Great Events of the New Testament Lesson #29 Jesus Teaches in Parables Study Notes For Wednesday, April 30, 2014 Read Matthew 13:1-50 Jesus used well-know, everyday things like farmers and flowers and birds and merchants to illustrate great spiritual truths. He took heavenly ideas and brought them down to a level that human beings could understand. One of the ways that Jesus did this was by using Parables. The word parable literally means "to throw or lay one thing down beside another." A spiritual truth was put beside an everyday thing to help us understand it better. One-third of all the Lord's recorded teaching was in the form of parables. Why Did Jesus Use Parables? That's a question that came to the disciples' minds in Matt. 13:10 "Why do you speak to them in parables?" There are several reasons... Parables were so effective because they had a way of drawing you into the story. Jesus once delivered a scorching parable and in Matt. 21:45 it says, "When the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they understood that He was speaking about them." The Lord used Parables to fulfill prophecy. Matt. 13:34-35 "All these things Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables, and He was not talking to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world." Parables both hid and revealed truth. For the Jews who were already against Jesus, these parables would make no sense. They wouldn t bother to try and understand their meaning. Matt. 13:12b "But whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." But the person who was truly interested in understanding what Jesus was saying would gain more knowledge about God s kingdom through these parables. Vs. 12a,16-17 says, "And He answered and said to them. To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever, has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance...but blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I
say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." Revealing Mysteries of the Kingdom. vs. 11-12a says, "And He answered and said to them. To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven In a way Jesus was telling them, pay special attention, for in the parables you will learn a lot about My reign, my Kingdom. In Mark's account (4:30) Jesus says, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8; Mark 4:4-8; Luke 8:5-8). This parable explains the mystery of how people would react to God s Word and why more people don t obey the gospel. The seed in the story is "the word of the kingdom." (Vs. 19; I Pet. 1:23). A sower was one who scattered seed over a larger area. Anyone who told God s Word to others would be like the sower. The different categories of soil are the different reactions of people's hearts to the Gospel. When the seed, the word of God falls on your heart, what will happen? That all depends on your heart. Wayside Soil. Some hearts are like the wayside soil, it never has been prepared to listen to God's word. Their hearts are hard like packed down soil; they don't even give God's word a chance. Their minds are closed, and the Devil quickly snatches it away. Rocky Soil. Some hearts are like the rocky places where there was only a shallow layer of dirt. Here the seed germinates, but the person's heart is a shallow place, there is root, no depth of commitment. They are excited about God for a short time and then when it get's a little hard they quit. Thorny Soil. A third group hears the word and responds to it, but weeds grown along with the good seed. Little by little these folks get caught up in the cares of the world, or the pursuit of riches, or the pleasures of life and these choke the word of God right out of their hearts. Good Soil. But the seed on the good ground, are those who have a good and honest heart (Lk. 8:15). They hear the Word and understand it and with time and application are able to grow and bear fruit. The Parable of the Tares: (Matthew 13:24-30). The parable of the tares reveals a new mystery, there is another sower at work. "His enemy came and sowed tares among the
wheat..." Tares were not just weeds, but were actually a poisonous plant. As the tares grew the workers asked their master, "Sir did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? And he said to them. An enemy has done this!" (Vs. 27-28a). And Jesus later explains, "...The enemy that sowed them is the devil" (Vs. 39). What Jesus sows produces the "sons of the kingdom" and what the devil sows produces "the sons of the evil one" (Vs. 38). If Jesus is King over His Kingdom, why does He allow wicked people to exist? ln this parable, the field is interpreted as "the world" (Vs. 38), it belongs to the landowner, it is "His field". Christ is revealing to us that while His reign goes on, the Devil will be sowing his seed, producing evil people with his false teaching. The workers in the parable wondered if it was their job to destroy all the tares, the wicked sons of the evil one. "And the slaves said to him, Do you want us, then to go and gather them up? But he said, No; lest while gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest" (Vs. 28b-30a). In an unripe condition the wheat and the tares looked alike - time would only tell what they would become. Trying to separate them would be beyond the wisdom of the servants. Men unlike plants can be changed in nature. It is not our job to lead a crusade to kill all those who oppose our Lord's reign. But notice, the fact that God is willing to wait does not mean He has not canceled Judgment Day. "Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to bum them up; but gather the what into my barn." (Matt. 13:30). "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear." (Matt. 13:40-43). The Mustard Seed: (Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:3-32; Luke 13:18-19). Many of Jesus' time had their own ideas about what the Messiah's kingdom would be like. Lk. 19:11 says "They supposed the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately." We might wonder, why didn't Jesus just instantly cause His kingdom to come into existence? Jesus talks about the mustard seed which was a tiny seed that can grow into a tree-like shrub between 10 and 20 feet. The Lord s kingdom would start out small like a mustard seed, but grow into something great. Think about how the Lord s cause started: Here was an unknown man coming from the despised town of Nazareth in a far off comer of the Roman empire. This teacher entrusted 12 uneducated men with little influence with the job of going from town to town preaching the story of a crucified Messiah. Yet from this small beginning they were able to shake up the world and affect people s lives for the past two thousand years.
The Parable of the Leaven: (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21). Most of the bread we eat today is leavened with yeast. Unleavened bread is flat and not fluffed up (it looks kind of like a tortilla). When leaven or yeast is added to bread dough, it goes to work on the lump of dough until it is all affected. Jesus compares the influence of leaven, to the influence of Christians that will help His kingdom grow. The Word of God (like leaven in dough) is received our hearts. The Bible goes to work influencing our lives and is meant to change all of what we are our thinking, our actions, the things we want and love! Then once that person s life has been changed by God s Word, they begin to influence their family, friends and community. Leaven is a very little thing, and yet affects so much. We may not be famous or important, but the Lord does not need us to be important or do great thing to help His kingdom. More than anything else Jesus wants and needs you to be a good example, do good works, and stand up for Him every day. The next two parables are combined together because their message is similar The Parable of the Hidden Treasure: (Matthew 13:44) The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price: (Matthew 13:45-46). These twin parables reveal the mystery of who can be part of the kingdom. The only people who will be in the kingdom are those who can view it like a great treasure. The kingdom of Christ has to be worth more to us than anything else in this world. The world won t see how wonderful and valuable God s kingdom is. But notice that in the parable both men immediately recognized the value of what they had found. Both "sold all that he had" to possess this treasure. This should lead each of us to place this kingdom "first" in our life (Matthew 6:33). The Parable of the Dragnet: (Matthew 13:47-48). This parable must have really caught the attention of His fishermen disciples. It has some similarity to the parable of the tares, but is illustrated by fisherman rather than farmers. Net fishing, then and now, catches what it catches. So Jesus says that when the net was full, the fisherman went to the shore and gathered up the good fish, but threw away the bad. The nature of the gospel is to invite all into the kingdom, but this parable provides a sobering reminder that all who get caught in the gospel net will not necessarily live worthy of the gospel. For many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 22:14). "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Vs. 49-50). This parable should make us think very seriously.
Bible Quiz 1. In Matt. 13:10-11 what did Jesus said that parables showed the mysteries of? 2. In the parable of the sower, what four types of soil was the seed sown in? (Matt. 13:4-8) 3. In Matt. 13:25 who had sown the tares in the landowner s field? 4. In the parable of the tares, when were the tares taken apart and burned? (Matt. 13:30) 5. What did Jesus tell us about the size of a mustard seed? (Matt. 13:31-32) 6. What does leaven do to dough? (Matt. 13:33) 7. In the parable of the hidden treasure and the parable of the pearl of great price, what did both men do once they found their treasure? (Matt. 13:44-46) 8. When the d was cast into the sea it caught every kind of fish. Then the g was separated from the b. (Matt. 13:47-49)