MATTHEW 13:10-17, 34, 35, 51, 52
LET'S PLAY A GAME I’ll call “an exercise in ignorance.” Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Let’s pretend we all live in a remote region of the world where we have never heard any of Jesus’ parables before. Let’s also pretend that we have recently discovered an ancient parchment in an underground cave that contains what other less remote folks would call the Parable of the Sower. We don’t yet know what to call it or what to make of it. However, we sure are curious. So we get one of our language scholars to decipher the text and read it to us. For the first time ever, with fresh eyes and open ears, we hear these words:
A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (13:3-8)
That’s it. That’s the entire text we have.
What would we think about it? A few of us might think it is just a story, a rather short and dull one. The majority might argue that it is part of an ancient instruction manual on gardening, for from the text itself we have a farmer scattering seed on four different surfaces, only one of which produces any kind of grain. We chuckle at the technique, because even though we live far from civilization our modern methods of farming are more advanced. We wouldn’t waste seed on rocky surfaces. And we certainly would plow before we sow. But with our lack of chronological snobbery, we surmise that for these ancient unsophisticated people there is some kind of agricultural wisdom here, such as, when sowing seed, avoid hard surfaces, hungry birds, overexposure to the sun, and thorn-infested dirt. That, or something like that, is the lesson, right?
I told you you’d have fun. Well, fun or no fun I hope that through this “exercise in ignorance” you are ignorant no more. I hope you understand that we are so familiar with this parable and its interpretation that we often fail to realize that these words of Jesus hold little meaning in and of themselves and neither reflect distinct religious language nor promote any theological conceptions whatsoever. And I hope you also get why it was necessary for Jesus’ disciples to gather around him and ask, “What are you talking about? Why don’t you speak simply and straightforwardly?” (v. 10, my paraphrase).
In verses 11-17 Jesus tells them why he is talking that way. Parables have two primary purposes: parables conceal and reveal. First, parables conceal the truth from those who will not submit to Christ and his rule; and second, parables reveal the truth to those who by God’s grace will submit to Christ and his rule.
Parables Conceal the Truth
We begin with how parables conceal the truth (vv. 11-15).
One of the key words in the last chapter was the word “outside” Jesus’ family was standing “outside” (12:46). They did not yet believe. In verse 11 of this passage, Jesus tells his closest disciples, to those who are in a sense “inside,” that “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” have been given or revealed to them, “but to them [the crowds and the Jewish religious leaders, ‘those outside' is how Mark phrases it (Mark 4:11)] it has not been given.” Then Jesus goes on to say:
For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 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. Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:
"'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.' For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them." (13:12-15)
That is quite a statement, isn’t it? Jesus catches us off-guard here—“Wait, Lord, what are you saying here ? Really?” It would have been fine if Jesus clarified that he did not tell parables for the same reason that modern preachers tell stories, to attract our attention or to make abstract ideas more concrete. And it would have been fine if Jesus explained that parables, like miracles, will not produce faith by themselves. It would have been real nice if Jesus just said something like that. But for him to state that his parables were told in order to hide the truth, to conceal the mystery of the kingdom in order to prevent “outsiders” from coming in to find spiritual healing, seems to undermine his merciful mission to bring restoration for all who repent of their sins.
So what are we to make of these startling, almost contradictory statements? Are we to see these lovely anecdotes of Jesus that we enjoy reading to our children as somehow a means of predetermined divine judgment? Are we to see the parables as a means of punishment for those who persistently refuse to believe? Well, yes, this is precisely how we are to understand one important purpose of Christ’s parables. In these verses we are unashamedly presented with the tension, often given in Scripture, between divine sovereignty regarding election and human responsibility regarding rejection.
It does not matter with what grid you come to this text. We all have to admit that the disciples are freely and graciously “given... the secrets of the kingdom,” while others are not (that’s divine sovereignty in election). Yet, in the middle section (vv. 13-17)—with its quotation of Isaiah 6:9, 10—and especially in Christ’s forthcoming interpretation of the Parable of the Sower in verses 18-23, the emphasis falls on human responsibility or culpability.
What I mean is this: if the saving message of God has been freely offered to all who have come in contact with Christ (the “whoever” of 12:50), and if the gospel has been scattered like seed as Jesus traveled throughout the region of Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom, then the Parable of the Sower is perfectly positioned in Matthew’s Gospel to explain why only a few people respond and enter, while many others do not. Although neither the parable nor its interpretation explain why people respond the way they do, the parable as explained by Jesus does “identify the source of the problem [which is bad soil]—human hardness, shallowness, and self-indulgence.” It is like Romans 1:24, 26, 28, where three times we are told “God gave them up”—that is, God gave them over to their sin. He let them do what they wanted to do.
As C. S. Lewis memorably put it, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will he done,’ and those to whom God says... ‘Thy will be done.’”
The chilling truth of verses 13-15 is that, like those in Isaiah’s day who repeatedly rebelled against their Creator and Redeemer (see Isaiah 1-5), those in Jesus’ day who have “seen” Jesus and “heard” his message, yet unrelentingly reject him, are punished by only “seeing” and “hearing” enough to find God’s revelation in these parables to be nothing more than unsolvable riddles. For those “spiritually calcified” by persistent disbelief and disobedience, God’s Word in Isaiah’s prophecies and Christ’s parables serves only to increase their blindness and deafness." Instead of being windows through which unbelievers could see the light of salvation in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6), these parables become closed doors that seal the entrance into the eternal kingdom of heaven.
The Two Sides of Stained-Glass Windows
When I was in Batavia, Illinois, for our Sunday morning services we rented an old Roman Catholic church building, now owned by the Park District. It was a beautiful limestone building with spectacular Christ-centered stained-glass windows.
Every Sunday morning as we worshipped together and as the sun would strike the glass, one glass pane depicted Christ’s death, another pane his resurrection and ascension, and then in the back, over the choir loft, there was a picture of Jesus surrounded by angels, portraying his glorious heavenly reign and also his eminent return. Each detail of every window—whether subtle or the striking details of a bloodied white lamb sitting atop a book with seven seals—shared a gospel story or depicted a deep truth.
On the inside of the building, when that bright sun shone through, we could see these creative depictions of the person and work of Christ. But at the same time of day if you were standing outside and looked up at the glass it was dull, gray, and lifeless. You might be able to make out some of the shapes, but you would see nothing of the brilliant color and the artistry and intricacy of the images. You have to be inside to see that.
So too with the parables of Jesus: the secrets of the kingdom have been revealed to those on the inside, but for those on the outside they are still concealed. Like the outside of those stained-glass windows, Christ’s parables conceal facts about his identity and mission from those who refuse to believe, and like the inside of those same windows, Christ’s parables reveal aspects
of the kingdom to those who seek to know him and to submit to his Lordship over their lives.
Parables Reveal the Truth
So parables conceal and reveal. We turn now to their revelation, the second purpose of the parables: they reveal the truth to those who by God’s grace will submit to Christ and his rule.
Jesus says to his disciples, "Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (vv. 16, 17).
To those on the inside, so to speak, those who are part of the new family of God—Jesus’ brothers and sisters by faith—parables reveal once-hidden truths. Parables unveil what Jesus calls “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” (v. 11).
To most of us secrets are a precious commodity. If someone comes up to you and whispers in your ear, “I want to tell you a secret,” I assume that you are immediately engaged with this person and almost instantaneously feel a sense of intimacy that may not have existed before the notion of sharing some secret was communicated. If someone wants to share a secret with me, I recognize that this person is likely going to share with me something he or she is unwilling to share with others, something special that he or she trusts me to keep. So most of the time, secrets are special to us.
As a special gift Jesus shares certain secrets with his closest followers, what he calls “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” To them and only to them he says, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.” Although we are not told specifically the nature of the secret, from what these disciples have “seen” and “heard” we can safely assume that “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” concern the rule of God revealed in the person, works, and words of Jesus. And from what Jesus says in verses 34, 35, “the secrets of the kingdom of heaven” are similar to Paul’s term in Ephesians, “the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19; cp. 1:9; 3:1-10; 5:32; Romans 16:25-27). That which has been “hidden since the foundation of the world” (13:35) is slowly coming to light, this gospel about Jesus—the one who comes to suffer, die, rise again, and commission his Ecclesia to take the good news to all the world, breaking down the walls of hostility between Jews and Gentiles.
In Jesus “the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God” (Ephesians 3:9) comes to light. It is a riddle no more. The secret is out.
In him [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his [God’s] grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery [the secret] of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)
That sounds a lot like 28:19, doesn’t it? It echoes and expands it.
What was once hidden to the world, and still remains hidden to the crowd and the Jewish religious leaders and to any who follow in their faithless footsteps, God has now revealed to a former tax collector, a few former fishermen, and anyone who is humble enough to heed the call of Christ and put on his gentle yoke. Parables conceal, but they also reveal.
So What? Implications and Applications
So parables conceal and parables reveal—so what? If you are not seeing or hearing correctly, as you hear these parables explained in the following chapters, let them not be a means of God’s punishment, but rather a way in which he penetrates your hard heart. When you hear the words of warnings that end many of the parables, warnings like “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’’ (13:42b, 50; cp. vv. 30, 40), take it as a challenge and not a conclusion, an invitation to life and not a sentence of death.
Let these parables be the trumpet sound and the glaring light that wake you from your spiritual slumber and push you out of your comfortable bed and say, “Time to get up. Wake up. Smell the espresso. See and hear that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Gratitude for Grace
That’s my application for those who don't believe in Jesus. But for those of us who do believe, our first application is simply gratitude for grace. We should be grateful for the gift mentioned in verses 11,12—that we can see and hear and believe. We should be grateful that though we were once deaf to the gospel, now we hear, and though we were once blind to the kingdom, now we see. Gratitude for grace!
We could spend a lifetime trying to answer a question Scripture does not fully answer and that I think may never be answered (even when we are glorified): “Why doesn’t God save everyone? Why has this gift of salvation been given to me but not to _____?” We could spend an eternity on that tough question. But here we are to dwell not on the privation of the gift, but on the gift itself that should bring wonder, awe, and gratitude.
Listen and remember: by nature we are all “children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). So, what kind of a gift does a child of wrath get to open? Any gift? What do those who have been naughty get? Nothing. Not even black coal. Who of us deserves to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven? Who of us deserves to open the gift of the gospel of grace?
And yet the gift has been given—“while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). For this reason the fact that we can hear the parables and understand them should lead us to doxology.
Oh. the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"
"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36)
The parables should lead us to praise (cp. Ephesians 1:11, 12). After Thomas saw Christ’s wounds and heard his voice, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29b). Do you feel blessed today? Can you say to Jesus with awe and gratitude, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28b). Abel and Abraham, Sarah and Samuel, Jacob and Jephthah, and thousands of others (Hebrews 11; cp. John 8:56; 1 Peter 1:10, 11) longed to know Christ the way we know him, to hear his words read and explained each Sunday, and to sense his presence and power. We are a privileged people.
Given to Give
“The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both” (Proverbs 20:12). For that we ought to be grateful. That’s one application. The other application is this: we have been blessed to bless, or perhaps said better, we have been given to give. We have been given God’s grace as a gift, a gift to be given to others.
I get this application from verses 51,52. In verse 51, after he finished his parables, Jesus asked, “Have you understood all these things?” They replied in essence, “Yes, somehow. We see. We hear. We understand.” Jesus then replied that school is still in session: “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure [who brings out the gospel of the kingdom, cp. v. 44] what is new and what is old” (v. 52). Here Jesus says not only, “Have you been given?” but “Are you giving?” If you have been given understanding (if you grasp the secrets of the kingdom), if you have become a “scribe” trained in the truths of the kingdom, then you must share your treasures with others. You must bring the treasures out and share them. For “to whom much was given... much is required” (Luke 12:48).
We have been given much indeed! We have been given the gospel; thus it is required of us freely to give this good news to others. We are to act like Stephen in Acts 7. Before he was martyred, Stephen spoke from the old revelation about the new revelation in Jesus—the good news, but also the new news that in the man Jesus Christ the temple has been replaced. We now come to God through Christ. Our sins are forgiven through faith in him. Like Stephen, like the Twelve, and like all who call themselves disciples of Jesus, we have been given the gift of salvation so we might give to others.
Let us not grow weary in doing so. Let us not grow weary in our gratitude for the gift. And let us not grow weary in giving the gift, in sharing the treasure of Jesus, for that is part of the purpose of these parables.
(R. Kent Hughes. and Douglas Sean O'Donnell., 2013; edited Carl Hinton., 2020)