Today’s gospel lesson is the conclusion of Jesus’ Sermon in Parables.[1] He has been teaching from a boat to crowds gathered by the sea. After telling the parable of the wheat and the weeds—the end of last week’s lesson, Jesus goes ashore and into a house. His disciples follow him and ask him to explain the parable of the weeds and wheat. The problem at this point in the narrative is that some believe and persist in their belief, and others do not believe and continue in their unbelief. This is the Jewish Christian community's situation for which the evangelist history came to call Matthew writes.
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