Matthew Chapter Thirteen Poem by Day Williams

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house
And sat down by the lake.2 Such large crowds came
And gathered round him that he stepped aboard

A boat and sat in it, while all the people
Stood on the shore.3 He told them many things
In parables like this: "A farmer was

Sowing grain in his fields,4 and as he scattered
The seed, some fell along the path, where birds
Came by and ate it up.5 Some fell on rocky

Places, where there was little depth of earth.
It sprang up quickly in the shallow soil,
6 But when the sun came up, the plants
were scorched

By the heat and they withered, for they had
No root.7 Some seeds fell in thorns, which grew up
And choked the plants,8 but some fell on good soil,

Where it produced a crop−a hundred, sixty
Or thirty times what had been sown.9 He who
Has ears, let him hear." 10 The disciples came

To him and asked, "Why do you talk to them
In parables? " 11 He answered, "You have been
Given the chance to understand the secrets

Of heaven's kingdom, but not them,12 for where
A man has something, more is given him
‘Til he has plenty. He who does not have,

Even the little that he has will be
Removed,13 and that is why I talk to them
In parables: "Though seeing, they don't see;

Though hearing, they don't hear or understand.
14 In them Isaiah's prophecy's fulfilled:
"‘You will be ever hearing but shall not

Understand; you'll be ever seeing but
Never perceiving,15 for this people's heart
Has become hard; their ears almost deaf,

And they have closed their eyes, or with their eyes
They'd see, and with their ears they'd hear,
and with
Their hearts they'd understand and turn, and I

Would heal them, ' 16 but you're fortunate that you
Have eyes that see and ears that hear,17 because
Believe me, many prophets and good men

Have longed to see what you see but did not
See it, and longed to hear what you hear but
Did not hear it.18 Here's what the parable

About the sower means: 19 When a man hears
The message of the kingdom and does not
Grasp it, the evil one arrives and takes

Away what was sown in his heart. This is
Like the seed sown along the path.20 The one
Receiving seed that fell on rocky ground

Is he who hears the word and eagerly accepts
It,21 but because he has no root, he lasts
Only a short time, and when trouble or

Persecution arrives due to the word,
He quickly falls away.22 The seed sown in thorns
Is he who hears the word, but then the worries

Of life and wealth's illusions choke the word
To death so that no crop's produced.23 The seed
Sown on good soil is he who hears the word

And understands it. Such men show a crop:
Some yield a hundred and some sixty and
Some thirty times what was sown." 24 Jesus told

Another parable to them: "The kingdom
Of heaven's like a man who sowed good seed
Out in his field,25 but while his men were sleeping,

His enemy came in and sowed some weeds
Among the wheat, and left there.26 When the wheat
Came up and ripened, weeds appeared as well.

27 The owner's servants came to him and said,
‘Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field?
Where then did weeds come from? ' 28 ‘An enemy

Did this, ' he said. The servants asked, ‘Do you
Want us to go and pull them up? ' 29 ‘No, ' he
Replied, ‘because while you are pulling weeds,

You may root up the wheat with them.30 Let them
Both grow together ‘til the harvest. Then
I'll tell the harvesters to first collect

The weeds and tie them up in bundles to
Be burned; then gather up the wheat and bring
It in my barn.'" 31 Another parable

He told them was this: "Heaven's kingdom's like
A mustard seed, which a man took and planted
In his field.32 Though it is the smallest of

All seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest
Of garden plants and it becomes a tree,
So the birds come perch in its branches; " 33 yet

Another parable he told them was
This: "Heaven's kingdom is like yeast a woman
Takes and mixes into a large amount

Of flour until it permeates the dough."
34 All these things Jesus spoke in parables
To the crowd; he did not say anything

To them without use of a parable,
35 So was fulfilled what the prophet spoke:
"I'll open up my mouth in parables;

I'll utter things that have been hidden since
The world's creation, " 36 then he left the crowd
And went into the house. His followers

Came and requested, "Please explain to us
The parable of weeds out in the field."
37 He answered them, "The one who
sowed good seed-

He is the Son of Man; 38 the field's the world;
The good seed represents the kingdom's sons.
The weeds are Satan's sons; 39 the enemy

Who sows them is the devil, and the harvest,
End of the world; the reapers, angels.40 As
The weeds are gathered up and burned in fire,

So it will be at the world's end.41 The Son
Of Man will send his angels out, and they
Will weed out of his kingdom everything

That causes sin and all the wrongdoers.
42 They'll throw them in the fiery furnace, where
There will be tears and teeth that gnash,43 and then

The good will shine out like the sun in their
Father's kingdom. He who has ears should hear.
44 Heaven's kingdom is like a treasure hid

Within a field a man discovered, then
Buried again, then in his joy he went,
Sold all he had and bought that field.45 Again,

Heaven's kingdom is like a merchant who
Was looking for fine pearls,46 and when he found
One of great value, he went off and sold

Everything that he owned and bought it.
47 Another illustration: heaven's kingdom
Is like a net a fisherman has dropped

Into a lake that catches every kind
Of fish.48 When it is full, the fisherman
Pulls it up on the shore. Then he sits down,

Collects the good fish in his baskets, but
Tosses the bad away.49 That's how it will
Be at the age's end, when angels will

Arrive and separate the wicked from
The righteous,50 casting them into the fire,
Where men will weep and gnash their teeth.
51 Have you

Understood all these things? " asked Jesus. "Yes, "
They answered.52 "Therefore, " he continued, "those
Experts in Jewish law who have become

My followers have double treasures- old
And new." 53 When Jesus had concluded with
These parables, he moved on,54 coming to

His hometown, where he taught the people in
Their synagogue, and overwhelmed them with
His wisdom and his miracles. "How is

This possible? " they questioned.55 "Is he not
The carpenter's son? And is not his mother
Named Mary; aren't his brothers James and Joseph,

Simon and Judas? 56 Aren't his sisters all
With us? Then where did he get all these things? "
57 And they became irate with him, but Jesus

Told them, "A prophet's honored everywhere
But his own country and in his own house, "
58 So there he hardly did a miracle

Due to their unbelief: their minds were dull.