Matthew 13:24 - Following

All of us listening today are guilty of passing judgment. We have all made snap decisions based on our own ‘expert’ status as to who belongs in heaven and who doesn’t!

The original hearers of these parables were no different. As I reminded us last week Jews were anxiously awaiting a Messiah who would re-establish Jerusalem as the center of the world and once and for all exterminate all the enemies of God. And they alone determined who those enemies were!

Yet these parables clearly illustrate that you and I have no real power of choosing who enters the kingdom of God. In a moment we’ll examine parables calling for our response, but none of Jesus’ parables, and no where in God’s Word are we given any indication that He needs our assistance in determining who should join Him in heaven!

Size Does Not Equal Significance

Read vs 31-33. Mustard seeds and yeast appear to have very little in common. Yet, in Jesus’ telling they both represent an important truth. The size of a seed is in now way indicative of the ultimate size of the final growth. Mustard seeds were known as the smallest of the common seeds grown in most family and community gardens. The size of the seed in comparison with the final product illustrates Jesus’ point: That which appears small may yet produce something of significance!

In a similar way a little yeast goes a long way. It doesn’t take much yeast to influence the entire loaf.

The Ultimate Value of the Kingdom

Read vs 44-46. Long before the digital age I watched a news documentary as the host introduced a family from the LA area and shared how they had agreed to an experiment. The producers had - with full knowledge of the family - hired a private detective in the NY City area and asked him - without ever meeting the family - to discern their priorities and patterns simply by using the technology of the era. The detective could access the families cancelled checks - you remember those pieces of paper we used to carry with our account numbers on them that we would use to purchase goods and services? At any rate after reviewing a couple of weeks of cancelled checks the detective was able to identify correctly the primary priorities of that family.

If a private detective followed you for two weeks what would they learn about your priorities?

Jesus uses two simple illustrations from the world in which He lived to illustrate how our actions clearly indicate the value of God’s Kingdom. We have already listened to Jesus describe how kingdom citizens are to approach the Kingdom: Matthew 6:33-34 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

A Parable Calling Us to Respond

The last parable in Matthew 13 is a little different. Read vs 51-53. Jesus asks His listeners if they understood. Those who truly understand Jesus are like a homeowner who finds a container with treasures he or she has not seen in quite a while along with some newer finds. Every season as my wife unpacks the containers with the seasonal decorations I overhear her remark about how she has missed this or that decoration - and in some cases they are like brand new finds!

Those who are listening and grasping all that Jesus is teaching in these parables are like one who reads God’s Word and discovers both old and new truths that are continuing to transform life.

I continue to read of others who have invested their lives in reading God’s Word over and over again describe how every time they read a passage that they have read multiple times God seems to speak a new insight into their lives.

Kingdom Transformation

Ultimately all that Jesus has to say about the Kingdom of God is about personal transformation - about recreating us so that our lives will mirror the image and likeness of God in which we were created.

The last section of Matthew 13 shows us Jesus back home, back in Nazareth. Teaching - maybe even sharing some of these parables - Jesus is met with a stiff resistance. Instead of listening those who knew Him best - lifelong friends, neighbors, and perhaps even family - were stuck with memories of Him as a youngster. ‘Isn’t this the little boy who used to run and play in our streets?’ Yes. This was the little boy who grew up in their neighborhood. Yes, Jesus was more than simply the little boy who grew up and attracted a following.

Matthew 13:57-58 “And they were offended by Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.”

As Jesus stood before friends, family, neighbors, and others they saw nothing special. Instead they saw their own preferences: ‘Isn’t this Joseph’s son?’ ‘Don’t we know his mother, his brothers and sisters?’ He is nothing more than one of us - no matter the size crowd He draws, no matter the fact that the religious authorities were already seeking to silence Him.

Many today are saying the same kinds of things. Isn’t Jesus just one among many? Why is He special? What can a prophet who lived far from us - both physically and culturally - have to say to us in 2021?

I think vs 58 may be the saddest statement in the Gospel of Matthew. Think of those living there who needed what Jesus offered. Think of those in Nazareth who knew God’s Word yet refused to see how God was acting and speaking to them.

We are often guilty of the same ‘blindness and deafness’ of the crowd in Nazareth. We look at the privileges God has granted us as rights, we look at His Word and instead of allowing His to speak into our lives, we hold tightly to the past and miss all that God has for us in the present.

CONCLUSION

The noted philosopher, Spider-Man, said, With great power comes great responsibility. (He may not have been the first, but perhaps the most recent and recognizable one!)

Theses parables in Matthew 13 illustrate the nature and power of the Kingdom of God. Like a seed, growing in the soil, no matter it’s original size, the Gospel - “For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, HCSB) can dramatically change lives.

As Matthew ends this collection of the teachings of Jesus, the final parable and example of the people in Jesus’ hometown press us to responsibility.

We can choose to follow Jesus live our lives in the midst of the unfolding of God’s Kingdom.

Or we can wrap up the transforming power we’ve experienced, carefully place it in the hidden parts of our heart and miss all that Jesus can do.

Those to whom Jesus spoke in Nazareth chose to limit their experience of who Jesus is

refusing to look beyond their own prejudices (after all, Jesus was conceived prior to the marriage of Joseph and Mary, after all Mary claimed to have been impregnated by the ‘Holy Spirit,’ and after a conspicuous absence of several years (Bethlehem, Egypt and then back home) ,

their own preferences (isn’t this just the kid from down the block; isn’t this the carpenter’s son whose formal education likely ended around age 9 or 10)

and their own rigid, unbending reliance on the wisdom of so-called experts.

Like the smallest of seeds, like the tiniest amount of yeast/leaven, God’s power can be unleashed.

Like the ‘student of Scripture’ in vs 52 we can of pull from the past acts of God, rely on the power of Jesus in our midst, and live with confidence in the promise of God’s Holy Spirit and watch God’s kingdom explode with growth.

Will you choose today to follow Jesus? Or will you like those described in Nazareth miss the wonders of a life with Jesus?

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