Matthew 13

13:1-50  Seven Parables of the Kingdom of Heaven:

1.  13:3-9.  The word of the kingdom (the gospel) is to be sown lavishly on all kinds.  Those who turn out to be good soil will bear fruit in varying amounts.  V.9 is a key verse. It is a command of creation.  “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made both of them.”  Prov.20:12.

     This explains vv.10-17.  It has been granted to the elect to understand, because they listen with ears of faith, and to him who has understanding, more is given (11-12).  But those who do not have, have not because they have willfully chosen not to see and hear (15; and see note at Mark 4:12).

2.  13:24-30.  This parable is a support to the amillennial view that these last days are the millennium, and they will continue a mixture of good seed and bad growing together until the Last Great Day, when there will be a general resurrection and final judgment (see 36-43).  Until then, it is by their fruits you shall know them (26).

3.  13:31-32.  The kingdom starts as a small thing and grows, becoming a safe haven for God’s creatures.  Some Dispensationalists take their interpretation of every bird in the Bible from Jesus’ interpretation of v.4 given in v.12.  Birds are evil.  This gives a different spin to this parable, but the O.T. verses in the reference column do not support their view, it seems to me.

4.  13:33.  The kingdom’s growth is hidden, but pervasive.  It has its effect everywhere.

     The quote of Ps.78:2 is interesting.  To paraphrase Jonathan Edwards, Types of the Messiah:  That a plain summary statement of O.T. historical events is called a parable, and dark sayings, indicates that these were typical things, hiding in a divine mystery the glorious truth of greater things than these.

     Perhaps 34-35 tell us that the whole of Biblical history is God’s parable, though of course it must be seen as true history to have its meaning.  Cf. Luke 24:44-45.

5.  13:44.  Sometimes the kingdom may be stumbled upon by one who isn’t really looking, but once found, it is worth any cost to obtain.

6.  13:45-46.  Some seek diligently for it, and once found gladly give up all to obtain it.

7.  13:47-50.  The kingdom pulls in all kinds, but the sorting will come at the judgment.

     13:51-52.  Having completed his seven parables about the kingdom, Jesus gives them one more about themselves, whom he calls scribes, since they have said they heard all these things with understanding.  His point is that a good householder who has new things will not discard the old.  So it is with the revelation of Scripture.  Jesus comes to fulfill the old with new things, but the old is not to be discarded.  It is all part of the same treasure.

     13:53-58.  Vv.55-56 contradict Rome’s dogma of Mary’s perpetual virginity, forcing them to claim that these four brothers and at least three sisters of Jesus are merely kin, not siblings. “. . . and His sisters, are they not all with us?” (56) suggests at least three sisters—at least seven children born to Mary after Christ! (James and Judas [Jude] are generally credited as the authors of the epistles by those names).  I have been surprised to discover while reading puritan authors that this view was not given up quickly by reformed protestants.  But v.57 says these are members of “his own household”.  And there is nothing in Scripture to suggest that Mary did not have a normal married life after Jesus’ birth.  In v.58, it should not be supposed that Jesus’ power was disabled by their lack of faith, but that they could not bring themselves to come to him and ask, and without faith, there is no motive to do so.