Week 12 (The Teaching Of Jesus) – Day 3: The Kingdom of Heaven

Day 58 – The Kingdom of Heaven – Matthew 13:1-58

Today we spend our first day with parables.  In the course of this chapter, Jesus will use seven parables to show what the kingdom of heaven is.  Matthew, as a good Jewish scribe (until about 90, all followers of Jesus considered themselves good Jews), refused to use the word God to describe what Mark and Luke called the kingdom of God.  We don’t talk much about this idea, even though it is central to Jesus’ message.  It is the first thing Jesus’ proclaims:  The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news. (Mark 1:14-15)  For various reasons, currently in our faith within this culture, we tend to focus quite a bit on the second half of Jesus’ statement, not so much on the first half.  I believe this is one of the reasons Christianity is declining in our country.

I also want to comment on parables.  Parables were used by Jesus to describe God or in this case the God’s kingdom.  They are not meant to teach as ethics as much as help us understand God in terms we can understand.  Usually the parables were shocking to Jesus’ listeners.  He would use something familiar, but then turn it on the head.  As M. Eugene Boring writes in the New Interpreter’s Bible: …parables were not vivid decorations of a moralistic viewpoint but were shocking stories that threatened the hearer’s secure mythological world – the world of assumptions by which we habitually live, the unnoticed framework of our thinking within which we interpret data. (299, Vol.12)  So many times we teach parables today as tame ethics, when in fact they were meant to rip apart the world view of the listener. 

One of the problems for us today is that we need to understand the background to even understand the mind blowing nature of what Jesus is saying.  For instance, how many of us immediately understand the shocking nature of “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”? (v 33)  First, yeast is usually considered a problematic thing in Jewish cleanliness laws.  Second, a typical amount of yeast used would not come close to making three measures of bread.  So the Kingdom of Heaven is like something Jews would be uncomfortable with using, and extremely extravagant in its effect on the end result.  In addition, yeast is working in secret, much as we see with the other parables in this chapter.

Three of the parables are explained in this chapter.  In each case they deal with the issue of judgment at the complete fruition of the kingdom.  It is almost as if Jesus makes sure we can not let ourselves off the hook of judgment.  All point to the providence of God, and all point to the idea once again that the visible church may not match the invisible church.  Before we go completely wild with the judgment issue, read Paul’s words found in Romans 8:31-39 which clearly remind us that Jesus, who died on the cross for us, will be in the judgment seat.  I think these parables are a warning to those who may be a little too comfortable, and leave hope to those whom will be, to the surprise of some, included in the kingdom of heaven.  My hunch, as I read scripture, is that Jesus will judge on the side of love. 

Finally, a note on the kingdom of heaven (God).  I think we can look back to texts in Isaiah in particular which describe the kingdom. See chapters (Isaiah 11:1-10, 35, 65:17-25)  Some of the attributes include:

-         The defeat of evil and the defeat of powers that desire nothing more than the enslavement of humanity.

-         An economy where no one will suffer from social oppression and economic injustice.

-          The corrupting power of sin is broken and we are fully reconciled to God and each other.

-         Violence and war are replaced by peaceful community.

-         The chaos of nature is transformed to a fruitful creation overseen by humanity as a faithful stewards.

-         Death no longer has the last word.

The kingdom is not complete, but has started to break into the world with Jesus.  Jesus focused on kingdom quite a bit.  Jesus talked about and demonstrated the kingdom, and I think this is a major, generally ignored role of the church today: to point, through word and deed, to the persisting work of Jesus, as God’s kingdom continues to break into the world. 

Possibly you can tell this is an issue of great passion for me.

In Christ,

Randy

P.S.  Once again, please respond if you would be interested in further study of the parables or the kingdom of God.  I am trying to find items of interest for further discipleship opportunities!