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THE SECRET KINGDOM MATTHEW 13:1-35 NOVEMBER 12, 2006
INTRODUCTION I like reading mysteries- who dunnit? If I’m not reading for personal transformation, or study or preparation of some kind, I’m reading a mystery. As I read, I am presented with the question- who dunnit?- and I spend the book trying to figure it out.
Jesus used a story when he taught, too: Matthew 13:34 tells us that Jesus always used parables when speaking to crowds. A parable is a mystery of sorts that asked a different kind of question: What does it mean?
Don’t you think that was a strange way to teach? I mean, Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost… to heal and redeem… to bring people into a relationship with the living God. He had the secrets of the kingdom we’ve been studying these past few weeks, and he was surrounded by people who needed to be in that kingdom: why would he veil the mysteries of that kingdom in riddles and parables that some people just didn’t get?
A PATTERN REVEALED As you read these parables, these stories, a few things jump out at us:
1- The phrase: “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand.” This is confusing on its own, isn’t it? What could Jesus mean by it? Don’t just listen with your ears, but with your heart… don’t just hear my words, but their meaning… go beyond the surface, literal meaning to something more…
2- Every parable has a hiddenness that eventually becomes visible: - generic seeds planted in a generic field, where the mystery of germination and growth are concealed until they sprout and mature - weeds whose identity is hidden among the other plants until harvesttime - a small mustard seed whose potential for growth is hidden until it grows - yeast hidden in dough, where it rises mysteriously - an exceptional pearl hidden among average pearls, a mix of edible and inedible fish
3- Each story or parable involves surprise: a surprising variety of harvest, a surprising infestation of weeds, a surprising size of a mustard plant or value of a pearl or catch of fish, etc.
Very quickly, we get some idea of how a parable works: they hide truth so that we have to do more than “hear with our ears” or “read with our eyes” on a literal level- we have to invest ourselves in a search for meaning- a meaning that will surprise us when we discover it for ourselves.
This is exactly what happens in our reading. The disciples hear Jesus tell the first parable, but they can’t figure it out on their own- they have ears but they can’t hear. So they come back to Jesus with a fascinating question- the same question we’re asking this morning- “Why do you always tell stories when you talk to the people?”
I find it interesting that they don’t ask “What does this story mean?” but they ask “Why? Jesus, why are you doing this? You’re telling these stories, but nobody is getting it. Can’t you find a clearer, more direct approach?”
THE POWER OF THE PARABLE But if it is so important, why hide it in a story? Why risk having it misunderstood, or even rejected? Because to hear the message of the kingdom you have to want to hear it, and be willing to seek it in order to understand it. You have to have ears to hear. The kingdom is not about information, a life-manual or guidebook, a course or program to make us smarter- it’s about entering into a relationship… a journey with the one who created us- and learning from him as his child.
Parables invite the hearers into new territory, for the purpose of developing an interactive relationship. With a clear and easy explanation, hearers can listen and achieve understanding and then go on their way, independent of the teacher. But when a parable leaves one confused, it invites them to ask questions so they continue to depend on the teacher himself- not just their own independent understanding of his words.
So if a parable leaves you confused, you will have one of two responses.
1- respond with arrogant, impatient anger- “I have no idea what he’s saying… this is a waste of time!” 2- you can respond with eager and curious humility- “I can’t let this go… I need to know more!”
It is this second response that keeps you coming back. In this way, parables have the capacity to go beyond informing their hearers; they have the power to help transform them into interactive, interdependent, humble, inquisitive, and persistent people.
Maybe now we have a beginning of an answer to the disciples’ question and ours. Why did Jesus speak in parables? Why was he subtle, indirect, and secretive?
Because his message wasn’t just for the purpose of sharing information- it was to spark the beginning of spiritual transformation in those who heard it.
The parable helps shape a heart that is willing to enter an ongoing, interactive, persistent relationship of trust in the teacher. It beckons the hearer to explore new territory. It forms a heart humble enough to admit it doesn’t already understand and is thirsty enough to ask questions. In other words, a parable renders its hearers not as experts, not as know-it-alls, not as scholars, but as... children.
Now do some of the most famous sayings of Jesus begin to make more sense? About the kingdom of God belonging to children… about the need to become like a little child to enter the kingdom… about needing to be born again? Children are dependent, not independent. They can’t learn unless they ask questions of people they trust- their thirst for knowledge expresses itself in an unquenchable curiosity, a passionate inquisitiveness.
You know, that’s pretty much what the word repentance is about. The word means to rethink- to reconsider your direction and consider a new one, to admit that you might be wrong, to give your life a second thought, to think about the way you think! To be reborn, as Jesus told Nicodemus, to become like a dependent child again.
DO YOU HAVE EARS TO HEAR? So why didn’t so many people get it then… and now? Could it be that too many of us are too independent, too self-centered, too set on stubbornly sticking to our own self-determined path? If the problem is that too many of us are arrogant know-it-alls, closed-minded adults, over-confident non-thinkers, too grown up- then the parable renders us into exactly what we need to be: teachable children. No wonder Jesus decides to make his message a secret! No wonder he hides it in metaphor and story! But not all of us are willing to let this happen. Some of us want fast, painless, effortless information and not slow, energetic, engaging transformation. What happens to those who say, “I don’t have time for childish stories about seeds and yeast and sheep… I’m too mature and sophisticated for that- I don’t have time!” Simply put, the parable leaves them out. It exposes them. While parables bring out the childlike, humble thinking of some, they also bring out the arrogance, anger, and impatience of others.
In the kingdom, it is the heart that counts, and hearts can’t be coerced. Nobody can be forced into the kingdom. They can be invited, they can be attracted, intrigued, enticed, and challenged- but not forced. Jesus used parables because the kingdom is not about grabbing someone by their collar and screaming at them, “Repent!! Turn or burn!!” Rather, it respects your dignity, refuses to batter you into submission, and leaves you free to discover and choose for yourself.
Maybe that’s why the message of the kingdom comes not as a simple formula or list of information, not as an angry threat or ultimatum, but as a secret hidden in a parable… like a treasure hidden in a field, like a seed hidden in the soil, like yeast hidden in the dough.
Do you have ears to hear this morning? Are you willing to look hard and open yourself up before the Lord? Are you willing to trust him… or at least ask him to help you trust him? If it’s a formula or program or spiritual quick-fix you’re looking for, I really can’t help you- but if you want to know truth, then Jesus is the one to pursue… and here at Whitepine, we hope and pray that we are the kind of church that encourages and helps people on this journey of discovery.
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