In the first group of parables, Jesus Christ sets forth His teaching on spreading the Church or the Kingdom of Heaven among men. By these names one should understand Christ's Church on the earth, which at first consisted of the twelve apostles and Christ's closest disciples; but after the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles on the day of Pentecost it began to spread quickly to the various lands in which the apostles preached. According to its spiritual essence, Christ's Church is not limited by any territory, nationality, culture, language or other outward indications, for God's grace penetrates and abides in men's souls, illumining their mind and conscious, directing their will toward good. People who have become members of Christ's Church are called "sons of the Kingdom" in the parables, in contradistinction to unbelievers and unrepentant sinners who are called "sons of the Evil One" by Christ. The conditions for spreading and strengthening the Kingdom of God in men are related in the parables of the sower, of the tares, of the seed growing secretly, of the mustard seed, of the leaven, and of the treasure hidden in the field.
ŠV.Potapov