Second, each parable involves a hiddenness that eventually becomes visible. As we read Matthew 13, we are presented with one image after another of this hidden-to-visible pattern. We have generic seeds planted in a generic field—seeds in which are hidden the potential of a mature plant and eventually a harvest of thousands more seeds, seeds that are hidden in soil where their germination and growth are mysterious and concealed until they sprout and mature. We have weeds, whose identity is initially