Background and the Reason for the Present Study
Salvation, from God’s perspective, is an orderly plan set forth from before the foundations of the world and carried out through the invisible guidance of the Holy Spirit. From a human perspective, it’s anything but orderly, as it lurches from first love and discouragement, from triumph to tragedy, from faith to doubt, to perfect love and union with Christ Jesus the Head of the Body.
Paul is the theologian of the divine plan. His ability to express the glorious plan in all its wonder is unmatched. Consider his sweeping description in Romans 8:28-31.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
No doubt that’s why so many Christians start with Paul’s epistles when they try to understand the plan of salvation. The Plan is elegant, simple, and confidence-building. Life, on the other hand, is anything but orderly. Life is fraught with insecurity, confusion, lack of clarity, and plans frequently must be changed. Life can be marked with confidence and joy one minute and despair the next. If we try to match our everyday experience with the grand and glorious “plan of salvation” (The Plan) – well that’s just a recipe for depression. It is one thing to have utter confidence that God is carrying out his plan. But The Plan often remains murky from an earthly perspective.
This is probably why historically the Church didn’t start with The Plan when she sought to understand salvation. Rather than start with St. Paul, the Church has historically started with Jesus. Rather than beginning with the epistles, the Church has historically started with the Gospels and then tried to understand the epistles from the framework created by the Gospels.
And this brings us to Matthew 13. Rather than The Plan, we’re going to begin with The Kingdom, which is frequently the term Jesus uses when describing the earthly life of the Christian and the Church. The best way to talk about The Kingdom is to talk about the parables because the parables are nearly always about the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven). But why start with Matthew 13?
There are parables scattered throughout the Gospels. There is also no authoritative list of precisely what a parable is and what it is not. Take Mat. 9:16 as an example. “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made.” Is this a sermon illustration or a parable? It fits the broad definition of a parable, but functions more like an illustration. Given the ambiguity, I decided to begin with Mat. 13 because in the Gospel according to Matthew, this is the first time the word “parable” is used. It is here that Jesus introduces us to the parable as a specific teaching tool. He explains their function and even offers interpretations for two of the parables in the chapter. It seemed like a logical place to begin.
Matthew 13 is also a carefully constructed chapter that is obviously complete within itself. It is made up of seven parables with a very brief eighth summary parable at the end which is about those who teach parables. Four of the parables are taught to the crowds while three of them are taught exclusively to the disciples. This structure of seven subdivided into four and three is significant. All these numbers are symbols of completeness or perfection. Four is the number of earthly perfection, three of heavenly perfection, and seven, being the sum of four and three, is the consummate number of overall perfection. Once this organizational structure is discerned it also becomes clear that the first four parables deal with what the kingdom of heaven looks like from the outside while the latter three parables deal with inner workings of the kingdom of heaven. It is therefore clear that the structure is not accidental.
But we will not begin with verse 1. Rather, we will jump ahead to verse 10 where Jesus offers an explanation of parables. His first parable was clearly mysterious to the disciples. They wonder why Jesus is speaking in riddles. They wonder what these riddles mean. Because of their questions in response to the first parable, Jesus offers an explanation that we will consider in the next essay.
