Presumption

Matthew 13: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+13&version=NIV

  

            Sometimes we think of parables as simple illustrations designed to make a point clearer. Matthew 13 shows us that’s not the case! First, Jesus Himself says so, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them” (Matthew13:11). Second, there are parts of the chapter that seems really clear only to show themselves really difficult to apply. In truth, it’s often better to think of a parable as a form of veiled speech designed to deliver a hard message without the audience realizing just how hard the message is.

            Take for example the first parable in the chapter: the parable of the sower. On the one hand, it’s a fairly straightforward agricultural story. On the other hand, the point is kind of dark: don’t presume you understand the kingdom; instead open your ears and listen. In that sense, it’s of a piece with a lot of things Jesus says. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). There are others that make the same point.

            To a certain extent, the warning is for Jesus’ immediate hearers. Last week I noted in relation to Matthew 10 that Jesus was reconstituting Israel around Himself, and in that context there were going to be those who belonged to “old” Israel who wouldn’t be part of “new” Israel. (We see this playing out in the book of Acts, where the fledgling church’s first and biggest persecutors are actually Jews who do not accept Jesus as Messiah.)

            In another way it’s a sharp but good lesson for modern hearers. We rightly talk a lot about grace and God’s free gifts; however, there’s a moment at which we need to talk about the commitments of faith, too. It’s possible—and unfortunately many do—to claim the name “Christian” without taking any of those commitments seriously. Just to put a couple of things that we don’t take seriously out there: worship attendance (Hebrews 10:25), making offerings (1 Corinthians 16:2), sexual purity (1 Corinthians 6:18). As Jesus has already said in this Gospel, good trees produce good fruit (Matthew 12:33).

            So, listen: the kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of grace. No one enters it because they deserve it. We are called to it and given it purely as a gift. Yet, as with any gift, we should treasure both the gift and the one who gives it. In some ways, that’s the thrust of these parables: if you don’t treasure the gift, do you really treasure the giver. It’s a hard chapter, but it is certainly food for thought.