Message
Matthew 13:10-17
“The Purpose of the Parables”
Today we are starting a series of sermons which will look at the Parables of Jesus.
“Parable” is the English translation of a Greek word which literally means “to place alongside”. From this literal meaning we get the idea that a parable is a common story from life which has, placed alongside it, a spiritual truth.
Not every part of the parable is teaching a spiritual truth … the food fed to the pigs by the rebellious lost son is – just food … there is nothing cryptic about it. So when we are reading parables we are not looking for all sorts of hidden messages – rather the teaching of the parables are clear and focussed.
There are approximately 40 parables of Jesus. Jesus’ parables are only found in Matthew Mark and Luke … John’s Gospel has no parables. Mark has six parables … five of them are also in Matthew and Luke … only one parable is unique to Mark. This means that most of the parables are in either Matthew or Luke.
In all of the Gospels the first full scale parable is the parable of the sower and the seed. It can also be called the parable of the soil, or the parable of the four different hearers. Initially, when Jesus starts using this style of teaching, the disciples are a little confused.
Matthew 13:10
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
In answering the question Jesus teaches the disciples the purpose behind teaching in parables. We find that teaching in Matthew 13:10-17
Have you ever gone to the doctor because you have something wrong with you. When the doctor tells you what is wrong … sometimes all you hear is big words … big words … big words.
You have “spheno palatine ganglio neuralgia”
So what is wrong with me?
You ate ice-cream too fast and have a brain freeze.
The disciples ask Jesus … “Why do you speak in parables?”.
When Jesus gave the answer the disciples would have completely understood what Jesus was saying – we will see why in a moment.
But even after we have read the answer we still might be thinking … “So Jesus, why do you speak in parables?”
In seeking to understand the purpose of the parables let’s have a closer look at what the disciples have seen that we, perhaps, are still needing to learn.
An important aspect of this is to recognise that the disciples have seen that Jesus has had a very confronting day.
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.
Matthew 13:1
What else happened on “that same day”?
Turn back to chapter Matthew 12:15, “Jesus withdrew from that place.” Here we can be sure that we are in a different day to what took place in previous verses.
On this day (Matthew 12:22-24)
22 They brought to Jesus a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. 23 All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
This is a day when there is a huge confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees.
The Pharisees accuse Jesus of being demon-possessed.
Jesus shows how illogical it is for Satan to drive out Satan.
Jesus accuses the Pharisees of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit – the unforgivable sin.
Jesus calls the Pharisees a “brood of vipers”.
Back in Matthew 12:14 we read that “The Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.” I’m sure the events of this day have only served to make the Pharisees even more determined in their endeavours.
The day continues when “some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.’” (Matthew 12:38). Jesus doesn’t give any sign and basically tells the Pharisees they are on the road to being full of evil spirits.
The day further continues , “While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him” (Matthew 12:46). Jesus responds by saying that his disciples are his family. That is when Jesus leaves the house goes down to the lake.
What a day!
It is a day when the confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees is solidified … and a day when commitment to discipleship is defined as being even more important than the commitment to family.
It is on that day that Jesus tells the first recorded parable—the parable about seed and soil. This parable is one of the easier parables to understand because Jesus almost immediately provides an explanation.
4 (Some) seed, fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. (Matthew 13:4, 19)
Sometimes, there are people whose hearts are so hard that the truth of His Word cannot penetrate their lives. People like the Pharisees in the previous chapter.
5 Some fell on rocky places … it sprang up quickly … 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.
20 This seed … refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But … when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. (Matthew 13:5-6, 20-21)
Sometimes people treat their Christian life like a Woolworths Ooshie collection. We get all excited and are determined to get the whole collection. But after a month or so the “fad” wears off and it is on to the next thing. We can be so “shallow” in spiritual determination.
7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
22 This seed …. refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. (Matthew 13:7, 22)
Sometimes people have a Christian life that is crowded out by a focus on worldly endeavours. The old saying which can describe this focus is “Keeping up with the Jones”. Do you know what “keeping up with the Jones” means?
It means buying things you don't need.
With money you don't have.
To impress people you don't even like.
The addictive pursuit of worldly things becomes like the spreading thistles. And it suffocates … and we suffocate.
8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
23 This seed … refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. (Matthew 13:8, 23)
This is the receptive soil.
Where we are willing to change and take charge of our sinful habits.
Where we are willing to grow, seeking to learn new spiritual skills.
Where we are willing to be challenged out of our comfort zones.
The seed falls and we are responsive.
Four different responses … but the farmer is sowing the same seed.
The farmer sows, and sows and keeps on sowing.
The seed will grow, as long as the place where it lands is ready to receive the seed. In response to this divergent outcome Jesus makes an observation:-
12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
Matthew 13:12-13
Jesus has come to show grace. Jesus has come to teach knowledge about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus heart is the same as the heart of God “who is patient with us and does not want anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.”
And, when it comes to the message of grace, there will be varying responses. But, at some point, our callous hearts will make it impossible for us to respond.
Indeed, in the telling of the parables on that day, Jesus is deliberately veiling the truth to some of the men in his hearing because their hearts are calloused. Look again at verse 11, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
That is a hard truth to hear isn’t it. Especially when you think about the context of most of the crowd who follow Jesus.
The Pharisees … the religious leaders that set the religious culture … these Pharisees on that day have decided that Jesus is an evil imposter, who disrespectfully challenges their authority by accusing them of being vipers and on the road to eternal destruction.
What will the crowds think?
They need to make a decision … follow the Pharisees … or follow the Messiah and stand against the Pharisees.
It is easy for us to shake our head at the unbelief of the Jews at the time – but how difficult would it be to change long-held ideas and powerful beliefs in addition to going against those whom they have depended on for religious leadership.
In that context Jesus begins to use parables as a regular teaching approach. Jesus is trying to cut through to the crowd and speak into the spiritual lives of people when they are stuck.
Parables are the teaching method Jesus uses to do this.
Just by the very fact of their simplicity and real life connectedness the parables, like any good story or illustration, are more suited to arouse interest an increase spiritual attention. Parables can cut through where other methods of teaching have failed, or have fallen on deaf ears, or haven’t been able to be heard because of the other religious noise that is in the way.
That is what has happened for the disciples
I tell you (says Jesus) many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
Matthew 13:17
Through the parables the disciples, and the crowds, are receiving so much more than what was received even by the faithful prophets and righteous people who have gone before you.
What a gift!
In the parables Jesus is seeking to bring an eagerness in our souls for the reception of the seed which is sown.
In the parables Jesus is not just throwing the seed, Jesus is also doing more to help the soil to be receptive. To break up the hardness, to overcome the shallowness, to work against the suffocation.
Parables are the Gospel driven hard so that the Gospel can break through.
For some, the harder the Gospel is driven, the more callous they become – until “even what they have will be taken away” and they will no longer be able to see and hear. In such a case the truth of the parable is concealed and the callous heart remains hard.
Not because Jesus lacks grace.
But because, in the face of such grace, the response has become “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”
So what is going on with your heart at the moment?
Are very good, intelligent and loving messages and gestures come your way but they are landing in a place where everybody has walked over you? Maybe you can’t respond because you have been so hurt. Maybe you are in a place where God’s word means nothing in that part of your life.
Perhaps the Word of God is falling where life has been rocky. There has been a little attempt at growth … maybe even a flurry of growth. But, at the moment, you are being a little stubborn and the spiritual ground isn’t really that deep and God’s Word is just withering.
Perhaps you are finding it hard to clean out the weeds that oppose God's word of grace in your life. Our world has so many distractions and so many challenges and so much fun. So, maybe at the moment we are finding that the Word of God is being choked out of our lives.
For each one of us the spiritual reality of our heart is different. And in that space Jesus comes along with a Parable.
Graphically teaching the Father heart of God as he embraces the rebellious son.
Powerfully reminding justification is as simple as praying “‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.
A persistent widow gets justice from a world judge because she is persistent.
Sheep and goats are the key to understanding eternal life.
A wedding banquet where the guest don’t turn up jolts us out of apathy.
Jesus will sow and sow and keep on sowing – as he does so one of two responses will happen.
The message of grace will grate against us and we will find our heart becoming more and more callous to the point where Jesus will say, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven will no longer be given to you. And what I have given you will be taken away.”
That is one purpose of Parables – to remind of the reality that we can get to a point in our relationship with Jesus where Jesus will no longer bring us into the light of eternal life.
That is what the message of grace does. But the message of grace also come into our lives, in the most difficult circumstances and most unlikely ways.
The most unexpected people become kingdom participants.
Uncircumcised hearts are spiritually circumcised.
The most rebellious of sinners become sanctified saints.
The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven are given and we are blessed because our eyes see, and our ears hear. This purpose of the Parable, where the Gospel has been driven hard so that the Gospel can break through, has been accomplished.
As we look at 12 more parables in this series let’s keep discerning.
As we listen to the parables do we realise that we actually don’t want to see or want to hear – if that is the case hear the warning … this is the sign of a callous heart.
Alternatively, as we listen to the Parables do we see the seed landing on ever increasing receptive soil where the harvest is group in increasing measure … 30 … 60 … 100 times. If this is the case keep rejoicing. You have the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven and you are blessed.
Prayer
