Matthew 13 contains the third discourse of Jesus—the kingdom parables. Jesus teaches from a boat floating just away from the bank of the Sea of Galilee. The people are gathered on the shore. What a great setting for lessons about the kingdom!
Jesus begins with a teaching to all gathered. He tells the story of the sower who sows seed over the ground. The seed falls into productive and unproductive soils. At the end of the parable Jesus says, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.” Actually Jesus has just done to that audience exactly what the sower had done in his story.
Jesus tells the disciples that he speaks often in parables to separate the discerning from the undiscerning. Some people can hear the words and never make out the sense of what he says. Calloused hearts cannot hear. Those who cannot hear will never turn to Jesus.
Jesus carefully explains the parable of the sower. Jesus has reasonable expectations about the impact of his teaching. Some won’t hear; some respond a bit and fall away; some take his word in deeply and bear much fruit. That is the way it is still.
The parables of the weeds and the net tell us that the children of the kingdom of heaven will live in the world with those caught in evil kingdoms until the end of all things. God does not pull up the unrighteous weeds as they come up. It would be too disruptive. So we will see people who don’t care about God do pretty well in this world. But we will know that judgment does come indeed. The harvesters come; the net is lifted out on to the bank.
The parables of the mustard seed and the yeast remind us of the power of small beginnings in the kingdom of heaven. Little seeds can become great trees. A baby born in Bethlehem can be the Savior of the world. Twelve committed apostles can take good news to the world.
The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl focus on the preciousness of the kingdom. Nothing in the world is like the invitation of the kingdom of heaven. Nothing in the world compares to walking with Jesus. The parable teaches us to give up every lesser thing to possess — to be possessed by — the kingdom of heaven.
And sure enough, at the end of chapter 13, the people in Nazareth show that they are bad soil, bad fish, willing to let the pearl of the kingdom and the Prince of heaven pass through their lives: “And they took offense at him.”
Matthew 14 opens with the death of John, the Baptist. Not every great person gets to die a noble death. One of the greatest men who ever lived dies from the vengeance of a bitter woman. Jesus hears the news and wants to get away, perhaps to mourn John’s passing, but the people pursue him.
Jesus will not send the crowd away to get food. He asks his disciples to feed the people — 5000 men, plus women and children. They cannot feed them with only the five loaves and two fish found in the crowd. Even they didn’t bring lunch for themselves. Jesus did the four things Henry Nouwen notes that Jesus does so often: he took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread and gave the bread. Nouwen notes that Jesus does the same thing to his followers as he gives them in service to the world. We are taken, blessed, broken and given.
After feeding the thousands, Jesus returned to his desire for solitude and prayer. He sends the disciples on in a boat to cross the sea. If Jesus could not, would not do his ministry without solitude and prayer, how would we ever think we could serve the kingdom without solitude and prayer?
Jesus walked out across the lake to meet his disciples. Peter wanted to come to him on the water. Jesus had invited Peter to follow him. Jesus had given Peter and the others authority to preach and heal in his name. Having offered Peter so much of himself, Jesus invited Peter to meet him on the lake. Peter did walk on the water. He sank when he was distracted by the wind, but while he focused on Jesus, he walked. The lesson is not hard for us to hear if we have ears.
In the boat there is worship and confession. Sweet. Jesus is dry. Peter is wet. All are joyful.
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