The Reading of the Week: Matthew 13:24-43. Click here for a review of Matthew 13's context.
When I was a kid, I was a Boy Scout, and like so many other Boy Scouts, I had a love of Swiss Army Knives. I remember having discussions with some of the other boys about all the cool features that the various knives had, developing a sudden interest in toothpicks simply because my knife had one, and looking with envy upon the adult leader who had the biggest, fattest, most feature filled knife money could buy. The thing that made the knives so great was their versatility, that one simple (or in some cases not so simple) tool could accomplish a wide variety of tasks.
The same is true of parables, where a single story is capable of serving multiple purposes. For example, in Matthew 13:34-35, Matthew explains that Jesus spoke in parables to reveal "what has been hidden since the foundation of the world." In other words, the nature of the Kingdom of God isn't discernible by human observation, and so it must be revealed to us. The telling of parables accomplishes this revelation.
However, just a few verses earlier, in Matthew 13:13, Jesus says, "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." So, the very same parables that revealed the nature of the Kingdom of God to some, also served to confuse others.
In the end, this dual nature of parables shouldn't surprise us, after all, this versatility of God's work is seen throughout the Bible. In Exodus 7-14, the very same plagues that brought blessing to the Israel were a curse to the Egyptians. In 1 Samuel 5-6, the Ark of the Covenant, which was a blessing to Israel brought suffering to the Philistines. And in 1 Corinthians 11:17-33, the Lord's Supper, while bringing forgiveness, life, and salvation to those who take it faithfully, is a cause for sickness and death among others.
So what's the key to knowing how the parable will effect you? Faith. To those who receive the Kingdom, the parables and all of God's work and Word bring salvation, but to those who reject, it has the opposite effect.
Question: How does the dual nature of God's Word impact how you share your faith with people who hold different beliefs?
Parables and knives
It's interesting you bring this up. We're just wrapping up a series on Jesus' parables tomorrow here in Tally. We've been taking the parables and examining what some of the stuff that doesn't make sense in our context today, then replacing it with stuff that does make sense in our context in sort of a mad-libs kind of way. i.e. the servants in the parable of the talents ended up being junior executives at a Fortune 500 company.
The purpose was to get at the heart of the narrative that Jesus was telling. But even then, just like you're saying here - there was that dual effect that seemed to happen. We have some people that haven't bought into or re-bought into Christianity at this event, and for some of the parables - the subject matter is utterly confusing.
Take, for instance, how seemingly mean some of the Matthean parables end up being...lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yet, found within all of that, there is always Gospel. Entirely interesting, every time I step into one.
in Christ,
jW