DAY FIFTY-EIGHT: 

The Kingdom of Heaven 

Matthew 13:1-58 

Today we look at Jesus' favorite teaching method, parables. The word parable comes from the Greek word parabole, which means to throw something out, like throwing out hay to feed animals. When He spoke in parables, Jesus "threw out" truths about the Kingdom of Heaven. He didn't teach like a theology professor in a seminary, with abstract concepts and big words. He used illustrations from everyday life to teach deep spiritual realities. We read, "And he told them many things in parables.." (v. 3) This chapter contains seven parables, two of which Jesus explains at the request of His disciples.

The first parable was the story of a man who went out to sow seed in his field. Some of the seed landed on the hard path and the birds came to eat it. Some landed in rocky ground, where the soil was thin. The seeds sprouted quickly, but they withered under the hot sun because they didn't have deep roots. Other seeds landed among the weeds, which competed with the seeds and choked them out. But some of the seed landed where the farmer intended, in the good soil which was plowed and ready. This seed grew and bore a great harvest, some producing 30, 60, even 100 times as much as was planted. Jesus concluded, "He who has ears, let him hear." (v. 9)

A simple little story, right? And the disciples each had two ears. But they didn't understand, and they knew that the crowd probably didn't understand either. Why teach about the Kingdom in this roundabout way? Jesus' answer is shocking: "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (vv. 11-12) Didn't Jesus come to proclaim the Good News. Why, then, is He hiding it from His listeners? "This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." Jesus said that Isaiah foretold His teaching style, so that they would hear yet not understand. Why? This is part of God's judgment of Israel's faithlessness: "For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them." (Isaiah 6:9-10)

Jesus then explained the parable of the sower. This explanation will help us to understand the other parables. Jesus said that the seed is the Word of God, the message of the Gospel. For some hearers the Gospel lands on a hard heart. The devil comes and steals it before it can have any effect. The rocky soil is like a person who gladly receives the truth of God, but who gives up when times get bad. The weedy soil represents those beset by the cares of this world. This chokes out faith in God. The good soil represents those who hear, believe and live by the Word. They are fruitful disciples who help the Kingdom to grow. This is a good time to pause and ask yourself what kind of soil am I? What kind of soil do I want to be?

Then Jesus started reeling off more parables:

• A man sowed good seed in his field. Afterward an enemy crept in and sowed weeds among the good seed. When the seeds grew up it was apparent that there were weeds among the wheat. A servant asked if he should go and pull up the weeds. The master said no, to do that would also uproot the wheat. Let them both grow until harvest, and then separate the wheat from the weeds, and burn those pesky weeds;
• Jesus compared the Kingdom of Heaven to a mustard seed. This is not the whole mustard seed that we use as a spice. He was referring to black mustard, grown mainly for oil. It produces tiny black seeds which can grow into a tree-like shrub as much as 15 feet high. The birds love these oil seed and gobble them up;
• Next Jesus said that the Kingdom is like yeast mixed in with bread dough. It caused the bread to rise;

The disciples stopped Jesus at this point and asked Him to explain the parable of the wheat and tares (weeds), and He obliged. The Son of Man is the sower of the good seed, which grows into believers. The weed-sower is Satan, and his seeds produce lovers of evil. The harvest is the end of the age, and angels are the reapers. The wheat is gathered into the barn (the Kingdom) while the weeds are burned. This represents the fiery furnace of hell. "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." An aside here: Some people think that the early Christians invented the concept of hell, that Jesus was all-loving and all-forgiving. In fact, He speaks of hell far, far more than anyone else in the Bible. Paul never uses the word. James uses it just once. Every other occurrence comes out of Jesus' mouth. That's why Jesus said, "He who has ears, let him hear."

Back to more parables:

• The Kingdom is like a treasure that a man finds buried in a field. He goes and sells all he has to buy the field and claim the treasure;
• The Kingdom is like a merchant who found a magnificent pearl (the King James Version gives us our figure of speech "a pearl of great price.") He, too, sold all that he had so that he could buy this pearl;
• The Kingdom is like a fisherman's net. The net catches all kinds of fish, some good and some not so good. When the net is pulled in the fisherman separates his catch. He keeps the good fish but threw away the bad. Jesus explained that this is yet another picture of judgment day. Angels will separate the righteous from the evil and throw the evil into the fiery furnace. "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Let's try to sort out what these parables teach us about the Kingdom of Heaven. First, the message of the Gospel goes throughout the world. "The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News!" Some receive the Gospel and thrive. Some even make great sacrifices for the sake of the Gospel, giving up all that they have in this world to gain the Kingdom. Others straddle the fence, trying to keep a foot in both the Kingdom of Heaven and in this world, Others start out enthusiastically but quit when the going gets tough. And some are hardened. The devil has had his way with them and they will not listen to God. Judgment awaits them. The good news is that the Holy Spirit can soften the hardest hearts and bring lukewarm Christians to repentance. Never give up on the people the Lord has put on your heart! 

We read in verses 51 and 52: "Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, 'Yes.' And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." That's a beautiful image! The scribes studied the Old Testament, and when they add to that Jesus' teachings you have a great combination!

The chapter ends with the people of Nazareth questioning how their home-town boy could become so uppity. Why, we known Him since He was a kid, and we know His family! Jesus replied, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household." Jesus couldn't minister there because of their unbelief.

Tomorrow we look at a different type of parable, one that uses people instead of objects to teach God's truth.

Here's a catchy little song that I hope will be a holy earworm for you. Once again Blogspot's clunky search engine won't let me pick the video, so here's the link. It's well worth your time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgiYIhJJBKQ