Readings in the New Testament - Matthew Chapter 13 24-30
We now go on to reading in Matthew Chapter 13 24-30. The Parable of the Weeds, is a reference to the fact that the world is made up of a variety of people, good and bad, believers and unbelievers. People might have been expecting Jesus to condemn the bad and have them immediately destroyed. Jesus says that such decisions are better left to the judgement of God.
31-35 contains two parables and a general statement. The two parables are similar in meaning; the kingdom is of such a nature that it is capable of spreading from a small beginning to fill all the earth. The general statement in 35 suggests that Matthew had gathered a selected sample of Jesus’ parables, but by no means all of them. This is rather tantalising, how we would wish that we had the full list!
36-43 we covered last time.
44-45 gives two similar parables, people will move heaven and earth to get what they consider valuable, in this case the kingdom. The value of the kingdom of God is undiminished by time. Human activity has placed great value on many objects over the years, often this value has fallen as time has passed. In the 18th century the Dutch had a craze for tulips, especially those with patterned petals. We now know that the patterns are caused by a virus, but then it was all seen as being part of the bulb itself. Bulbs sold for fortunes but the bubble burst and many were broken by the crash. Napoleon gave many gifts to important visitors, gold was especially valued but aluminium was then a rare substance and a set of cutlery made from it was regarded as better than gold. Nowadays we would regard such items as cheap and valueless.
Against these changes in human values is paced the constancy of God’s love and His kingdom.
47-50 is a reference to the judgement at the end of time (or at the end of our lives). This is not a popular subject these days, but the Bible constantly draws our attention to it. It should be at the very least a reminder that there are standards that we are expected to keep and that constant vigilance is needed to maintain them.
51 seems a strange verse, what does it mean? Jesus is aware that the disciples, and indeed all His followers both then and later, come with a past history. There will be new revelations when a person becomes a Christian and these will be absorbed and digested by that person, but there is also the history of experiences.
Thus a business man, a teacher, a bus driver, a farmer, a soldier, a typist, a nurse etc. will have a long background of life that they now bring to Jesus. This also applies to unpaid activities, the gardener, the runner, the collector, the reader, the home keeper, all are what they were before experiencing Christ.
What is now required of them is that all these previous activities should now be carried out in a Christian context. The same job, the same hobby, but done differently because of the experience of Christ. If that cannot be done because of the nature of what was done before, say if you were a burglar, a fraudster, a thug etc. then there will need to be a life change. But the past will now become a source of insight into what a life in Christ can become.
53-58 is also found in Mark and Luke. The Luke version is fuller and better and these comments are in His Gospel in Chapter 4; 16-21 describe the way matters happened in the synagogue, a respected visitor was invited to speak and Jesus was now well known so He was the speaker. He quotes Isaiah and claims that the words are being worked out in front of the congregation.
This disturbs them because they know Him well as a resident of their town. How can He know better than them?
23-27 has Jesus challenging their perceptions, showing that often it has been necessary to go outside the family of the Jews to achieve God’s plan.
This annoys them and they decide to deal harshly with Him (28-30) but He just passes through them. Were they too ashamed? We do not know, but we too can be very judgemental of people we know well and disparaging of the challenges they present to us.
David Battye