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Another story. "God's kingdom is like yeast that a woman works into the dough for dozens of loaves of barley bread - and waits while the dough rises."
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All Jesus did that day was tell stories - a long storytelling afternoon.
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His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy: I will open my mouth and tell stories; I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world's first day.
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Jesus dismissed the congregation and went into the house. His disciples came in and said, "Explain to us that story of the thistles in the field."
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So he explained. "The farmer who sows the pure seed is the Son of Man.
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The field is the world, the pure seeds are subjects of the kingdom, the thistles are subjects of the Devil,
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and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, the curtain of history. The harvest hands are angels.
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"The picture of thistles pulled up and burned is a scene from the final act.
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The Son of Man will send his angels, weed out the thistles from his kingdom,
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pitch them in the trash, and be done with them. They are going to complain to high heaven, but nobody is going to listen.
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At the same time, ripe, holy lives will mature and adorn the kingdom of their Father. "Are you listening to this? Really listening?