This week, Jesus asks a very simple question... but it covers a whole lot of territory, both literally and figuratively.
Mat 13:51 "Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, "Yes."
Now, the 'all these things' He's talking about cover 7 different parables- and I'm not going to look at the parables themselves. Instead, I want to look at what they were pointing out to the disciples, who may have said, "Yes", but may have been kidding themselves.
#1- The Parable of the Sower
The big takeaway they should have gotten here is, no matter how they preach it, they cannot guarantee success in getting the word to grow. First off, their commission is to sow the seed EVERYWHERE- and everywhere includes a whole lot of people who will flat refuse to hear, some that will hear but never make time or space for it, and so on. In a sense, this is the dynamics of the Gospel.
#2- The Parable of the Wheat and Tares
This is the struggle of the Gospel- that while we sow, so is the Devil. And it is NOT OUR JOB to sort them out. If we try to remove the 'evil seed' we see out there, we might just be 'pulling up' someone who might actually be fruitful someday. So first, share everywhere, second, share equally.
#3- The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Here, we see that a proper seed, properly placed, will grow. But more...
Mat 13:31 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
Mat 13:32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
What we plant not only grows, it becomes a haven, a blessing for others as well as ourselves.
#4- The Parable of the Leaven
Mat 13:33 He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."
This is the other side of the coin- evil, hidden, causes evil to grow. But here's the thing- ALL of these conditions Jesus explains as 'the Kingdom of God'. The hard soil, the tares, the leaven- all are in the Divine Plan, just as the wheat, the mustard tree, the fertile ground. The Kingdom of God is what we deal with on earth just as much as the reward we await in Heaven. Oh, and speaking of which...
Parables 5 and 6- The hidden treasure and the Pearl of Great Price
Mat 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Mat 13:45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
Mat 13:46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Some will stumble onto the Gospel; others will seek it out. In both cases, though, to make it work in you, you've got to be willing to give it all up to gain it. And like a coin of the treasure, or the pearl, it's not what having it gets you; it's what you will get in return FOR it. And in this case, that's more than anything you have now. But you have to see the value.
Parable 7- the Dragnet
This, like the wheat and tares, lets you know that there is a cost to the choice.
Mat 13:47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
Mat 13:48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.
Mat 13:49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
Mat 13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
So in the end, the Kingdom of God is a place where you have to determine what is valuable, and what you will be. Choose rightly, and great reward is yours... choose wrongly, and a bitter fate awaits. So did the disciples really understand? Ask them when they all fled from the crowd that took Jesus to the Cross. But they-and you- had another chance. Theirs was being there to witness His resurrection. Yours is contained in a following eighth parable:
Mat 13:52 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."
You can be a 'master in the house', and the treasure is your Bible, which contains both the old and the new, the familiar and the deeper spin. But you have to allow yourself to be fertile ground, you have to grow for others, you have to be willing to pay a great price.
