The last paragraph in Matthew 13 is about Jesus being rejected in his hometown. Rejected by the people he grew up with, and who knew Him the best.

This is one of the ways Jesus suffered. Friends can bring about the deepest and harshest wounds.

The knew Jesus as a boy and as an adolescent. They watched him grow up. And now this familiar face claims to be the long-awaited Messiah. This is too much for them to accept.

There is a corollary truth in all this. Sometimes the church, we, the very family of God, don’t take Jesus as seriously as we should. He can become too common, too ordinary, and too sentimentalized. We must be careful.

Below is a long quote from one of the best commentaries on Matthew.

The story teaches us to weigh realities. It teaches that Jesus is not less messianic for being human nor is he less divine for coming from ordinary stock. It is the glory of God to stoop. (Notice God’s ancient choice of a very human Israel and his later choice of a very human church.) “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10), spoken by Paul of himself, is also true of God, as the cross shows. Therefore, when we encounter difficulties with Scripture, hypocrisies in the church, or “humanities” in Jesus, let us not be discouraged like the Nazarenes and lose faith, for the divine treasure – the treasure of the gospel itself – is always contained in earthen vessels (2 Cor 4:7). -Dale Frederick Bruner, Matthew: A Commentary: The Churchbook, Matthew 13-28

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This video might make your day. It just keeps getting better

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The final parable in Matthew 13 is in a way, blunt. It is called the parable of the net, and it is similar to how the parable of the weeds ends, but it doesn’t contain the other truths in the parable of the weeds.

It might well be possible that Jesus ends this list of parables the way he does on purpose. We must see, and understand, and grasp, and feel that there is a final horrific judgement.

The fish will be separated, good from evil. The angels will “separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Weeping! And gnashing of teeth! And thrown in the fiery furnace!

Those are the final words of the last parable. Is Jesus trying to make a point? Probably so.

How we see ourselves. And how we see those that we know who are not saved, or who have walked away from God have the a horrible future, a horrible eternity.

Let us care! Let us speak up!

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” Colossians 1:28

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This is a very good explanation

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What we value most determines our life. It determines everything.  Typically, most folks value family, friends, spouse, success, and nice possessions.

And typically most folks value their opinion, their influence, their comfort, their pursuits, and their strengths.

For Christians, somewhere in these lists would be God, a church, prayer, Scripture, songs, and church family.

The fifth and sixth parables (Matthew 13:44-46) teach that the Kingdom of Heaven is the highest value. It teaches it by saying everything else gets sold off to attain the Kingdom of heaven.

Most Christians would say God is first, but their actions and their thoughts and their affections would say differently.

The fifth and sixth parables are the hardest of the parables. Take family example. The man looking for pearls sells everything. This is what Jesus teaches in Matthew 10:24-39, especially verse 37. That is a very hard truth. But it is a needed truth!

The point is NOT sacrifice, but desire. The man finds a treasure that is a greater treasure than anything and everything. He so desires it that in his JOY he sells everything.

He gets it right. God is a greater and better and more joyous desire than family. Why? Because God is the giver of families. He is the provider for families. And ALL the joys we get from family comes from God. Without God, there would be no joy in family. Without God we would not have a family. All good things come from God. See James 1:17 and John 3:27.

Of all our joys, God is the most satisfying and thrilling and calming and reliable. See Psalm 16:11.

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This is a very, very good

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It is easy to read past the parables, as if they are for children or the randomly curious. But that’s far from true. All the parables say something deep, needed, and amazing.

That little mustard seed grows into something very big. Christ is that little mustard seed. One man shows up in Israel and He changes the world. We need to hear this. It is Christ then, as well as now, and certainly into the future, that changes everything.

Jesus changes us. He promises to. It wont all be easy and it wont all be hard, but he promises to change us. This means he is constantly working in us, even in our sins, even in our easy times. This is the love for God. This is good!

Due remember though. This change is only possible out of love, He died for us. And out of power over death, he rose from the dead. Everything about Christ and change goes through and is because of the suffering of the cross and the empty tomb.

The leaven in the fourth parable is that the working of the Kingdom of God is quite often hidden and patient. We humans like the spectacular. And we like things to happen when we want them to happen. But Jesus promises us that the leaven is at work, though we do not often see it and we cannot control it.

Trust God to be at work even when it seems He is not.

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This is a video of Tim Keller’s funeral

This is the bulletin for his funeral, which is remarkable

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The parable of the weeds is thankfully straight forward. Jesus tells the parable in Matthew 13:24-30, then explains it in Matthew 13:36-43. The explanation is detailed, far more than the other parables.

In short, both God and devil are at work. In the end the devil’s work is judge and punished severely. And in the end, “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

Who are the righteous? Those who believe Jesus’ perfect life, and death on the cross for the punishment of their sins, and resurrection of Jesus from the dead gives them the righteousness of Christ. We cannot be saved by our own righteousness. So Jesus took our place and gave us His righteousness.

As the famous phrase says, “Jesus died the death we were supposed to die. And he lived the life we were supposed to live.” This takes away God’s wrath and gives us a perfect standing before Him. Jesus did THAT for us!

But! But! But! Do note that those who don’t believe in what Jesus did and those who don’t actively love and prize and treasure Jesus for dying for us will face the full wrath of God, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace.”

Jesus, as always, is the most important thing in life, in salvation, and in growing to be like Christ.

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This is a powerful interview about a church that ignored all the rules during the pandemic

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Sometimes we read right past the wisdom and glory of Jesus. In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23) Jesus says something so helpful, so smart, and so possibly life changing. It involves the seed that lands in the thorns.

Below are how Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus’ words. Note the differences in each gospel.

Matthew 13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Mark 4:18-19 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Luke 8:14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Jesus, being all-wise and all-knowing, pulls back the curtains for us and says, “Mark my words, the stuff of this world will distract you and choke you. These things will be a detriment and bring loss, not gain. You will seek the pleasures of the world, but they will never produce spiritual maturity.”

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2

What a glorious savior to reveal this to us.

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This too is a really good book

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The short answer is that some people have so hardened their hearts that when the do hear truth they do more harm than good. They rebel against God and they twist the truth or deny it.

In Jesus’ time there was a type of person who was allergic to Jesus and truth and submitting to Him.

Today we also have those types of people around also. And we have to be careful not to be one of them.

Our hearts can be hard. We can have little interest in Jesus. Little interest in working to learn more truth. And little interest in obeying Jesus in the things we don’t want to stop or start.

How do we fix this? Humility. Repentance.

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This is a really good book

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Matthew 13 is full of parables and the explanations of parables. It’s a GREAT chapter!! The first parable is the parable of the sower. It’s not explained at first. Jesus dies some needed teaching , then he explains it.

Here is one of the main points of the parable of the sower. There are three reasons the hearing of truth does not grow or mature. And there is one reason it does grow. It is worth our times to see the three reasons for failure. And to see the one reason for seed taking root and growing and being fruitful.

We do NOT want to be one or more of the three.

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This is short and good

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The last four verses of Matthew 9 speak volumes. Here’s verse 37 & 38.

verse 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

verse 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few: This may or may not stir our hearts. One one hand, for some, the contrast between plentiful and few means there is a great and good work to be done. On the other hand, for some, this is too much to ask because of timidity or being uncaring.

therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest: They key word is earnestly. These are most of the cross-references in the New Testament. The word appears more than we would think it would. You might be surprised at how God feels about being earnest. Mark 5:10 & 5:23, Luke 7:4 & 10:2 & 22:15 & 22:44, Acts 12:5 & 26:7, 1 Corinthians 12:31 & 14:1 & 14:39, 2 Corinthians 7:11-12 & 8:4 & 8:7-8 & 8:16-17, & 8:22, 1 Thessalonians 3:10, 2 Timothy 1:17, Hebrews 6:11 & 13:19, 1 Peter 1:22 & 4:8.

to send out laborers into his harvest: You may not see yourself in these two verses. But, then again, we may not see things as God see things. The love with which God loves us should stir our hearts to speak to those who are who are not saved, who are under the wrath of God, who will be in torment in hell for eternity.

These are a couple of good verses to pray over and memorize and wrestle with.

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Something to know about Bible translations

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The last four verses of Matthew 9 speak volumes. Here’s verse 36.

verse 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

the crowds: The crowds were fickle. And the crowds were full of sinners. Yet we see something about Jesus in this verse.

he had compassion for them: Despite their sinfulness and selfishness Jesus felt deeply for them. There is a universal truth here. God lovers people despite their sinfulness.

harassed and helpless: Life is hard. Jesus knows this. He knows it in our life too!

like sheep without a shepherd: They don’t have Jesus as their shepherd. They and we need Jesus as our shepherd all day every day.

God loves people. God knows life is hard. 

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Something helpful about encouragement 🙂

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