The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (13 page)

The Sign of Jonah

38
 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
³⁹
But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
⁴⁰
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
⁴¹
The men of Nin'eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something
greater than Jonah
is here.
⁴²
The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something
greater than Solomon
is here.

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

43
 "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none.
⁴⁴
Then he says
, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.
⁴⁵
Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with
this evil generation
."

The True Kindred of Jesus

46
 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and
his brethren
 
*
stood outside, asking to speak to him.
 
^g
48
But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?" 
*
⁴⁹
And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brethren!
⁵⁰
For whoever does the
will of my Father
in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

The Parable of the Sower

13
  
That same day
Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
²
And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach.
³
And he told them many things in
parables
, saying: "A sower went out to sow.
⁴
And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
⁵
Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
⁶
but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.
⁷
Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
⁸
Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
⁹
He who has ears,
 
^h
let him hear."

The Purpose of the Parables

10
 Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"
¹¹
And he answered them, "
To you
it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
¹²
For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 
*
¹³
This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
¹⁴
With them indeed is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah
which says:

  
'You shall indeed hear but never understand,

  
  and you shall indeed see but never perceive.

¹⁵
For this people's heart has grown dull,

  
  and their ears are heavy of hearing,

  
  and their eyes they have closed,

  
lest they should perceive with their eyes,

  
  and hear with their ears,

  
and understand with their heart,

  
  and turn for me to heal them.'

¹⁶
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
¹⁷
Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

18
 "
Hear then the parable
of the sower.
¹⁹
When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.
²⁰
As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
²¹
yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
 
^i
22
As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
²³
As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat

24
 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;
²⁵
but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and
sowed weeds
among the wheat, and went away.
²⁶
So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
²⁷
And the servants
 
^j
of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?'
²⁸
He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' The servants
 
^j
said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
²⁹
But he said, 'No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
³⁰
Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'
 
"

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

31
 Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field;
³²
it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and
becomes a tree
, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

The Parable of the Leaven

33
 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is
like leaven
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened."

Why Jesus Speaks in Parables

34
 All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable.
³⁵
This was to fulfil what was spoken
by the prophet
:
 
^k

  
"I will open my mouth in parables,

  
I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

36
 
Then he left
the crowds and
went into the house
. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."
³⁷
He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man;
³⁸
the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one,
³⁹
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil;
the harvest
is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.
⁴⁰
Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age.
⁴¹
The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,
⁴²
and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth
.
⁴³
Then the righteous will
shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Three Parables about the Kingdom

44
 "
The kingdom of heaven
is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45
 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
⁴⁶
who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

47
 "Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a net
which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind;
⁴⁸
when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.
⁴⁹
So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous,
⁵⁰
and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Treasures New and Old

51
 "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes."
⁵²
And he said to them, "Therefore
every scribe
who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." 
*

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

53
 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
⁵⁴
and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
⁵⁵
Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not
his brethren
 
*
James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
⁵⁶
And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"
⁵⁷
And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."
⁵⁸
And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

The Death of John the Baptist

14
  
At that
time
Herod the tetrarch
heard about the fame of Jesus;
²
and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him."
³
For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Hero'di-as, his brother Philip's wife;
 
^l
4
because John said to him, "
It is not lawful
for you to have her."
⁵
And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
⁶
But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Hero'di-as danced before the company, and pleased Herod,
⁷
so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
⁸
Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter."
⁹
And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests
he commanded
it to be given;
¹⁰
he sent and had John beheaded in the prison,
¹¹
and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
¹²
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it; and they went and told Jesus.