Jesus actually explained the meaning of this parable to his disciples, and it's recorded a few verses later after the parable. In this parable, Jesus is teaching about how the enemy wants to rob us of anything good that God is doing in our lives. The enemy of God is Satan or the devil. So the enemy in this parable is a symbol of Satan. When God is working through his people, Satan wants to do anything that he can to disrupt God's plan of the person producing fruit for Jesus. Fruit in a Christian's life means the amount of good that comes from service to Jesus. So when the disciples asked Jesus to explain the meaning of the parable, he said, The one who planted the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed stands for the people who belong to the kingdom, the weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who plants them is the devil. The harvest is judgment day, and the workers are angels. So the man who planted seed in this parable is a symbol of Jesus. Only Jesus can change someone's heart when they hear the gospel. And the gospel is the good news or the message about Jesus and the kingdom of God that is to come. The good seed or the wheat in this parable is a symbol of the people who believe in Jesus. A follower of Jesus is called a Christian. Since Jesus is the man who planted the seed and the believer in Jesus is the good seed, that means that Jesus has saved that person. The person that is the good seed or the wheat in this parable belongs to the kingdom of God. Belonging to the kingdom of God means that you have believed in and trusted Jesus and asked him to save you. Remember, sin separates us from God, but Jesus offers us salvation in a way to not have to be separated from God anymore. Jesus died on the cross to take our sins away. When we ask him to save us, he will. Then we will live with him forever in heaven after our bodies die on this earth. Only Jesus can save sinners. So again, the enemy in this parable is a symbol of Satan. The devil, Satan, will do anything he can to disrupt God's plan of working in the life of the believer in Jesus. The weeds in this parable are a symbol of the people who belong to the evil one, or people who say they are followers of Jesus but are not true followers. The enemy plants the weeds near believers in Jesus to try to disrupt God's plan for the true believer's life. So that person may have people put into their lives by the evil one to try to distract them from Jesus. Now, as soon as a person belongs to Jesus, Satan cannot steal that person. That is why he tries so hard to do anything he can to make the person stray away from Jesus and not do anything good for Jesus in the kingdom of God. So as you go through your life, you might meet people who say they are followers of Jesus, but they may not fully understand what that means. They may believe something that is not found in the Bible, and they may think they may believe something that is completely wrong about the Bible. So how can we be sure that we are always faithful to the truths that are found in the Bible? We can be sure that we are faithful to the Bible by learning what the Bible says. You should read and study the Bible. And when you don't understand something that you read in the Bible, you can pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. You can ask a trusted adult to help guide you and then check to see if what they told you matches what the Bible says. So interestingly, in this parable, tares, T-A-R-E-S, some translations are is used for the word weeds. So some of our translations will say that the weeds are planted, and some translations will say that there are tares that are planted. So tares are also translated as weeds in the Bible. And they are a seed that looks like wheat while it is growing. But then as it gets closer to the time of harvest, tares turn black. So if tares get mixed in with wheat, it must be separated out. Because if bread is baked with wheat that is mixed with tares, it would be poisonous. Tares are a symbol of the presence of people who don't believe in the truth of Jesus. These people are poisonous to the spiritual health of the true believer in Jesus. So as a review, here are the different parts of this parable that Jesus told to teach an important lesson about how Satan wants to try to rob believers of anything good that God is doing. Jesus is a symbol of the man who planted the good seed. Satan is the enemy. The people who are saved by Jesus and who belong to the kingdom of God are symbolized by the good seed or the wheat. And then the people who do not belong to the kingdom of God are symbolized by the weeds or the tares. Jesus goes on in his explanation that the weeds will be pulled up and burned in the fire. At the end of the age or the end of the earth as we know it, the angels will separate the true believers in Jesus from the people who do not believe in Jesus. The true believers in Jesus will get to live with Jesus forever in heaven. Jesus said about this in Matthew 13, 43. Then God's people will shine like the sun in their father's kingdom. Believers in Jesus already shine here on earth because the Holy Spirit lives inside of all believers, but in heaven, in God's kingdom, we will shine even more. True believers are people who believe that Jesus is God and that he came to earth as a human to die on the cross and take away sin. True believers have trusted in Jesus as their Savior and have asked him to be the Lord of their life. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for your word, the Bible. Thank you for the parables that Jesus used to teach big lessons. Please help us to recognize when weeds come into our lives. And please help us when we study our Bible to learn as much as we can so that we can be strong against our enemy. We love you and we praise you. In Jesus' sweet name, amen. I hope that you enjoyed this parable. And please join me next time. We'll be talking about the parable of the absent owner. Until then, God bless. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Seeds of Truth podcast. For more free Bible resources, visit seeds of truth ministries.com.