Jesus has one more parable to give. Let’s look
at this first part of today’s passage:
“Have you understood all
these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to
them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the
kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom
new treasures as well as old.” – Matthew 13:51-52
What is this talking about? Well, first, it is
important to note that this parable, like several of those before it, are being
told inside a house, where only the disciples are. This is for them, not for
the crowds.
They are told of what will become of those who
teach – in the kingdom of heaven, they will teach both the old and the new.
That is, they will teach from the Old Testament, and they will also teach about
Jesus. The disciples listening to Jesus were the first of these new teachers;
literally scribes. Scribes were those who were trained painstakingly over a
long time to become those who transmit and interpret Scripture. This was what
Jesus was doing with them – training them for this purpose.
From an honor-shame perspective, this parable
perfectly describes a patron, someone with both influence and some degree of
wealth, someone who did not hoard his wealth but used it to help others, his
“clients.” The clients, in return, would tell others how great their patron
was. For Jesus’ disciples, there was a twist on this arrangement: rather than
wanting others to praise them, they were to always deflect such praise back to
Jesus, who was the real source of everything good. But my point is that this
parable described a very common image, that of a patron publicly demonstrating
his care and concern for – and providing for – his clients.
And so, what is the “Boom” of Matthew? I think
it helps to think about this from Matthew’s own perspective. I do not at all
think that, when Jesus was teaching these things, the disciples grasped the
importance of them. I do not even think they were entirely honest when they
said that they really understood all these parables. But Jesus was telling them
their future, their life’s future work.
After Jesus would die for the sins of man, after
He would rise from the tomb, after He would reappear to them and further help
them understand their life’s work, the disciples would go back to the day they
heard these parables and realize that they were central to their mission. And
they remain central to the mission of all of us who profess to be followers of
Jesus.
We all need to understand that we are to be
sowers of the truth of the Kingdom of Heaven and its King, King Jesus, but we
also need to understand that a minority of those we sow to will actually
respond by personally giving their lives to Christ (the seed in the good soil).
Others will never take the message seriously at all and will forget it almost
immediately (the seed on the path), or first seem to accept it joyfully but
then walk away as soon as things get tough or disappointing or they experience
persecution (the seed in the rocky place), or first seem to accept but then get
carried away with worry or the material joys of this world (the seed among the
thorns). Yet those who respond like the good soil will go on influence many for
Christ, build up many.
We all need to understand that we have an enemy
who will constantly sow the seed of weeds among our work; that our work in
growing Christ’s kingdom will never be unopposed, that it will also be a
spiritual battle. Yet, we can take hope because at the end, the false will
separated from the true; those who love Jesus will be separated from those who
hate them and hate Him.
We all need to understand that Kingdom growth is
God’s work, and it grows and grows and grows like how the tiniest seed becomes
the largest tree. Never fear small beginnings.
We all need to understand that Kingdom growth is
God’s work, and it multiplies exponentially, like yeast through a dough. Just
because you cannot see it growing, do not doubt that God is making it multiply.
We all need to understand that being in and of
the Kingdom – that is, being eternally with Jesus and with those who love Him –
is worth everything. If we give everything we have (and by this I mean our
daily life, our very lives) in exchange for being a part of Kingdom growth,
like buying an entire field because it contains a hidden treasure, or giving
everything we have for a prized pearl, we are making the best and wisest
transaction we can make. When we think of these parables, I think we should
also remember that the characters bought the field and the pearl from someone
who did not know their value (in the case of the field) or appreciate their
value (in the case of the pearl). We need to be careful not to listen to those
who do not value Christ as we do. Nothing compares with Him!
And we need to be those who soberly understand
that the great net is coming for all people; all are being slowly drawn towards
the shore of death, after which, is the judgment, the great separation. This
should motivate us to spread God’s message of His Kingdom all the more.
This, in my opinion, is the “Boom” of Matthew.
We have all heard this before, but to Matthew and the other disciples, this day
was when they first learned these powerful truths that not only applied to
their lives, but literally became their lives’ work. It was what they lived
for, and it is what they died for. I will come back to that final thought at
the end of our message.
Let’s continue on in Matthew:
When Jesus had finished these parables, He
moved on from there. Coming to His hometown, He
began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were
amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?”
they asked. “Isn’t this the carpenter’s
son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James,
Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters
with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. – Matthew 13:53-57
“Where did
this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” I must ask: what kind of
lame question is that? I want to point out that the people are personally
witnessing Jesus’ teachings. He’s not just a really good speaker – He speaks
with authority; He opens up Scripture like nobody ever had. As someone said in
another gospel: “Nobody speaks like He does!” And they know well of His
miracles. He had done many of them just a few miles away, and all of Israel was
talking about them. Elsewhere in the gospels, some people try to argue that
Jesus gets his power from Satan. Perhaps that is what they are insinuating
here. But that is nonsense. As Jesus pointed out, it makes no sense that if
Satan was empowering Him, He would use these powers to cast out Satan’s demons!
There was no way to argue that He did not have this wisdom and these powers to
do miracles, and there was no way to argue that they came from some nefarious
source. The only reasonable conclusion, which they refused to accept, is the
obvious one that His powers come from God.
But they do not want to
hear this, because this would mean that they need to heed His message. They are
desperate to find a way to avoid this, because this would mean that God is real
and that their love of darkness, their sin, has terrible consequences. It’s
also an extreme form of pride. In an honor-shame culture as theirs was, those
of higher honor status refused to accept the idea that someone of a lowly
family could possibly be someone or something more. But I believe this too is a
smokescreen. They would have rejected Jesus even if He had been the son of one
of the most famous rabbis.
As followers of Christ,
we too can experience ridicule and rejection in other areas of life. I can tell
you a story where someone was rejected for a job specifically and solely
because he received his degree from a Christian school. Mostly, this kind of
thing goes on behind closed doors, so that we experience the results of this
kind of rejection but never directly see that it is because of our faith.
In Jesus’ case, much of
the rejection was due to outright jealousy. The other teachers in the
synagogue, of course, could not possibly teach like Jesus. They were previously
highly honored, centers of attention wherever they went, but now, people would
ignore them entirely and flock to Jesus. They, who had sat at the foot of famous
rabbis for years, ignored! “Well, I never!” they surely exclaimed. Yes, you
never truly humbled yourself and submitted yourself to God. For if you had, you
would surely see who Jesus was and not only worship Him yourself, but also
encourage your congregation to do the same!
Note that “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?”,
“Isn’t his mother’s name Mary”, and the part about His brothers and sisters is
likely a repudiation of His teachings, where He calls God “His Father in
Heaven.” It is a repudiation of His teachings (see Luke 4) that Scripture
points to Himself. It is a repudiation of what they are hearing about His
miracles. They do not believe because they do not want to believe. They do not
want to repent. They do not want to face the fact that they are, indeed, like
whitewashed tombs, holy-looking only on the outside, absolutely filled with sin
on the inside. They are the “path” in the parable of the sower and that sows
seed in four places, the location where the seed does not take root at all.
How did Jesus respond?
But Jesus said to
them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his
own home.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of
faith. – Matthew 13:57-58
Note what Jesus did not
do but could have done: He did not call down fire on his detractors. He did
not turn one of them into a chicken, or worse, a pig. He did not do anything.
He did not even do hardly any healings there, because many people in His
hometown (shockingly) tended to go along with their leaders.
Were there some who
believed? Yes, but their numbers were small. Why weren’t they larger? I think
it has to do, again, with jealousy. To use a modern analogy: “I went to high
school with this guy. He was not even an exceptional student, or an exceptional
athlete. Yet now He is a prophet of God? Please!” Some of this is hard for us
to understand, but in a culture completely dominated by honor-shame dynamics,
this behavior makes a lot of sense. One of the unwritten rules, enforced by
everyone, is that people stay in their lane, so to speak. You of a certain
class do not get to rise above it, because if you did, then people below me
might challenge me, and we can’t have that! But beyond jealousy, the people
simply do not want to face the fact that they are sinners, that their even only
moderately honorable position in society is not at all how God sees them.
Let’s go on to the first
part of Matthew 14:
At that time
Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his
attendants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is
why miraculous powers are at work in him.” Now Herod had arrested John and
bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s
wife, for John had been saying to him: “It is not lawful for you to have
her.” Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because
they considered John a prophet. – Matthew 14:1-5
Before we discuss this
passage, I should remind you of Matthew 3 and Matthew 11. In Matthew 3, we
learn of how John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
telling people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” John, with
his camel hair clothes and leather belt, with his diet of locusts and honey,
became well-known. People came from all over to see him and listen to him. They
confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River. He rebuked the
Pharisees and Sadduccees, and he spoke of one who was to come whose sandals he
was not even fit to carry. He prophesied that the coming one would baptize not
with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire. And He warned that this coming
one would separate the wheat from the chaff and burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire.
Jesus Himself came to
John to be baptized. John protested, saying it was backwards, that John should
be baptized by Jesus. But Jesus said it was proper to do this, so John agreed. And
when Jesus came out of the water, the Spirit of God alighted on Jesus like a
dove, and a voice from Heaven said, “This is My Son, whom I love. With Him I am
well pleased.”
But then in Matthew 11,
we learn that John was in prison, although at this point we are not told
anything about the reason. But, hearing of some of Jesus’ deeds, John sent some
of his followers to Jesus to ask if He was the one who was to come, meaning the
Messiah, or if there would be someone else to follow. Jesus told John’s
followers to go back to John and report what they had seen with Jesus do with
their own eyes. After what John said and witnessed at the baptism, it seems
like a strange question. Was John’s faith wavering? Was he struggling with the
fact that he was in prison? We do not know exactly. But John really was the
last Old Testament prophet. He had not seen what Jesus was doing, nor had He
heard His teachings. He was only getting rumors and little glimpses second hand
(apart from the baptism experience). Jesus said that the least in the kingdom
of heaven was greater than John. From this I take it to mean that, at this
point, John was not yet a true believer in Jesus.
This brings us to the
current passage. Here we first learn that Herod is the one who had put John in
prison. He had done so because he did not like John’s warning to Herod about
taking Herodias as his wife, that it was against the Law of God to do so. Now
the Herods were horrible people, murdering their own family members or plotting
to do so. I am not sure why John confronted Herod over this particular sin –
but it was probably because God led him to speak out on it. Herod was not a man
of faith, but he was a man of fear. He wanted to just kill John, but he was
afraid to do so, because he thought the people would riot, which might lead to
his own downfall.
Was John persecuted for
his faith? It is a bit more indirect, but yes, if John had not been a believer
in and follower of God, he probably would not have cared enough to speak out
against Herod. It is important to understand that this kind of persecution
happens all over the world, just like the more direct form where people are
told to denounce their faith in Jesus.
How do we know when to
speak out against injustice, or against other behaviors that we know are wrong?
This is a difficult question to answer. Prayer should always be the starting
point. Over the past few months, I have had to make very difficult decisions in
this area, and although I have peace over my decisions, they have had
significant consequences.
Unfortunately, the
situation for Herod took a dramatic turn for the worse:
On Herod’s birthday the
daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that
he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Prompted by her
mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the
Baptist.” The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner
guests, he ordered that her request be granted and had John
beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and
given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John’s disciples came and
took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. – Matthew
14:6-12
This was a
shocking development. We do not know for sure how old Herodias’ daughter was,
but a good number of commentaries imply that she was an adult, and that her
dance was highly inappropriate. I do not think the passage has direct evidence
that this was the case, and in fact, there is some evidence for the opposite.
The term used to describe Herodias’ daughter is korasion, and this term
is also used to describe Jairus’ daughter (in Matthew 9 and Mark 5) who rose
from the dead. And in Mark 5 and Luke 8, we are told that Jairus’ daughter was
12 years old. So, there is a real possibility that Herodias’ daughter was also
around 12, and it is possible that the dance was entirely innocent. Additional
support for this is the fact that the word used for dance (orcheomai)
can refer to children at play, as it is used in Matthew 11 and Luke 7.
In any
case, there is no question of the evil actions of Herodias for proposing such
an evil deed, and for putting her daughter in the middle of such a horrendous
scheme. In my mind, it is almost more hideous if her daughter were a young
innocent girl. And Herod equally shares the blame, first for foolishly making
the oaths and second for agreeing to these actions. He would have lost some
honor status for refusing but refusing is what he should have done.
As
Westerners who live relatively sheltered lives (even in this era of
coronavirus), we may struggle with how God could allow something like this to
happen. I personally believe that John was in fact a believer in Christ at the
time of his death, that Jesus’ response to John’s followers back in Matthew 11
convinced him to fully put his faith in Christ, and that we will find John in
Heaven when we die. Our challenge is whether to really believe Paul when he
says that to live is Christ and to die is gain. Jesus indeed promised us that
in this world we would have trouble, but He also promised us that He has
overcome the world.
And from I
Peter:
But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are
blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” – I Peter 3:14
Appropriately,
today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. I would
like us to spend some time today at the end of the message praying for the
persecuted church throughout the world. I want to first give you some recent
statistics (from Open Doors USA) on the state of persecution against Christians
in the world:
The top
five countries where it is hardest to follow Christ, in order: North Korea,
Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan.
The top
five countries where Christians face the most violence: Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt,
the Central African Republic, and Burkina Faso.
The top
five countries where the most Christians are martyred: Nigeria, the Central
African Republic, Sri Lanka, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South
Sudan.
The top
five countries where the most churches are attacked or closed: China, Angola,
Rwanda, Myanmar, and Nigeria.
Other data:
Over 260 million Christians experience high levels of persecution for their
choice to follow Christ. One in nine Christians worldwide experience high
levels of persecution. From 2019 to 2020, this number has risen 6%. There are
now 11 countries experiencing “extreme” persecution (the highest level). Six
years ago, North Korea was the only country in this category.
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