“The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field.

Matt. 13:24

4. (a) Who is the man in the illustration? (b) When and how did Jesus start to engage in the sowing of this seed?

⁴ Who is the man who sowed the fine seed in his field? Jesus provides the answer later when he explains to his disciples: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man.” (Matt. 13:37) Jesus, the “Son of man,” prepared the field for planting during the three and a half years of his earthly ministry. (Matt. 8:20; 25:31; 26:64) Then from Pentecost 33 C.E. onward, he started to sow the fine seed​—“the sons of the kingdom.” This sowing evidently took place when Jesus, as Jehovah’s representative, began to pour out holy spirit upon the disciples, thereby anointing them as God’s sons.b (Acts 2:33) The fine seed developed into mature wheat. So the objective in sowing the fine seed was eventually to gather the full number of those who would become joint heirs and rulers with Jesus in his Kingdom.