Parables of Jesus
Tilling the Soul Soil
Matthew 13:3-23
May 3, 2009
This week we will start looking at the parable of the seed and the sower. This parable is found in all three of the similar gospel accounts—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Although they all are similar, there are some differences. I’ve been led to focus on Matthew’s version.
Here’s what is going to happen. This is the parable of parables. It is one of the most important parables for understanding Jesus’ parables and Jesus’ message concerning the kingdom through parables. I didn’t start with this one because I felt that we needed to get our feet wet. But this one is crucial to our grasping the message of Jesus partly because of two reasons: not only does it tell the parable but Jesus gives an interpretation. Second, Jesus explains why he uses parable to teach about the kingdom.
Because of these two facets, this week we are going to look at why Jesus uses parables and what is the purpose of the parables as a whole. In two weeks we will then look more closely at this particular parable. This gives you a couple of weeks to digest today’s teaching so that you might be ready to receive the word (the seed) of the parable. In the theme of the parable, we are going to till the soil. We are going to get the ground ready to plant and hopefully yield a bountiful harvest. BTW, next week is Mother’s Day so we will take a look at a Mother’s Day theme of the Perfect Mother.
A little boy was sitting sadly on the curb beside his lawn mower, when along came a minister riding a bicycle. The minister noticed that the boy appeared discouraged, so he thought he would try to help.
"Hello there!" said the minister. "How would you like to trade your lawn mower for this bicycle?"
"Sure, mister," the little boy responded, and went on his merry way.
A few days later, the boy and the minister crossed paths again. The minister said, "I think you took me on our trade. I keep crankin’ that old lawn mower, but it won’t start."
"You gotta cuss it," said the little boy.
"Well I can’t do that," said the minister. "I’m a preacher. I forgot about cussin’ a long time ago."
The little boy answered, "Just keep on crankin’, preacher; it’ll come back to ya."
So today we start with a question, “Why did Jesus use parables?”
First of all, we find very little of any evidence that rabbis taught people through the use of parables at least in any surviving literature. They may have but there is practically no evidence of it until after Jesus. However, we do find people using parables to give a message in the bible. And this gets at the difference between a story told to teach a lesson and a parable. In the bible, parables were told by a special group of people. Anyone know who that might be? Prophets. Ezekiel. Jeremiah. Hosea’s life was a parable. And perhaps most famous of all: Nathan. Remember when Nathan went to King David? King David was the most powerful man in the area so what did Nathan do to confront David of his sin: Nathan used a parable.
The main idea of why a parable is different than a story is that parables are prophetic.
Parables are Prophetic
There are several characteristics that set apart a parable but we should know this. Stories were often told to teach people and often kids lessons just as they are today. “The moral of the story is…” However, a parable wasn’t just a story with a lesson. A parable often took a familiar story with a familiar ending and turned it upside down in order for the hearer to hear what God was trying to say to them. An example of this is the parable of the good Samaritan. It seems to be a common story that Jewish people would have been familiar with. Except that the familiar story would have had the hero of the story be a common Jewish person not a Samaritan. Jesus turned it upside down to confront some common misconceptions of God and God’s grace.
The whole section of Matthew 13:10-17 is about the reason Jesus tells parables to teach the kingdom. He quotes a very famous passage from Isaiah 6 about the people of Israel who have eyes but can’t see and ears but don’t ear. Their hearts become hardened and God judges them. In doing so, Jesus is reminding the disciples that he tells parables because he is a prophet that speaks the word of God. He also telling them that this passage from Isaiah has been fulfilled.
For some people, this passage and especially the corresponding passage in Mark is confusing because at first glance it sounds like Jesus is saying that he tells parables “so that” (a quote from NIV in Mark) people will not be able to understand, which is contradictory to what the rest of the gospels reveal to us about Jesus and his ministry. But this appears that way because we do not understand the religious context of the parable being prophetic.
Jesus is saying that he tells parables because he is a prophet. He is identifying himself with all the messengers of God that came before but then goes on to say that he is even greater than they because they long to see what Jesus is showing the people and hear what Jesus is proclaiming in their day.
Jesus is also saying that people’s hearts have already been hardened which is why some are not responding to his message. Remember that grace always demands a response. They can’t get what Jesus is about. They are hearing the message of God’s limitless grace. They make excuses. They criticize. They are choosing to stay outside of the party that God is throwing.
Jesus is also saying that by using parables he is making it as plain as possible to everyone so that everyone has the opportunity to enter the kingdom by hearing and responding. Thus, we have the parable of the sower that describes the various ways people “hear” what Jesus is saying. The parables are meant to prevent people from entering but to reveal clearly whose hearts have already been hardened. So that Jesus’ parables are supremely prophetic.
A man showed up at a downtown’s churches door. He was a mess: ragged, dirty, and claimed to be homeless. He didn’t want any money but he really needed some food.
The pastor walked with him a couple of blocks to McDonald’s where the pastor bought a quarter-pounder value as the man waited outside. The pastor brought out the food where the man practically inhaled the sandwich and then picked up the drink and took a long slurp through the straw and then gave the pastor dirty look and said, “What is this, diet?”
Therefore as prophetic instruments, Jesus’ parables had several functions.
• They hide in order to reveal.
Jesus often told stories in answer to questions. He told stories to hide his intent. These stories often worked to disarm a person and get him or her to agree with some basic ideas just like Nathan did with King David. Except Jesus often turned the tables and gave an unexpected answer or asked an unexpected question. He hid the real meaning of the story so that he might challenge people especially the religious leaders of the day.
These parables invited the listener to understand something deeper and then act on what he or she just heard.
• They warn of judgment.
I know it isn’t quite PC to talk about a God that judges. I know that this concept has been abused by preachers many with good intentions. But we cannot escape that a truly loving God must judge our actions. If God truly loves justice and rightness (righteousness) then there has to be some standard of right and wrong. There has to be come standard of what is good and what is evil. Fortunately, the Bible reveals that God knows perfectly the difference. He sees into our hearts and is able to see what we often are able to hide from everyone else including ourselves.
Jesus warns the listerners that it isn’t enough to just agree with him and agree with the message. It must be lived out. Your life must be transformed as a result of truly hearing and understanding the message of God’s kingdom. Even this particular parable that we will engage deeper in two weeks talks about the way people respond to the message of God’s rule. Some don’t respond or respond negatively. Others respond with joy but for a couple of different reason never live it out. But some respond with a productive life and a productive faith that yields thirty times more than it should. Others yield sixty times more. While still others yield a hundred times more.
The question is not how much but are you responding and does your life bring forth any fruit? If there is no fruit, be assured that God knows what is truly most important in your life even when you fool others into thinking that you have placed Jesus first. Lastly:
• They call people to hear and obey.
Because Jesus warns of judgment, he also is inviting people to turn. He is inviting people to respond. As a prophet, he calls us to hear, understand, and transform our lives, every area (our relationships, our spending and jobs, our emotional growth, our physical health, our thinking and attitudes, our spiritual development and even the world in which we live and how we take care of it). Every part of us given for God. Any hearing of Jesus without productive living is invalid. It doesn’t count for anything.
C. Keener, “The only conversions that count in the kingdom are those confirmed by a life of discipleship.”
The parables of Jesus are prophetic. Jesus stands and tells us stories that challenge our misconceptions and challenge the false beliefs that sometimes have taken hold in our lives. As a prophet he calls us to find the true way to God through following him and not just our own ways.
Often people want to be mighty oaks. They want to be seen as strong and tall and be looked up to. We want the attention. We want to be admired. Except we don’t want to take the time to grow strong, deep roots. Jesus says that he want to make it as clear as possible. God is doing a great and new thing through his kingdom. Are you a part of it or are you one of those who are blind and deaf and don’t even realize it? I’ve been there. I know what that is like.
Are you open to what the Spirit is saying right now or is your heart hard? Are you struggling right now trying to fend off what the Spirit saying? Pastor is talking to someone else. I’ve already done that. I’ve already surrendered—I don’t need to do it again. My life bears fruit—I just don’t know what it is right at the moment. The point of Jesus saying that it is at least thirty times more than a normal good life is so that everyone will know that something radical has happened in your life.
Superficial spirituality doesn’t even come close. Jesus wasn’t just a prophet but he was the prophet as the Son of God. Moses was considered to be the prophet because he spoke with God and relayed God’s commands and covenant. Jesus fulfilled everything in the old covenant in order to create this radical new one based on forgiveness, God’s love, and God’s amazing and limitless grace.
But he is more than the prophet, he is a king. But not just any king but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And then he is the greatest high priest of all time. He didn’t just perform sacrifices for us, he became the sacrifice for us for all time—once and for all. It is through his blood that we are able to become cleansed and to live for him. Do you follow him? Will you live for him anew or have you already hardened your heart against him?
