We’ve probably
all heard the definition of a parable – that it’s “an earthly
story with a heavenly meaning.” And it’s true enough. It’s a
definition that works – mostly. Sorta’. But it’s thin. It’s
an incomplete description of the form of teaching that Jesus used.
The stories that he told, the parables of Jesus have endured. They’ve
been told and retold. Adapted and readapted. Interpreted and
reinterpreted for two thousand, some odd years now. These parables
have power and resist the simple simplification.
Jesus was
deliberate in this. When the disciples asked him why he taught them
with parables, he told them, “Because to you is granted to
understand the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is
not granted. Anyone who has will be given more and will have more
than enough; but anyone who has not will deprived even what he has.
The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without
seeing, and listen without hearing or understanding. So in their case what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah is being fulfilled:
Listen and
listen, but never understand!
Look and look,
but never perceive!
This people’s
heart has grown coarse,
their ears
dulled, they have shut their eyes tight
to avoid using
their eyes to see, their ears to hear,
their heart to
understand,
changing their
ways and being healed by me.”
(Matthew 13:11-17 – New Jerusalem Bible)
Last
week our guest told us about the parable of the darnel, or the weeds.
And she did a great job. Several of you told me how much you
appreciated it. But she had it easy. She had one parable to talk
about – and Jesus explained it for her. In our passage for today
we’ve got what, six? Six parables to treat, and Jesus doesn’t
really explain them – and the one he does explain, only gets more
difficult with the explanation. So we’re going to have to be brisk
as we move through these parables today.
Mustard
Seed (Matthew 13:31-32)
Here
Jesus exaggerates in two directions. 1) The mustard seed is not the
smallest seed. It is small, yes, but there are technically smaller
seeds and 2) the mustard plant, while it does grow tall – as much
as ten feet tall, it’s not really the largest and birds don’t
really nest in it. The story is an exaggeration to make us laugh.
It’s an impossible fiction to teach us about the truly possible
kingdom.
I’ve
know people who insist that the parables of Jesus are true.
Absolutely true, not just figuratively true, that there was a
specific, literal landowner whose enemy sowed his field with
poisonous weeds, that there was a literal, historical prodigal son
who wasted his portion of his father’s estate. They insist that the
parables are not just stories. It’s all true because, if it’s not
true historically how can it be true prophetically? They insist that
there is no untruth in the Bible, that you can’t express truth with
untruth. But these folks have radically misunderstood the genre of
parable.
These
stories, yes. But not just stories. They are fictions, but
they are not mere fictions; they are true. And the mustard
seed isn’t the smallest and birds don’t nest in its branches –
but the Kingdom of Heaven is like this – the smallest of seeds
grows up and out, quickly sprouts, and transforms the world, bringing
beauty, and color, and safety, and shelter. This is the Kingdom of
Heaven.
Yeast
(Matthew 13:33)
The
Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast that a woman mixes with two
measures of flour till it is all risen. Some of you are bakers. You
understand this picture. It doesn’t take much yeast to do the work.
Now
Jesus used yeast as an illustration a number of times – usually in
a negative manner. “Beware the yeast of the Pharisees,” he told
his disciples (Matt. 16 / Luke 12) But the yeast here is a blessing.
It is the hidden, the small, spreading influence. It doesn’t take
much.
Treasure
Field (Matthew 13:44)
How
did the treasure come to be in the field? Who did it belong to? We
don’t have that information, but in another telling of this story,
the hero would be a something of a villain, a cheat, a fraud, thief.
His questionable actions to acquire the field with hidden treasure is
more than a little shady.
But
the Kingdom of Heaven is here, nevertheless, hidden in a story about
a treasure field. Someone finds it and is thrilled. Overjoyed at the
discovery. Here is something that will radically change his life.
Nothing will be the same after the discovery. He hides it again, goes
back home, and with great joy, sells everything he owns so that he
can possess this treasure field. The discovery changes everything.
The
Fine Pearl (Matthew 13:45)
Here’s
a similar story. We have a pearl merchant looking for fine pearls. In
the previous story the discovery was accidental – the hero stumbled
upon the hidden treasure. Here the search is deliberate. Purposeful.
The merchant is crossing the globe, looking for fine pearls. He goes
to the Persian Gulf. He goes to India, looking for the finest pearls.
And when, at long last, he finds that one exquisite pearl, the pearl
of great price, he sells all. He liquidates his holdings in order to
purchase it. He sells everything to posses this one rare and
beautiful thing.
The
Dragnet (Matthew 13:47-50)
Again,
the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the sea and
hauled ashore – an image that his disciples would have appreciated.
And when the net is brought out of the water, it is filled with all
kinds of fish: Tilapia, Sardines, Saint Peter’s Fish, Eels,
Catfish… And the fisherfolk begin sorting them, putting the good
ones into baskets and throwing away the ones that are of no use.
The
fisherfolk sort them by the dietary laws laid out for them in
Leviticus. Fish with scales and fins are acceptable to eat. Fish
without scales and fins are not.
Now
one possible, simple explanation of the parable – one that might
have occurred to his original audience is that this division is made
along ethnic lines, separating Jews from Gentiles. Dividing them
clean and unclean. The Jews at the clean thing – the Tilapia, the
Sardine, the Saint Peter’s Fish - while the Gentiles ate the
unclean – the Eel and the Catfish. But the fisherfolk in Jesus’
story are not sorting them clean and unclean but rather useful and
not useful. Maybe that’s a distinction without a difference, but I
think it works.
And
Jesus offers a bit of explanation – though the explanation
introduces more questions. He says – this is how it will be at the
end of the age. The angels will appear and separate the wicked from
the righteous. And the wicked will be thrown into a blazing furnace
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Are
you getting all this?” Jesus asked them. “Do you understand? Have
you understood all of these?”
And
they said, “Yes.” But I wonder…
Storeroom
Treasures (Matthew 13:51-52)
One
more. Jesus tells them of a scribe who becomes a disciple of the
Kingdom of Heaven. We are accustomed to thinking of the scribes and
Pharisees as the bad guys, as antagonists of the gospel. But there we
have a scribe who is an admirable disciple of the Kingdom of Heaven.
A student. A scholar devoted to the teachings of heaven. And this
scribal disciple is like a householder who goes into the storeroom or
the pantry and brings out new and old treasures to enjoy. The old
isn’t thrown out for the new. The two are brought out and shared
and enjoyed.
Are
you getting all this? Do you understand? Have you understood all
these?
And
this is where you say, “Yes…”
So blessed are your eyes, because they see. Blessed are your ears
because they hear. Many prophets and upright people longed to see and
never saw, waited to hear, but never heard. (Matthew 13:16-17).
Blessed are you for seeing and hearing and understanding.
Or
maybe you don’t understand. It’s okay. I get it – because I
don’t get it. These stories are strange and beautiful and weird.
They are not simple. But it’s okay. These parables have endured for
two thousand, some odd years now. They’ll go on with or without us.
Maybe you need to go home and struggle with one of them for a while.
It’s okay. The story is there for you to puzzle over.
Take
the stories with you. Let the little seed sprout. Let the yeast rise.
Look for treasure. Change everything. Be filled with joy. Spread
color, and beauty, and shelter. Bring out the old treasures along
with the new. This is the Kingdom of Heaven.
