Matt 13:1-53, Rejection results in the kingdom explained in parables

• Review:
• John the Baptist's doubts -- see Matt 3:7-12
• What was John expecting?  Judgment
• What was John seeing?  Mercy
• Explanation of rejection
• "Central to the plot of Matthew's story is the element of conflict. The
principal conflict pits Israel against Jesus, and the death of Jesus
constitutes the primary resolution of this conflict. On another level, Jesus
also struggles with the disciples. Here the conflict is to bring them to
understanding, or to enable them to overcome their 'little faith,' or to invite
them to avail themselves of the great authority Jesus has given them, or,
above all, to lead them to comprehend that the essence of discipleship is
servanthood."(Kingsbury, p9)
• Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, in view of the context (vv. 24-28),
involved attributing Jesus' works to Satan rather than to the Spirit. The sin
was not a matter of speech; the words spoken simply reflected the attitude
of the heart. God would not forgive this sin because the person who
committed it in Jesus' day was thereby strongly rejecting Jesus as the
Messiah. … Can a person commit this sin today? One can reject Jesus Christ, but one
cannot blaspheme the Spirit in the same sense in which Jesus'
contemporaries could. To do so one would have to observe Jesus doing
His works and attribute them to Satan.  One could say therefore that
blasphemy against the Spirit was an unforgivable sin during Jesus' earthly
ministry. The unforgivable sin at any time since Jesus began His earthly
ministry to the present day is (ultimate, death bed) rejection of Jesus Christ.
• How is this important the church?
• Clearly Matthew is still written for the Jew today
• Because of the rejection by Israel, the mystery of the church was revealed.  We are in the church age today.  Jews who come to Christ are part of the church, but God, as revealed elsewhere in the NT and OT, has not finished his program with Israel
• It should be noted that after the rejection, Jesus begins to reveal "mysteries" (also translated "secrets"), i.e., truths not fully revealed in the OT
• Romans 11:1–5 (ESV) — 1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
• Romans 11:25–26 (ESV) — 25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;


Matthew 13:1–2 (ESV) — 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach.


• What day are we talking about?
• The day of the rejection
• Jesus is going to give 8 parables (probably more), 4 to the people publicly and 4 to his disciples privately, and then they are going to get in a boat and cross to the other side of the Galilee, which is why Jesus falls asleep
• A full day of teaching and conflict is exhausting
• Note: Matthew doesn't show the order because it is thematically organized
• We need to understand the organization of this next section
Matthew presented this discourse in a chiastic (crossing) structure.(Wenham, 516) This structure is common in the Old Testament and in other Jewish writings. It enhances the unity of the discourse and focuses attention on the central element as what is most important. A diagram of this structure follows.
A The introduction vv. 1-2
B The first parable to the crowds vv. 3-9
C An explanatory interlude: purpose and explanation vv. 10-23
D Three more parables to the crowd vv. 24-33
E An explanatory interlude: fulfillment and
explanation vv. 34-43
D' Three parables to the disciples vv. 44-48
C' An explanatory interlude: explanation and response vv. 49-51
B' The last parable to the disciples v. 52
A' The conclusion v. 53
This structural analysis reveals that the discourse consists of two sections of four parables
each, the first four to the multitudes and the last four to the disciples. In each section one
parable stands out from the others. In the first group this is the first parable and in the
second group it is the last one. The central section between the two groups of parables
explains the function of the parables and explains one of them. (Constable, p182)


Matthew 13:3–13 (ESV) — 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.


• Note that Matthew uses an interlude here
• Jesus spoke to the crowds, at least 4 parables and probably more
• Matthew jumps to the future to show the explanation of the one and then returns to the scene
• What is the first question the disciples raise after the parable of the sower?
• They question him about the use of parables
• Why the question?
• What is Jesus response?
• Because of the rejection, Jesus is no longer speaking plainly
• Because of the rejection, the mysteries are required to explain the postponement of the kingdom
• That fits with my theory that although God knew Israel would reject, he waited until they rejected


Mark 4:13 (ESV) — 13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?


• The first parable is a key to all the other parables


Matthew 13:18–23 (ESV) — 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 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 what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”


• What are the four soils?
• What is the seed?
• Who are the birds?
• How many soils respond?
• Incidentally, I think they soils are in decreasing size of response
• If 3 soils represent believers, then what are the three conditions believers can find themselves in?
• Fallen away because of lack of root and troubles
• Good roots but choked because of sin
• Good roots and fruit
• How does the Christian develop good roots?
• Good roots are in contrast to surface roots -- what is the difference? DEPTH
• Quickly talk about five ways of getting the scripture into life
• Hear
• Read
• Study
• Memorize
• APPLY / MEDITATE


Matthew 13:24–30 (ESV) —
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”


• Remember what Jesus actually said, if you don't understand the first, you won't understand the others
• Here we have the seed again, which is what?
• What happens with the seed?
• It grows and there is a whole bunch of it -- like the church
• Incidentally, there was a weed, bearded darnel, that look very much like wheat
• But what happens?
• Someone, called an enemy plants another type of seed in the same field that has the church
• The weeds become intertwined with the believers
• What does Jesus say to do?
• Leave it alone, it will be separate at the end


Matthew 13:36–43 (ESV) — 36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.


• This is the explanation given to the disciples afterwards
• First of all, where is Israel and its mission of taking the gospel to the world?
• It is missing
• The field is still the world
• Who is the sower and the director of the harvest?
• Son of man, Jesus
• Jesus takes God's role of directing the harvest and sowing
• Who are the good seeds?
• This should be Israel, and it is now Jesus' followers
• Where do the angels gather?
• Notice that the angels weed out of the KINGDOM everything that causes sin and all who do evil
• Where do the weeds go? A fire where there is weeping an gnashing of teeth
• MY THOUGHT: There are a lot of people in the church who look a lot like believers, and there are a lot of groups who claim to be churches, but both are not.  Jesus will judge the fakes at the end of times


• Now let's go back and look at one given to the crowds. The next parable has a potentially similar application …


Matthew 13:31–32 (ESV) —
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. 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.”


• This time he mentions the seed and describes it size, why?
• Incidentally, while there are many smaller seeds in the world, Jesus used a very common expression in Palestine and among the rabbis, to say that the mustard seed was the smallest (small & insignificant)
• Orchid seed in Palestine is smaller
• What is unique about the garden plant, which becomes like a tree?
• It grows very big (big & significant; used to describe world power in OT)
• How big does it grow?
• Who are the birds?
• Some OT analogies use birds in trees to indicate peace and rest
• Here the birds reside in it due to the size
• AN INTERPRETATION
• The tree represents Christendom and not the church itself
• The church is only the structure of the tree
• The birds are those who take away God's word so that people can't believe
• They even exist in our churches today
• People reinterpret the word in light of today's culture
• Churches that excise part of scripture as not applicable today


APPLICATION:
1. What are we doing to deepen our roots?
2. There are people in the church who do the enemies work
1. Which is why we must be rooted and grounded in truth


Summary: Parables of the Kingdom (unknown source)

8. The Parable	Expected Form	Unexpected Characteristic
   1. Sower	Messiah turns Israel and all nations to Himself	Individuals respond differently to the Word’s invitation.
   2. Wheat / Tares	The kingdom's righteous citizens rule over the world with the King.	The kingdom's citizens are among the men of the world, growing together till God's harvest time.
   3. Mustard	Kingdom begins in majestic glory.	Kingdom begins in insignificance; its greatness comes as a surprise.
   4. Leaven	Only righteousness enters the kingdom; other "raw material" is excluded.	The kingdom is implanted in a in a different "raw material" and grows to fill the whole personality with righteousness.
   5. Hidden treasure	Kingdom is public and for all.	Kingdom is hidden and for individual "purchase."
   6. Priceless pearl	Kingdom brings all valued things to men.	Kingdom demands abandonment of all other values.
   7. Dragnet	Kingdom begins with initial separation of righteous and unrighteous.	Kingdom ends with final separation of the unrighteous from the righteous.
   Scribe	A scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house, who brings out his treasure what is new and what is old	The disciple is the scribe. He brings out the old things (OT) and the new things (Jesus' teaching) to help people understand the message. We all must be teachers.