Visit our new blog. It lists all the new things that we are doing and what new material has been added to our site. We even list new missionaries who sign up with us for technical support so you can pray for them. FCM News
The Parable of the Sower
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake.
2Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and
sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3Then he told
them many things in parables, saying: "A farmer went out to
sow his seed. 4As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the
path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5Some fell on rocky places,
where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the
soil was shallow. 6But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched,
and they withered because they had no root. 7Other seed fell among
thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8Still other seed fell
on good soil, where it produced a crop--a hundred, sixty or thirty
times what was sown. 9He who has ears, let him hear."
Explanation: PARABLES OF THE SECRET KINGDOM (13:1-52)
Matthew's central discourse section (13:1-52) contains seven or
eight parables depicting the present character of the kingdom until
the end; his final discourse section contains a roughly equal number
of end-time kingdom parables (24:32-25:46). As in Mark, Jesus' parables
of the kingdom's present state explain why his kingdom comes first
in a hidden way and why Israel's leaders reject him (compare F.
Bruce 1972a:69; Ladd 1963). These parables dramatically reinforce
that Jesus' first coming was coercive neither militarily nor intellectually
(11:25-27); he came as the meek burden bearer (11:28-30), and only
the meek could recognize and follow him (11:25, 28).
That the parables address his people's acceptance or rejection of
the kingdom message follows from the context: Jesus speaks parables
that same day that he has confronted Pharisaic opposition (12:24-45)
and offered a culturally offensive statement about his family (12:46-50).
The parables section closes immediately with an account of Jesus'
rejection by his hometown (13:53-58), so that rejection by his own
frames his kingdom parables (compare 10:21, 34-37). This likewise
implies that true disciples-those who follow the kingdom message-must
be prepared to pay the ultimate price for doing so (13:20-22, 44-46).
Because modern readers often misunderstand parables, it is important
to provide some brief comments about their character. Most of Jesus'
parables were stories designed to illustrate a particular point
or points, something like sermon illustrations today (except sometimes
without the accompanying sermon that would clarify the illustration!).
We should not read too much into parables; often some details of
the parables merely are necessary to make a good story. Nevertheless,
parables provide one creative way to explain Jesus' central point
or points.
Setting (13:1-2)
In view of the heavy crowds, Jesus entered into a boat and pushed
out slightly from the shore, a technique that had enabled him to
speak to large crowds at other times (Lk 5:3). Many natural acoustic
settings existed in Galilee, including a cove near Capernaum, that
would enable thousands to hear the voice of someone properly positioned
(Crisler 1976:134-37).The Sower and the Soils (13:3-23)
Jesus tells the "parable of the sower" (v. 18) in verses
3-9; in verses 18-23 he provides the interpretation, in which only
one who "hears the word and understands it"! perseveres
to eternal life (v. 23). In the intervening section (vv. 10-17)
Jesus emphasizes that only his inner circle will understand, because
the parables make sense only in the context of Jesus' ministry.
Thus prospective disciples have a measure of choice: only those
who press into his inner circle, those who persevere to mature discipleship,
will prove to be good soil.Various Soils Respond to the Seed (13:3-9)
Jesus draws from commonplace agricultural conventions to illustrate
his kingdom principles, as one might expect from a teacher sensitive
to rural Galilean hearers. Whereas the later rabbinic parables often
focus on such settings as royal courts (compare 22:2; see comment
on Mt 18:23), Jesus most often told stories about agriculture and
the daily life of his common hearers (as in 20:1).
Other ancient writers employed the seed image; perhaps most significantly,
4 Ezra declares that just as not all the seeds a farmer sows survive
or put down roots, so not all people will persevere to eternal life
(4 Ezra 8:41). But whereas the harvest would be completed in the
end time (Mt 13:39; 3:12; 21:34; compare 9:37-38), Jesus portrays
the present as a time of sowing to prepare for that harvest.
The sower must sow widely to ensure a good harvest. It made more
sense, in a field like the one in Jesus' parable, to plow up the
ground before sowing; this was a frequent practice in ancient Israel
(Is 28:24-25; Jer 4:3; compare Hos 10:11-12; K. White 1964). Later
literature, however, repeatedly speaks of plowing after sowing (although
some plowed both before and after sowing); farmers who knew their
fields apparently felt comfortable sowing first, then plowing the
seed into the ground (Jub. 11:11; Jeremias 1972:11 and 1966b; see
especially P. Payne 1978:128-29, contending that both practices
occurred). Because we cannot know the conditions of given hearers'
hearts before we preach, Jesus uses the second analogy of sowing
before plowing; we must sow as widely as possible and let God bring
forth the appropriate fruit (compare the agricultural counsel in
Eccl 11:6).
Not all ground will yield good fruit. The path probably represents
one of the footpaths running through or around the field (A. Bruce
1979:195). Some of the grain accidentally fell on or beside it,
exposing the seed there to hungry birds (compare Jub. 11:11). The
sower's field in this parable also includes some land where the
soil is shallow over rock. Palestine includes much land like this;
though seed springs up quickly on such soil, which holds its warmth,
the seed readily dies because it cannot put down roots (Argyle 1963:101).
The fruitful soil yields enough to make up for the useless soil.
Italy and Sicily averaged fivefold or sixfold return on grain sown;
irrigated fields in Egypt averaged around a sevenfold yield for
wheat (N. Lewis 1983:121-22). The average Palestinian harvest may
have yielded seven and a half to ten times the seed sown. Thus harvests
yielding thirty to a hundred times the seed invested are extraordinarily
abundant (Gen 26:12; Jub. 24:15; Sib. Or. 3.264-65), and one rarely
exceeded one hundredfold (P. Payne 1980:183-84). The fruit from
the good soil more than makes up for any seed wasted on the bad
soil.
10-23
10The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do
you speak to the people in parables?"
11He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom
of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has
will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does
not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 13This is why
I speak to them in parables:
"Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is fulfilled
the prophecy of Isaiah:
" 'You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15For this people's heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.' 16But blessed are your eyes because
they see, and your ears because they hear. 17For I tell you the
truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see
but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18"Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19When
anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand
it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.
This is the seed sown along the path. 20The one who received the
seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and
at once receives it with joy. 21But since he has no root, he lasts
only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of
the word, he quickly falls away. 22The one who received the seed
that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the
worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making
it unfruitful. 23But the one who received the seed that fell on
good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces
a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."
Explanation: Secrets for Disciples Only (13:10-17)
Jesus reveals special truth to his disciples through parables. Jewish
teachers used parables as sermon illustrations to explain a point
they were teaching (for examples, see Johnston 1977:507). To offer
an illustration without stating the point, however, was like presenting
a riddle instead (compare Test. Ab. 12-13A). By articulating his
principles only in parables, Jesus offers riddles whose answer can
be fathomed only by those who understand them in the context of
his own ministry (for example, events like the Pharisees' rejection-12:24-45)
or who patiently press into his inner circle to wait for the interpretation
(13:12; compare Irenaeus Adversus haereses 2.27.3).
Jesus spoke in parables because the kingdom involved end-time "mysteries"
(NIV secrets, v. 11) now being revealed to those with ears to hear.
The disciples were more special than the prophets of old only because
they lived in a time when they could receive a greater revelation
than the prophets, as Jesus' blessing on them makes clear. The disciples'
eyes and ears were blessed (v. 16) because of the greater one among
them (v. 17). The rest of the hearers, unable to fathom his message,
fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah about penal blindness: because
of Israel's sin, they would be unable to truly see, hear and understand
God's message (vv. 13-15; 15:14; Is 6:9-10; compare Is 29:9-10;
Evans 1981). Yet those who did turn to the truth would be "healed"
(Mt 13:15); Jesus' physical healings were concrete signs of the
spiritual healing of which Isaiah spoke (Mt 8:17; compare Is 6:10;
53:5; Hos 11:3; 14:4).
The disciples alone had pressed close enough to Jesus to understand
the rest of what he was giving them. To those who had some revelation,
more revelation would be given (Mt 13:11-12). In other words, the
disciples alone proved to be good soil (v. 23).
Only Disciples Who Understand Persevere (13:18-23)
The only conversions that count in the kingdom are those confirmed
by a life of discipleship. Jesus sowed the Word widely, but not
all his hearers persevered in discipleship. What was true of the
crowds that followed Jesus is also true of the crowds who claim
to be his disciples today. Many who have raised their hands in evangelistic
crusades or even attended church regularly will be surprised on
the day of judgment that Jesus never knew them (7:21-22). Whether
the message went in one ear and out the other (13:19), whether someone
began the Christian life eagerly and then abandoned it because it
entailed too much hardship or persecution (vv. 20-21), whether one
accepted the gospel but then backslid into complacency, seduced
by other interests (v. 22), such people prove useless to the kingdom.
Yet others will more than make up for the seed invested in them,
becoming true disciples of the kingdom and spreading the true message
of the kingdom to others (v. 23).
In One Ear and out the Other (13:19)
Jewish teachers exhorted students to listen intently and memorize
their teachings (for example, Mek. Pisha 1.135-36; Sipre Deut. 306.19.1-3).
Yet many who listened to Jesus would forget the message of his kingdom.
Such neglect, Jesus says, is the devil's work. Sometimes in counseling
I encounter people who have heard the gospel every week in church
yet insist that they do not know how to be saved. Simply hearing
the gospel does not guarantee understanding or embracing it.Shallow
Commitment (13:20-21)
Matthew warns us that even disciples who spent years with Jesus
proved susceptible to such hardship, although their roots were secure
enough to return (26:56, 75). I soberly recall that many friends
who became followers of Jesus at the same time I did, including
some of my witnessing partners, later abandoned the faith. God is
less interested in how quickly we run at the beginning of the race
than in whether we truly finish it (compare Jn 8:30-47). Some will
fall no matter how plainly we preach the truth, but we definitely
set people up for failure when we fail to instruct new believers
that suffering comes with following Christ (Acts 14:22; 1 Thess
3:3-4).
The World's Distractions (13:22)
Some embrace the gospel, but gradually other interests-wealth, security,
family and the like-choke it out of first place. Christ's apostles
proclaimed that Jesus must hold first place in our lives (see 1
Cor 10:31; Col 3:17). The Bible often warns against the dangers
of wealth (as in Mt 6:24; Deut 6:10-12), and Matthew provides some
examples of would-be disciples lured away by desire for wealth (Mt
19:21-23; 26:14-16). Even in parts of the world that include many
professing Christians, many churches are full of barely committed
people who never win a soul to Christ, rarely speak a word on his
behalf and accept Christianity as a nice addition to their lives-which
are devoted to the same basic goals as their neighbors'. Jesus'
kingdom demands suggest that such people may not believe the reality
of the gospel enough to stake their lives on it, hence may not prove
true disciples of Jesus Christ (compare 3:8-10; Marshall 1974:62-63).
One reason we may have so many shallow Christians in some churches
today is that many of us have preached a shallow gospel rather than
the demands of God's kingdom, and they are (to paraphrase a lament
of D. L. Moody) our converts rather than our Lord's.
Daring to Believe the Gospel (13:23)
Sometimes daring to believe in opposition to the values around us
means believing the gospel even in contrast to the practice of Christianity
we see around us! These people dare to make a difference in the
world for the name of their Lord Jesus. Jesus already understood
what many of us who work for him have yet to learn: in the long
run, drawing crowds is less significant for the kingdom than training
those who will multiply the work by training others in turn. Perhaps
many of us prefer numbers in the short term over spiritual depth
because we lack the faith to believe that such depth is essential
(compare v. 12); but fifty disciples with spiritual depth will produce
greater numbers in the end than a million raised hands without commitment
ever could.
We should take careful note, however, of Matthew's description of
the fruitful person: the fruitful person is the one who understands
the message (v. 23). Only those who press close to Jesus, persevering
until they understand the real point of his teaching, will prove
to be long-term disciples (vv. 10-17; compare Jn 8:31-32; Marshall
1974:62-63).
The Parable of the Weeds
24Jesus told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is
like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while everyone
was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and
went away. 26When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the
weeds also appeared.
27"The owner's servants came to him and said, 'Sir, didn't
you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?'
28" 'An enemy did this,' he replied.
"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and pull them
up?'
29" 'No,' he answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds,
you may root up the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until
the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect
the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the
wheat and bring it into my barn.' "
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like
a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though
it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the
largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of
the air come and perch in its branches."
33He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven
is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of
flour until it worked all through the dough."
34Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did
not say anything to them without using a parable. 35So was fulfilled
what was spoken through the prophet:
"I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world."
Explanation: The Future Revelation of Kingdom People (13:24-43)
Just as Matthew presents the purpose for Jesus' opaque teachings
(vv. 10-17) in the midst of a parable explaining that not all will
receive the gospel and persevere for him (vv. 3-9, 18-23), he now
presents the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast (vv. 31-33)
in the midst of the parable of the weeds (vv. 24-30, 36-43), with
more words about the nature of parables (vv. 34-35). The parable
of the weeds (vv. 24-30, 36-40) emphasizes that children of the
kingdom must coexist with children of the evil one in this world
until their vindication at the end. The parable may also reinforce
images of conversion, perseverance and apostasy in the parable of
the sower (vv. 3-9, 18-23): especially in places where disciples
can blend into the world (v. 22), it is hard to know for sure who
will persevere until the final judgment. The glorious kingdom of
the future is present in this age only in an obscure and hidden
way, except to those with eyes of faith (vv. 31-33).
The Enemy's Weeds (13:24-30)
As in verses 3-9, Jesus tells an agricultural story that is relatively
realistic. Although the color is local, the central character of
the story is not a peasant like many of Jesus' hearers; he is a
wealthy landowner (v. 27), whereas the farmer in the parable of
the sower could easily have been a tenant farmer, a peasant like
many of Jesus' hearers. The main character's authority makes him
a clearer analogy for God, as in other Jewish parables (such as
Sipra Behuq. pq. 3.263.1.8).
"Tares" (KJV) or weeds (NIV) here are darnel (Lolium temulentum),
a poisonous weed organically related to wheat and difficult to distinguish
from wheat in the early stages of its growth (Jeremias 1972:224).
(Calling them "tares" may tempt a preacher given to puns
to title a sermon on this passage a "tare-ible parable.")
Given the occasional feuding of rival farmers (Derrett 1973:43),
it is not surprising that Roman law would specifically forbid sowing
such poisonous plants in another's field (Hepper et al. 1982:948)
or that one who found an abundance of such weeds would suspect an
enemy's hand (v. 28).
Despite the workers' willingness to try (v. 28)-workers regularly
uprooted weeds before their roots were entangled with those of the
wheat (Jeremias 1972:225; KG mmel 1957:134-35)-it would be difficult
for them to root out the many tares at this stage (Manson 1979:193;
Meier 1980:147). The weeds had grown enough that their roots were
already intertwined with those of the wheat but not far enough that
it would be easy to distinguish them from the wheat; uprooting thus
might endanger the wheat (v. 29).
After the wheat and darnel were grown, they were easily distinguished,
and reapers could gather the darnel, which did have one use: given
the scarcity of fuel, it would be burned (v. 30; Jeremias 1972:225;
A. Bruce 1979:200). Wheat was normally gathered and bound in sheaves,
then transported, probably on donkeys, to the village (or in this
case the large estate's own) threshing floor (N. Lewis 1983:123),
then stored.
The Hidden Kingdom of the Present
(13:31-35)
Jesus insists that the glorious anticipated kingdom of God is also
present in a hidden way in his ministry and that of his followers.
These parables most clearly declare that God's kingdom has arrived
in some sense in Jesus' ministry, in a hidden and anticipatory way.
Far from baptizing the wicked in fire and overthrowing the nations
at his first coming, Jesus came as a meek servant (12:18-20), wandering
around Galilee with a group of obscure disciples and healing some
sick people.
In a world characterized by political turmoil and filled with wandering
teachers and magicians, Jesus' initial arrival as a politically
inconspicuous servant had rendered his mission as opaque as his
parables, except to people of faith. We Christians sound foolish
to those outside Jesus' circle when we speak of a final judgment
and living for a future kingdom; what does that have to do with
the troubles of daily life in the present? But those who have pressed
into Jesus' circle today, like those who did so two thousand years
ago, know who Jesus really is. Despite the magnitude of the task
before us, we dare not despise the "smallness" of our
own works, for God's entire program long ago came hidden in a small
package.
The Kingdom Is like a Mustard Seed (13:31-32)
Despite some dispute today over which plant Jesus intended, the
mustard seed had become proverbial for small size (17:20; m. Niddah
5:2; Toharot 8:8). Although not literally the smallest of seeds,
and yielding a shrub rather than a tree in the technical botanical
sense in English, the mustard plant hyperbolically conveyed Jesus'
point (the inconspicuous becomes mighty) better than any other.
(It commonly reaches eight to ten feet around the Lake of Galilee.)
The Power of a Little Bit of Leaven (13:33)
Jewish writers used yeast in a variety of symbolic ways, but Jesus
stresses here the factor all had in common: its ultimately pervasive
character. One leavens unleavened meal until the finished product
is thoroughly leavened. The amount of flour involved here represents
roughly fifty pounds, providing enough bread for over one hundred
people. A housewife would not normally fix so much meal and could
not knead more than this; the unnatural magnitude of the illustration
probably suggests that the kingdom far exceeds daily examples to
which it may be compared (so Jeremias 1972:147). That she "hid"
(NIV mixed obscures this point) the yeast in the dough also exceeds
the comparison and reinforces the image of the hiddenness of the
kingdom in this age.
Jesus Tells Parables to Reveal God's Long-Hidden
Mysteries (13:34-35)
Although the parables were riddles to outsiders, they conveyed God's
hidden revelation to his followers (compare 13:10-17; 1 Cor 2:7-10;
Col 2:2-3). As in the central section of the parable of the sower
(Mt 13:10-17), Jesus justifies this principle from Scripture.
The Parable of the Weeds Explained
36Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples
came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds
in the field."
37He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son
of Man. 38The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the
sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39and
the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of
the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it
will be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send out his
angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes
sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous
will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has
ears, let him hear.
The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl
44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.
When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and
sold all he had and bought that field.
45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking
for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away
and sold everything he had and bought it.
The Parable of the Net
47"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was
let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was
full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down
and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away.
49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will
come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them
into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth.
51"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.
"Yes," they replied.
52He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who
has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner
of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well
as old."
Explanation: Those Who Know the Kingdom's Value (13:44-52)
The kingdom might be hidden to the world (vv. 24-43, 47-50) like
a hidden treasure or a special pearl that only a merchant searching
for it would find (vv. 44-46; compare 6:20), but a few people would
recognize its value and live accordingly. Such people would relinquish
everything they had to obtain it (13:44-46; compare 6:19-24; 19:21).
Having made this point, Jesus returns to his earlier theme (13:36-43)
about only the final time distinguishing the righteous from the
wicked (vv. 47-50), reminding his hearers that a single sacrifice
for the kingdom may be insufficient: "It's not over till it's
over." Jesus then returns to his theme of the kingdom's value:
teachers of the kingdom are like well-to-do householders with new
treasure, the kingdom (vv. 51-52). Just as each of the previous
parable sections (vv. 3-23; vv. 24-43) contained a central section
essential to its interpretation (vv. 10-17; vv. 31-35), so verses
47-50 provide a warning that many will profess to be true disciples
but that only the end will reveal whose commitment has been adequate
(vv. 44-46, 50-52). This warning may reiterate a recurrent theme
of the chapter: the uncertainty of the identity of those who will
persevere to salvation (vv. 19-23, 37-43).
The Kingdom Costs True Disciples Everything
(13:44-46)
True, the kingdom is available to us only by grace through faith;
but genuine faith means genuinely embracing and yielding to God's
reign, not simply acknowledging it and then passing it by as if
it did not exist. The kingdom is a treasure, and those who really
believe it will sacrifice everything else in their lives for its
agendas (compare Ladd 1974b:99; Fenton 1977:227; Gundry 1982:276).
Professed Christians who desire worldly wealth and status but are
far less consumed with the furtherance of God's kingdom must reconsider
the true state of their souls. When we preach that people who simply
pray a prayer will automatically be saved from hell regardless of
whether they truly commit their lives to Christ in trust that he
is saving them from sin (from selfishness, from going their way
instead of his), we preach a message other than the one our Lord
has taught us.
Treasure Hidden in a Field (13:44)
People in Palestine often hid treasures, and a treasure might remain
concealed if the hider died before he could retrieve it. Probably
the central character of this parable is a peasant working a wealthy
landowner's field who when plowing turns up a strongbox or jar containing
coins. Once he buys the field, the field's contents legally belongs
to him (compare m. Baba Batra 4:8-9), freeing him to later "rediscover"
the treasure. Whereas most discovered-treasure stories emphasized
the finder's extravagant lifestyle afterward or some compromise
between the field's seller and buyer (Gen. Rab. 33:1; Jeremias 1972:200),
Jesus lays the entire emphasis on the price the man is ready to
pay to invest in this treasure far greater than any he already owns.
Although this treasure, like the kingdom, is hidden to most of the
world, not only does the man recognize that its value outweighs
all he has, but (unlike most of us today) he acts accordingly.
A Prosperous Merchant Seeks Pearls (13:44-45)
In contrast to the tenant worker, the central figure of this story
is a merchant, a man with capital, hence of greater means. Ancient
reports tell of pearls worth tens of millions of dollars in modern
currency (Jeremias 1972:199). This merchant, uniquely sensitive
to the value of the pearl, wisely invests all he has to purchase
it. Other Jewish accounts of finding expensive pearls typically
emphasized the finder's piety; thus a Jewish tailor pays an outrageous
price for a fish because he needs it to keep the Sabbath, yet finds
in it a pearl that supplies his needs the rest of his life (Pes.
Rab. 23:6). Jesus, however, emphasizes only the value of the pearl
and the joy of finding it (Jeremias 1972:199).
The Coming Separation (13:47-50)
Jesus closed the last parable section (vv. 24-43) with the coming
separation, a theme that recurs here. Only the final judgment will
reveal who was truly committed to the kingdom and how wise the committed
were to invest their lives in it. Fruits often reveal true and false
disciples in the present (7:15-23), but some who seem to be genuine
today may not persevere to the end, and some who will become believers
may not have yet heard the gospel (13:23).
Of at least twenty-four species of fish counted in the Lake of Galilee,
many were unclean or inedible, and the net would not discriminate
in its catch. Until the final day, Jesus will continue eating with
sinners to seek and save the lost (vv. 28-29, 48-50). The kingdom
had not consumed the wicked with fire (3:10-12) or come "with
signs to be observed" (compare Lk 17:20); it had invaded the
world in a hidden way and would remain hidden until the end. But
while the parable probably applies primarily to the world, those
who apply the parable to the church are not wholly amiss: the same
line between righteous and wicked will ultimately divide Jesus'
professing disciples (13:20-23).
Revealing the Kingdom's Treasures
(13:51-52)
True teachers of the kingdom display the kingdom's treasure for
all to see. Matthew concludes this central discourse of his Gospel
with a final, eighth parable. If Jesus' disciples have truly understood
his teaching (v. 51), they are prepared to teach others the value
of the kingdom (v. 52). Jesus expects his disciples to build both
on the biblical teachings that had come before him and on his gospel
of the kingdom; the heavy New Testament dependence on both shows
that they did so. Because these disciples understand (v. 51), they
prove that they are the good soil, those who pressed in close enough
to Jesus to know him (v. 23; compare 13:11-12, 16).
A Prophet Without Honor
53When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there.
54Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their
synagogue, and they were amazed. "Where did this man get this
wisdom and these miraculous powers?" they asked. 55"Isn't
this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother's name Mary, and aren't
his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56Aren't all his sisters
with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" 57And
they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own
house is a prophet without honor."
58And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of
faith.
Explanation: THE REJECTED PROPHET (13:53-17:27)
The theme of this section is not hard to discern: even more than
in previous sections, it alternates between opposition and miracles,
thus showing the spiritual blindness of those who oppose Jesus.
Because Jesus is a rejected prophet (13:53-58), John's martyrdom
(14:1-12) foreshadows his own. His miracles reveal his identity
to disciples (14:33) and even to Gentiles (15:22), but the elite
among his own people trifle over irrelevant matters (15:2) and prove
unable to recognize his signs (16:1-4). Yet even the disciples fail
to understand fully (14:31; 15:15-16, 33; 16:8-12; 17:20), although
Jesus' revelation begins to make his identity clearer to them (16:13-17:13).
In contrast to the continuity of material in this section, its only
clear structure is on the level of individual paragraphs, but here
it will be divided into three rough segments that may help reveal
both the development of the opposition to Jesus and his self-revelation
to his followers. In 13:53-14:36 Jesus confronts opposition but
performs dramatic miracles. In 15:1-39 he confronts more direct
opposition from people of influence but again performs dramatic
miracles, even for a Canaanite. In 16:1-17:27 Jesus faces opposition
from a united political front (16:1) but grapples especially with
revealing himself to his disciples.
The Threatened Prophet (13:53-14:36)
Like Moses, Elijah and Jeremiah, Jesus was rejected among his own
people (13:53-58); the prophet John's execution thus prefigures
his own (14:1-12). But like Moses and Elisha of old, Jesus feeds
the multitude (14:13-21) and ultimately reveals himself in an act
that characterizes no mere prophet, but God alone (14:22-33); the
multitudes continue to seek him for healing (14:34-36).A Prophet
Visits Home (13:53-58)
Himself greater than a prophet (5:12; 11:11-14), Jesus would face
rejection greater than the prophets had (23:29-36). Like Jeremiah
(Jer 1:1; 11:21-23), Jesus faced the rejection of those closest
to him through the ties that usually mattered most in his society-geography
and blood (Mt 13:53-58; compare 10:21, 35; 12:46-50).
These accounts of breaking traditional ties frame the kingdom parables
(12:46-13:58), forcefully illustrating the message of those parables:
the kingdom comes in an obscure way like a mustard seed, and only
those with the eyes of faith will recognize it. How could anyone
believe that God had stepped into history in the person of a boy
who had grown up in their own community? Today we may often have
the opposite problem: the familiarity of church tradition too easily
obscures the reality that the God we confess as having stepped into
history came in the flesh as a little boy in a particular time and
place. We may also risk missing the character of Jesus of Nazareth.
Knowing much about Jesus without obeying him leads to taking him
for granted. One might cite here the saying that familiarity breeds
contempt. The people among whom Jesus had grown up were unprepared
to embrace his wisdom and . . . miraculous powers. Those who know
most about Jesus without obeying him risk taking him for granted
(v. 54; see also Jn 6:42; 7:15). In a town of probably five hundred
or fewer inhabitants (Stanton 1993:112), everyone would have thought
they knew Jesus already (compare Lk 13:26-28); indeed, Nazareth
was a small town from which even Nazarenes would not expect a great
prophet (2:23; compare Jn 1:46). They never expected the kingdom
to come in a hidden way or to come as close to them as it did (13:31-33);
hence those closest to the kingdom did not recognize it, and it
passed them by (compare 2:1-12).Prophets-both Jesus and his true
followers-will be rejected. This principle so permeated the early
Christian understanding of Jesus' rejection by the leaders of his
people that it figures prominently in the Gospels (13:57; Mk 6:4;
compare Lk 4:24; Jn 4:44). "If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first" (Jn 15:18). Jesus' contemporaries
already knew and emphasized that prophets were rejected (as in Mt
23:37; Acts 7:52, 58; CD 7.17-18; 1 Enoch 95:7), but never thought
to apply concretely in this case what they professed abstractly.
God allows our unbelief to limit his activity. Mark says that Jesus
"could not" do a miracle in Nazareth because of the people's
unbelief (Mk 6:5), probably meaning that Jesus refused to act as
a mere magician but demanded faith (Goppelt 1981:148). Matthew clarifies
the wording: Jesus did not (would not) act because of their unbelief
(13:58). Those who are hostile to God's purposes cannot complain
because they do not receive the attestations of his power that appear
regularly among those who believe him. We should keep in mind, however,
that the issue here is the hostility of antibelief, not a young
Christian's struggles with doubt (compare Moule 1965:47); sometimes
God does sovereignly act on behalf of his own to develop faith,
not just to reward it (compare 17:2-7; 28:5-10, 17; Ex 3:2; Judg
6:12-14).
