Part 16: Mysteries of the Kingdom

The First Kingdom Parables

In the wake of rejection by both the populace and Israel’s religious leadership, Jesus makes a stark pivot in his prophetic ministry, both in content and in style. The most recognizable feature of this new phase in his ministry is the exclusive use of parables in his public teaching. Using illustrations drawn from nature and from everyday life, Jesus’ seemingly became a teller of charming stories rather than the authoritative expounder of truths around the coming Kingdom of Heaven. In fact, this change in the mode of his teaching reflected a strategic and sobering shift in the message of the Messiah. Never again would he preach of the kingdom “at hand”, or exhort the people to receive him and his forerunner as the Messianic fulfillment of the prophet’s expectation. Now, through subtle and at times cryptic illustrations, explained only to his closest followers, Jesus began to intimate that a new - and previously unrevealed - phase of the kingdom program was about to begin, a time of rejection and reception, of corruption and of growth, of expansion and acquisition. All of this would culminate in a great harvest at the “end of the age”, when the final separation of good and evil would take place and the Kingdom of Heaven would indeed break out upon the Earth. This interim age - unforeseen by the greatest prophets of the Old Testament era - would be the primary subject of the Kingdom parables. Jesus now prepares his disciples for a new chapter in the great saga of the coming Kingdom, one that would see the word of the kingdom spread far beyond the borders of Israel and to the ends of the Earth.

Parable of the Soils

Matthew 13:1–9 (LSB)

On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea.

And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow;

and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.

“And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil.

“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.

“And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.

“And others fell on the good soil and were yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.

“He who has ears, let him hear.”

Jesus has used parables before in Matthew’s gospel (e.g, the house on the rock vs sand). However, they were used within the context of sermonic material. Now, Jesus appears to simply be telling stories to the crowds, without any application or explanation. This shift in Jesus’ teaching method was immediately apparent both to the crowds and to his disciples.

Purpose for the Parables

Matthew 13:10–17 (LSB)

And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.

“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

“And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

For the heart of this people has become dull,

And with their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Lest they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I would heal them.’

“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

This explanatory excursus serves as the key to understanding all of the kingdom parables in Matthew. Prompted by his disciples discerning question, Jesus’ answer offers both privilege and foreboding. As the few who have believed and followed the Messiah, Christ’s disciples were being granted access to “mysteries”, new revelation about their longed-for kingdom. God had reciprocated their willingness to hear and believe, by granting further truth and insights. But for the nation at large, there would be no such grant. Instead, Jesus cites the commission given to one of the great prophets of Israel: Isaiah. Just as the nation had refused to heed the warnings of judgement and calls to righteousness of one of the earliest prophets of Yahweh, so now Israel was rejecting the word of their last prophet - the Messiah himself. Jesus’ quotation carries an ominous tone, in light of the very next words from Isaiah 6:11-12 (“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, Houses are without people, And the land is devastated to desolation, And Yahweh has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land”.)

The word “mystery” (Greek mystērion), as used in the New Testament, most often refers to a divine secret (ie, something not revealed in the Old Testament) that is now being revealed by/through Christ. This indicates that the things revealed in the parables will be, by definition, new revelation, rather than confirming or fulfilling of things in the Old Testament. Up until this point, almost all of Jesus teaching built directly upon - or even directly cited - previous revelation from the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, however, this would change - Jesus was about to begin to reveal things that had not been foretold by any prophet or seer. And these unrevealed truths were themselves, directly connected to the rejection with which the Jewish people had responded to the “word of the kingdom”.

While the stated reason for usage of parables was judicial (a consequence of rejecting the word), there is also an element of mercy involved in Jesus’ strategy. By refusing to clearly reveal truth that was sure to be rejected by an increasingly curious but unrepentant audience, Jesus was also lessening the guilt that his unbelieving hearers would bear at the judgement (Luke 12:48, cf Matt 11:20-24).

An Explanation

Matthew 13:18–23 (LSB)

“Hear then the parable of the sower.

“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.

“And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;

yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.

“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

A Harvest

Matthew 13:24–30 (LSB)

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

“But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away.

“But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

“The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

“And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’

“But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

A Thing Hidden

Matthew 13:31–35 (LSB)

He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;

and this is the smallest of all seeds, but when it is fully grown, it is the largest of the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He was not speaking to them without a parable

so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

“I will open My mouth in parables;

I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

A Gathering

Matthew 13:36–43 (LSB)

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

And He answered and said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;

and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.

“The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness,

and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

“Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

A Sacrifice

Matthew 13:44–46 (LSB)

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls,

and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

A Seperation

Matthew 13:47–50 (LSB)

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind;

and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.

“So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,

and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

A Treasure

Matthew 13:51–52 (LSB)

“Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.”

And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

The Latter Kingdom Parables

A Landowner

Matthew 20:1–16 LSB

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. “Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. “Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. “And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ “Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ “And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. “And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. “Now when they received it, they were grumbling at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

A Father

Matthew 21:28–32 LSB

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ “And he answered and said, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. “And the man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered and said, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. “For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even regret afterward so as to believe him.

A Son

Matthew 21:33–46 LSB

“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. “Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit. “And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ “And they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This has become the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation, producing the fruit of it. “And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to seize Him, they feared the crowds, because they were regarding Him to be a prophet.

A Wedding

Matthew 22:1–14 LSB

And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. “And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been called to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. “Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been called, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ “But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. “But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. “Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were called were not worthy. ‘Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, call to the wedding feast.’ “And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

A Kingdom

Luke 19:11–27 LSB

Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’ “But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ “And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business. “So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ “Then the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ “And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ “Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth; for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ “He said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? ‘Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ “Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. ‘But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.’”