OUR FATHER WHO DESIRES OBEDIENCE OVER SACRIFICE

Matthew chapter 15 starts with the religious and academic leaders of the day, having traveled north from Jerusalem to assess what the Lord Jesus was doing in the Samarian territory, observed that the disciples of Jesus did not observe the traditions that were laid down by men.

They approached Jesus with an objection to the fact that his disciples did not wash their hands before they ate bread. The washing of hands before eating was not a legal requirement but had been established as a cultural tradition and the religious leaders were  enforcing the tradition as though it were law.

The passage in Mathew chapter 15 from verse 1 to verse 9 records the confrontation between Jesus and the pharisees on this point.

1 Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 

3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. 

7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 

8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.  

9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

The Lord Jesus turned the hyper-sensitity of the religious leaders to their traditions back on them. Jesus told them that they venerated the man-made cultural norms so highly that they displaced the actual commands of God with their traditions.

He gave an example of a tradition had been set up where a person could say to his parents that whatever they were going to receive from him was a gift to God and by saying this, that person was no longer obilgated to honor his parents with support and thus the law of God that required a person to honor his parents was nullified by a artificial custom.

The Lord, incensed by the scribesˋ and phariseesˋ disregard for the holy law of God, quoted the prophet Isaiah in chapter 29 verse 13 which foretold of the teachers of the law who made a public showing of their peity but were insincere and preferred their own mandates over what God actually required.

“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips,

But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

Amen.

18

OUR FATHER WHO HEALS THE BROKEN HEARTED AND BINDS UP THEIR WOUNDS

Matthew chapter 14 ends with verses 34 - 36 where Jesus and His disciples arrived at Gennesaret on the east side of the sea of Galilee.

34 When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, 36 and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well.

The Lord was known by people even in this part of the territory and they brought those who were sick to Him. Having heard that even touching the hem of His clothes would heal people, the people asked him for permission to do so and and those who touched the hem of His garment were fully healed.

As Psalm 147 verse 2 says;

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO IS PLEASED WHEN WE WALK IN FAITH

The Lord Jesus instructed His disiciples to get in a  boat and cross to the other side of the Sea of Galillee as He released the crowds.  He then went to up a mountain alone to pray. 

Out on the water, the winds kicked up and the boat was being tossed by the waves.

Matthew chapter 14 verses 22 - 33 tells the events on the sea of Galillee.

22 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. 24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.”

28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

Jesus, having prayed into the night, set out after the disciples who had left nine or more hours before in the boat. 

In the darkness of between 3:00 am and 6:00 am, they spotted a figure walking towards them on the water and they concluded that a ghost was coming after them and they exclaimed in terror.

Jesus called out to them and reassured them that it was He and Peter, wanting proof of His identity, asked that if it was Jesus they were seeing, He should command that Peter get out of the boat and walk on the water too.

Peter was summoned and so he stepped out of the boat and began to tread on the surface of the water. He was successfully walking towards Jesus until the violent wind gusts caught his attention and his confidence faltered and he began to sink.

Jesus walked up to him as he descended into the water and grabbed his arm and said, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" . 

With these words, Jesus revealed the primary dynamic of walking in faith. 

If we have stepped out in faith and are now treading on the surface of the water, we must keep our nerves calm and keep moving forward. As we walk, there will be threats and dangers presented on either side of us by the kingdom of darkness that are designed to make us second-guess what we heard and what we are doing. If we take the bait and consider the harm that surrounds us and question the wisdom of being out on the open water following the Lordˋs commands, our faith will disolve and we will sink.

The Lord had to intervene to save Peter and once they were in the boat, the storm calmed down and the disciples who wittnessed these things from the boat worshiped Jesus and acknowledged that He was who He had been saying He was; The Son of God.

Amen.

8

 OUR FATHER WHO GIVES US OUR DAILY BREAD

The Lord Jesus, hearing about what happened to John the Baptist at the hands of king Herod, went to a deserted area to seek seclusion and to lower His political profile but word got around where He was and huge crowds travelled to the territory.

Even though it was not a good time for Him to be with so many, He was moved with compassion for all the convoys of people and their sick family members who they brought and so He overode His own comfort and ministered to them and healed the sick. Matthew chapter 14 verses 13 - 21 recorded this interaction between Jesus and crowd that went late into the evening and the disciples advised Jesus to send the crowd away to buy food for themselves before it was too late. 

It was at this time that the Lord famously charged His disciples with feeding the large crowd. 

13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself 21. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. 14 And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. 15 When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

18 He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. 20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. 21 Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The disciples, looking at the crowd of perhaps up to 10,000 people, were at a loss as to how to feed them as the Lord had commanded them since they only had five loaves of bread and two fishes so they pointed out their connundrum to Jesus.

Asking for the small ration that they had, Jesus looked up to heaven, blessed the food and broke it apart and gave it to the disciples to distribute to the multitudes.

The bread and fish were materially multiplied as they were divided and distributed so that they were able to feed all the people till they were full and had  twelve baskets of bread and fish fragments remaining.

The Lord is able to provide.

Amen.

2

OUR FATHER WHO SENT A MESSENGER TO MAKE STRAIGHT THE ROAD FOR THE MESSIAH

Reports coming back to the polical leaders spoke of spiritual stirring and miraculous events occuring at the hands of Jesus and King Herod was concerned because he thought that the one doing these miracles was perhap John the Baptist whom he had executed but had somehow come back to life.

John the Baptist, the prophet who had identified the Messiah at the river Jordan, had been languishing in prison because he had challenged the king Herod for taking the wife of his own brother.

It was from prison that he sent messengers to Jesus to ask if He was indeed the one Israel had been waiting for come or if they should expect another. The people of Israel held many preconcieved notions of what the awaited Messiah was going to be doing and John the Baptist felt that if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, he would have been in prison for asserting rightous standards.

Jesus sent back a message to John in prison to assure him that the marker of the Messiah was not political triumph or vanquishing foreign invaders but rather that:

The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. (Matthew 11 verse 5)

Herodias, king Herodˋs wife, became Johnˋs enemy because he had challenged her legitimacy as the kingˋs wife and so she opportunistically moved to have him executed. Matthew chapter 14 verses 1 - 12 records the circumstances that led to Johnˋs death.

1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus 2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 4 Because John had said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.

6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. 7 Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

8 So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. 10 So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

King Herod had not wanted to harm the prophet John but his confidence and pride were exploited to force his hand and he ordered the execution of John.

12

OUR FATHER WHO SENT HIS ONLY SON TO HIS OWN PEOPLE BUT HIS OWN RECEIVED HIM NOT

Reaching the end of the teaching of parables, the Lord Jesus travelled back to His hometown and began teaching and ministering there. The end of Matthew chapter 13, going from verses 53 - 58, records that people were astonished at His wise understanding of the scriptures and the supernatural signs that followed Him.

It was incongruous to the people because they knew His family and He was not from an exotic foreign country but rather, He and His humble family lived among them and were well know to them and as a result, they were offended at what Jesus was presuming to do in their midst.

53 Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. 54 When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” 57 So they were offended at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” 58 Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

The Lord explained to them the phenomenon of people tending to treat prophets with honor as long as they were not familiar members of their own communities. 

The sad effect of this was that the people, because of their familiarity with the Lordˋs family, had little faith and their unbelief resisted the occurence of miracles and so only a few supernatural works happened there.

4

OUR FATHER WHO HAS SET A DAY OF JUDGEMENT

The Lord Jesus, in Matthew chapter 13 verses 47 - 52,  reiterated the lesson of the separation unto judgement that would occur at the end of the age where the angels of the kingdom of heaven will sort through those who have associated themselves with the kingdom of God.

Using a fishing-themed parable to illustrate this filtering process, the Lord described a dragnet that pulled up all manner of creatures from the sea. Once in the boats, the good fish, representing the genuine sons of the kingdom, are gathered into vessels while the bad fish, representing imposters who are the sons of wickedness, are discarded into the fire.

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, 50 and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

The Lord checked with His followers to see if they were able to interprete the meaning of what he was teaching them. They said they understood and the Lord then told them another parable of a houseowner and his treasures.

The houseowner, representing those who were immersed heavily in the word of God pertaining to the kingdom of Israel and were also able to gain an understanding of the kingdom of heaven, brought out his old and new treasures to showcase.

This represents how the understanding of the kingdom of  Israel is preserved as a valuable treasure even as it is added to by the understanding of the incoming kingdom of heaven.

Knowledge of the old testament remains a treasure even as the new testament adds to it and even amplifies it.

Together, these two testaments are brought out of the storehouse for display to the whole world as a testimony of the Lord's mighty work of salvation.

Whereas the old treasure was confined to the storehouse of the nation of Israel, when the new treasure is uncovered, the old treasure is brought out into the open to be available to all for wisdom.

Matthew chapter 13 verse 52 out of the NIV says it this way;

52 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.”

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM IS OF UNFATHOMABLE VALUE

The Lord Jesus concluded his exposition of the parable of the wheat and the tares with this statement in Matthew chapter 13 verse 43;

43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Here, the righteous, who had paid the price and enrolled in the kingdom of their heavenly Father, are described by Jesus as shining brighter than the sun.

The Lord, wishing to drive home the point of how extremely valuable the kingdom of heaven is,  continued teaching his disciples, with the use of two very similar parables found in Matthew chapter 13 verses 44 - 46.

Both these parables describe the appropriate response to the discovery of the kingdom of heaven given the proper understanding of its value.

44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

In the first parable, the Lord Jesus tells of a man who was prospecting on a piece of land when he stumbled upon a treasure that he immediately understood was highly valuable. He excitedly concealed the find and went off to sell off all his other holdings so that he could return and buy the field. The man did this discreetly so that the owner of the land did not know of the treasure and either refuse to sell the land to him or rachet up the price of the land to account for the presence of the treasure.

By starting the second parable with the word 'again', Jesus indicated that the second parable carried the same lesson as the first but he framed it in a different milieu.

Whereas the first was based in the context of a valuable substance hidden underground that was concealed from sight, the second was set in a jewelry market where a trader, looking through the inventory of pearls, discovered a particular pearl of very high value that no one else had detected.

He quietly went off to sell everything he owned in order to return to the market and buy the pearl that he had discovered.

These two parables speak of the serendipitous discovery of a very valuable thing that no one knew about. In the first case, the valuable thing was hidden from sight so that no one was aware that it was there until the man uncovered it. In the second case, the valuable thing was in plain sight alongside all the other low value pearls but everyone was ignorant of its actual value and passed up on the opportunity to buy it.

In both cases, the men, realizing the importance of what they had tripped over, ransacked their own lives in order to invest everything they owned in what they had discovered.

The two cases correspond to the two different backdrops that the good news of the kingdom finds its hearers in. Some people hear of the good news of the kingdom in a spiritually dry desert and immediately understand its value and jump at the chance to acquire membership. 

Other people, awash in a miriad of religions and philosophies, disern the unique value of the propositions of the kingdom of heaven and give their entire lives in exchange for it.

With these parables, twinned for emphasis, the Lord Jesus counsels us to divest ourselves of all our earthly holdings in order to possess the eternally priceless treasure of the kingdom of heaven.

Amen.

16

OUR FATHER WHOSE SONS WILL SHINE LIKE THE SUN

After the events of the day concluded, the disciples asked the Lord Jesus to decode the parable of the wheat and the tares for them as recorded in Matthew chapter 13 verses 37 - 43;

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”

37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 

40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

The Lord explained the parable by associating the people and components of the parable with the reality they corresponded to;

• The owner who sowed good seeds was Jesus Himself
• The field being sowed was the world
• The good seeds were the sons of the kingdom
• The weeds were the sons of the wicked one
• The sower of bad seeds was the devil
• The harvest was the end of the age
• The harvesters were the angels

The activity at harvest time mirrors the activity at the end of the age where the sons of wickedness are  separated for destruction and eternal regret while the sons of the kingdom of God are separated for eternal glory. 

Lord have mercy on us.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM OPERATES BY MYSTERIES

Matthew chapter 13 verses 34 - 35 continues this way;

34 All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, 

35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables;

I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

The parables the Lord taught were glimpses into the nature and form that the kingdom of God would take when it touched ground but the parables were designed to keep the things of the kingdom secret except to those who were being given the kingdom.

Keeping the things of the kingdom of God secret from the kingdom of darkness gave the kingdom of God the advantage so that its plans could unfold in plain sight but be completely opaque and mysterious to those who would try to thwart the purposes of God.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON

To teach His followers about the mechanics of establishing the kingdom of God in the earth, the Lord Jesus used a parable in Matthew chapter 13 verse 33;

33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

The Lord Jesus used the concept of a woman taking an amount of a rising agent like yeast and then introducing it to a volume of flour. 

The woman then kneaded the dough with the yeast until the small quantity of yeast was distributed evenly throughout the flour and could act in all the sectors of the meal.

This is an illustration of how the kingdoms of this world would be infused with the rising agent of heaven such that they would all be acted upon by the agent.

The efforts of the woman, standing in for the church's work of distributing the good news of the kingdom on the earth as well as manifesting of the active agents of the kingdom of heaven, establishes the rulership of the Lord Jesus through the earth.

As Psalm 110 verse 2 says;

The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

Amen.

4

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE KINGDOM ON EARTH WILL OVERCOME DARKNESS AND BECOME THE GREATEST

The Lord Jesus continued to teach His disciples about the kingdom He was ushering in and He had explained to them how its moral framework worked and He had revealed the challenges that the kingdom would face from the kingdom of darkness and how those challenges would be overcome.

The Lord then gave the disciples a graphical illustration of the kingdom of heaven that was going to take root on the earth.

Matthew chapter 13 verses 31 - 32 says it this way;

 31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, 

32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

The parable of the mustard seed uses the theme of a seed to visualise how a tiny installation  package would be implanted on the earth and it would unfurl into the greatest kingdom on the planet.

The tiny mustard seed is the human form of the Lord Jesus that would die and and be buried in the earth.

Even though this singular event is a very small moment in human history, it would grow into a massive administrative structure overshadowing all other kingdoms on the earth.

The metaphor of trees as kingdoms or adminstrative juridictions is used frequently in  the scriptures like where, in Ezekiel 31 verse 3, the cedar tree is directly equated to a kingdom.

Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches and forest shade, and of towering height, its top among the clouds.

The mustard seed, though small, grows into a large tree but just as birds inhabit the branches of a mustard tree, evil spirits will find perches in the mustard tree in keeping with the idea that the kingdom of heaven will face challenges from the kingdom of darkness as the agents of darkness infiltrate the kingdom of light to try to corrupt it and destroy it.

Lord have mercy on us.

4

OUR FATHER WILL SEPARATE THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS ON JUDGEMENT DAY

 Continuing on the theme of the kingdom of God and how it operated among human beings, the Lord Jesus told the disciples another parable commonly known as the parable of the wheat and the tares (tares being a type of noxious weed).

Whereas the previous parable spoke of how the good news of the kingdom affected people differently depending on the conditions of their hearts, this parable revealed how the sowing of evil seeds is used by the kingdom of darkness to sabotage the kingdom of God and how this type of sabotage will be handled by God.

Matthew chapter 13 verses 24 - 30 says this;

24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 

27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 

30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”

A land owner, careful to screen his seeds to eliminate weeds before planting, had put in his crop for the season and while the overseers were asleep at the switch, an enemy of the land owner came and dumped a bunch of  weed seeds onto the land.

No one from the landowner's side knew what had happened until the seeds started germinating and the crop started appearing but so did the weeds.

The landowner's employees came to him asking if he had indeed screened his seeds properly because the crop was growing alongside a large number of weeds.

The land owner immediately knew that he had been sabotaged by an enemy to destroy his crop. The employees proposed that they could go into the field and pull out the weeds.

To this point, we understand that the seeds are words that planted in mens hearts and in the case of the words of God, a crop ( which represents good men who serve God ) begins to grow from them. 

The saboteur, ( representing the devil and his kingdom ), snuck in under cover of darkness and spread their evil words and as a result, men, corrupted by the ways of darkness, emerge among the good crops as weeds.

The instinctive response to this situation would be to go in among the crop and try to isolate the weeds and pull them out as the employees of the landown suggested.

The land owner, more experienced in these matters, knew that an attempt to remove corrupt men from among the good men while they were growing together would be imprecise and would result in many good men being inadvertently uprooted.

This is especially true where the general code of conduct in the kingdom of God demands that good works be done in secret and so distinguishing the good people from the corrupt people by trying to access their deeds is often difficult.

The Lord determined that the most expedient response to the sabotage would be to let the good men and the corrupt men grow through life side by side in the congregations of church-goers  but when the day of judgement comes and everything is being uprooted, the weeds would be separated from the crop and incinerated while the good crop, after screening, would be moved into the house of God.

Lord have mercy on us.

2

OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD YIELDS FRUIT IN HEARTS THAT UNDERSTAND

The Lord Jesus, when asked why He taught in parables explained that the news of the kingdom of God was not for the multitudes to understand but rather for the ones He had selected to carry His message from Jerusalem to Judea and to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

He then decoded the parable of the sower to His disciples in Matthew chapter 13 verses 18 - 23;

18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower:

 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Jesus explained that the four different  ground environments into which the seeds fell represented the four different heart conditions that people were in when they hear the word of the kingdom of God.

He then explained that what resulted when the seeds fell into the different conditions, corresponded to what happened to the word of the kingdom after it landed in the hearts of men;

• On the hard wayside where people walked
• Hearts that don't understand
• Birds devoured the exposed seeds
• Evil spirits erase the word from their knowledge

• On stony shallow soil
• Hearts that are shallow
• Seeds germinated quickly but soon died
• Word received with joy but withers when pressure comes due to shallowness

• Among thorns
• Hearts that are  immersed in this world
• Seeds were choked by competition
• Worries and attractions of this world distract from the kingdom and they are rendered unfruitfull

• In deep good soil
• Hearts that understand the gravity of the kingdom and commit themselves to it
• Seeds took root and yielded a harvest
• The seeds germinate and are able to replicate themselves 30, 60 and 100 times over

The disciples of Jesus were given the key to understand how those who heard the word of the kingdom would respond and why they would respond in the way they do.

Implied in the parable are the steps that need to be taken in order to maximize their yield. As the went from community to community spreading the word,  they would have to;

• Ensure that their message was understood
• Cultivate resilience and endurance
• Teach recipients to detach from the world
• Invest in those who understood

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE PLAN TO SAVE US WAS FORETOLD BY HIS PROPHETS

After telling the crowd people the parable of the  sower, the disciples of Jesus were curious as to why He was using parables instead of  speaking plainly. They thought it was counter-productive to have a captive audience but then tell them indecipherable stories. Mathew chapter 13 verses 10 - 17 captures Jesus response to this query;

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

And seeing you will see and not perceive;

15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.

Their ears are hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have closed,

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I should heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes for they seme, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

In responding to the disciples' question, the Lord referred to a prophecy in Isaiah chapter 6 verses 9 - 10 which foretold that the peoples' hearts would be dull and their eyes closed and ears shut and would not understand lest they comprehend what was available for them and they turn and be redeemed.

The plan was for Israel to reject the messiah and if Jesus taught too clearly, they might have understood and repented and this would have short-circuited the salvation process. 

The rejection of the Messiah by Israel gave a chance for gentiles in all the rest of the world to hear the gospel and be grafted into the stem of Israel but when the gentiles have reached their fullness,  all Israel will be saved. 

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD IS SOWN ABROAD TO GAIN A GREAT HARVEST

Matthew chapter 13 verses 1 - 9 says this;

1 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 

6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Interestingly, the events this passage describe begin on the same day on which the events at the end of the previous chapter occured. 

While teaching the multitudes who were following Him, Jesus had a confrontation with the pharisees regarding their demand to be shown a supernatural sign in order to validate what He was teaching. Jesus denied their request and called the pharisees and evil and adulterous generation who would be judged by history.

The political shockwaves that resulted, motivated Jesus' family to come  to His meetings to pursuade Him to go home with them to save Him from the wrath of the powers of the time.

Jesus, left the house and went to sit by the sea where the crowd followed Him. To avoid getting overun, Jesus got onto a boat and began to speak to the people on shore from the boat.

He spoke many cryptic parables to the crowd but the one recorded in this passage is the famous parable of the sower who went into a field to sow and as he scattered the seeds, they fell in four distinct environments where four distinct outcomes were observed;

• On the wayside where people walked
• Birds devoured the exposed seeds
• On stony shallow soil
• Seeds germinated quickly but soon died
• Among thorns
• Seeds were choked by competition
• In deep good soil
• Seeds took root and yielded a harvest

This parable marks a change in gear for the Lord Jesus. Up to this point, He had been teaching about the kingdom of God, its moral structure and its code of conduct.

In this passage, Jesus starts speaking about the dynamics of spreading the good news of the kingdom of God with attention to the conditions that affect the results of distributing the word of God among the people.

Even though the stories he was telling the people were relatable because their subject matter was based on familiar agrarian themes, they were mysterious as to their meaning.

In the next section, we will see Jesus' disciples asking about why the Lord was teaching in opaque parables and we will discuss the Lord's explanation for this and His exposition of the parable of the sower.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHO BRINGS US INTO HIS FAMILY THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS

At one point while Jesus' was talking to the group of people, He got word from the outside of the gathering place that His mother and brothers wanted to speak to Him. Matthew chapter 11 verses 46 - 50 captures the moment;

46 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

The event in this passage parallels the verse in Mark chapter 3 verse 21 that says this;

But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

The Lord Jesus was holding  high profile meetings with religious leaders getting i to confrontatkons with Him and His family became concerned for Him thinking that He had gone over the top.

His mother and brothers came to try talk Him out of His activities because of the political tension that His ministry was stirring up.

When Jesus was informed that his mother and brothers were waiting to speak to Him, He said to the one who brought the information that His mother and brothers and sisters were those who were following Him and who did the will of His Father in heaven.

The Lord Jesus was viewed as being out of His mind by His own family and those who follow Him can expect to bear the same burden especially those believers who convert from other religions or philosophies.

They are sometimes seen by their family and friends as having gone insane but this is a cross to carry that Jesus Himself bore.

Another reality revealed in this passage is that the kingdom of God is a family and all those who are obedient to its calling automatically become each other's brothers and sisters and also become siblings of Jesus Himself.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON WAS REJECTED BUT BECAME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE

Having told the religious leaders (who were asking for a sign be shown to them) that they were out of step with the calendar of God's plan, the Lord Jesus informed them that they would thus be condemned by people out of history who had grappled with far less knowledge than they had in search of God's mercy and wisdom.

Then Jesus, in an unusual fashion, used a parable based on a demonic spiritual reality to elucidate the condition of the generation that was not prepared to receive the Messiah who had been sent to them.

Matthew chapter 12 verse 43 - 45 tells of the journey of an evicted demon that returns to its original home and finding it cleaned and prepared for habitation, recruits other spirits and together, they invade the man and his condition is worse than before.  

43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

In the parable, the nation of Israel is the man and the demon is the religious and political status quo that had established itself in the society.

The plan of God was to bring salvation to Israel and then to the whole world and so preparation was made where the people were taught about the coming kingdom of God and the house is Israel was cleaned up to be ready for the Holy Spirit to inhabit. 

However, the kingdom of God was resisted by Israel and the  Messiah was killed leaving Israel available to be inhabited by their original usurping spirit alongside additional pathological conditions and this left Israel in worse shape that it was before.

As the scripture says; 

"So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

The wicked generation that rejected the promised Messiah was going to suffer condemnation from history and be saddled with worse political and spiritual oppression than they were exposed to before.

Lord have mercy on us.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE WAYS ARE PERFECT

From Psalm 119 - Beth

I sing to You my precious Lord

For in my heart I  hid Your word

Teach me  that I may always know

The narrow path on which to go

That on Your righteous road I stay

And from Your will I never stray

As I think of Your perfect way

I will delight in what You say

My Jesus, My Jesus,

There is none like You

There is no one else like You

Psalm 119 - Beth - 9 - 16

9 How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word.

10 I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.

11 I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

12 Praise be to you, Lord; teach me your decrees.

13 With my lips I recount all the laws that come from your mouth.

14 I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches.

15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 

16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON WAS THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE THAT THE BUILDERS TURNED AWAY

The Lord Jesus spoke to the Pharisees about their blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and how their words would condemn them on the day of judgement and in response to the unbraiding they received, the discomfitted pharisees then felt that the hearsay stories of Jesus' miracles were not enough for them and so they wanted to see a miracle with their own eyes so that they could judge whether Jesus was worthy to school them the way He was.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 

41 The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

42 The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

The answer Jesus gave to their request for a supernatural sign was an epic revelation of the momentous grandeur of the mission of salvation that He, the Messiah, had come to fulfill.

The pharisees' request for a sign was denied but they were alerted that there would be one pivotal sign that was available to them and that was the sign that the story of the prophet Jonah foreshadowed.

Just as Jonah went down into the depths of the sea in the belly of a great fish for three days and three nights before rising again, the Son of Man would descend into the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

This sign, that was the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, was the only sign that would be given to the evil and adulturous generation.

Unbeknownst to the pharisees, they were going to play a part in the events that the Lord Jesus was describing and the fact that that they missed the day of their visitation was going to be the basis for a historical condemnation against them.

Jonah went to Nineveh with no signs and yet upon his preaching, the whole city repented in ashes. In contrast, One far greater than Jonah had come to them with healing in His wings and that generation did not repent but instead demanded signs be performed before them.

The queen of Sheba is also going to condemn that generation because she arduosly travelled a great distance to come hear the wisdom  of Solomon and even though One greater than Solomon was among them teaching wisdom,  instead of troubling themselves to learn from Him, they demanded a sign.

All the figures of history who hungered and yearned for God on the basis of faint traces of the workings of the Spirit of God will rise up to condemn the generation that had the Son of God, powered by the Spirit of God, moving around in their midst.

Have mercy on us O God.

4

OUR FATHER TO WHOM JESUS WILL INTRODUCES US IF WE CONFESS JESUS BEFORE MEN

Matthew chapter 12 verses 33 - 37 records the continuation of the sharp reprimand that Jesus directed at the pharisees who were denegrating the work of God amoung the people. 

They had declared to the people that Jesus' ability to cast out demons stemmed from His cooperation with the kingdom of darkness.

Jesus immediately showed them that their claim was illogical and informed them of the terrible price they would pay for blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

In our passage, Jesus continued with the castigation of the Pharisees as follows;

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Trees in the scriptures are frequently used a metaphors for kingdoms or administrative juridictions and here, Jesus tells the pharisees that their administrative jurisdiction is yielding bad fruit because they had made a bad tree.

In this case, the corruption of the tree the pharisees had made manifested itself as the bad fruit of illogical accusations against people.

Calling the pharisees a 'brood of vipers', Jesus was alluding to the poisonous threat that the pharisees and their illogical postures represented.

He told them that because they had cultivated evil things in their hearts, there was no surprise that evil things came out of their mouths because of the principle described by the Lord Jesus where good things automatically  come out of the heart of s good man while evil things flow out of the hearts of evil men.

The Lord also took away the possible excuse that the pharisees' words were just passing observation and opinions because he said that in the day of judgement, all men would accountable for every idle word they spoke during their lifetimes.

All the words a man spoke would be the basis upon which he was justified or he was condemned.

If a man used words to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, those words would apear in the transcript against him in the court of final judgement and it is these words that would seal his eternal state.

This principle also applies to the use of words to declare belief and trust in the Lord Jesus before other people for these words, appearing in the transcript of ones' life, are the basis for the introduction that Jesus will make between one of those who trusted Him and God the Father.

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

Amen.

8

OUR FATHER WHOSE SPIRIT MUST NOT BE BLASPHEMED

The Lord Jesus, having just previously told the pharisees that those who were not with Him were against Him and those who were not gathering with Him were scattering, said this stern warning to them;

31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

The pharisees found Jesus to be a potent rival for the hearts and minds of the people in the land of Israel and some of them began to plot how to get rid of Him so that they could hold onto their religious monopoly over the territory.

He was challenging the status quo in their understanding of the scripture and the kingdom of God was attesting to the validity of His ministry with astounding supernatural power and authority.

Jesus, in this passage, said that if the visceral reactions against Him out of envy or defensiveness caused the religious and political guard to speak against Him, these offences would be forgivable but, if they ventured beyond challenging Him and blashphemed the Holy Spirit who was the facilitator of the supernatural attestations of Jesus, they would have no pathway to forgiveness either in that time or in the time that was to come.

The pharisees, having attributed Jesus' ability to deliver people from demonic oppresion to the Beelzebub, had blasphemed the Holy Spirit who was the One who had powered the removal of the demons and the healing of the blind and mute.

The damning of the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit  is particularly aggrigeous because it undercuts the outreach that God Himself provides to stir up people's faith and by undermining this outreach, other people can be prevented from attaining a place of trust in God.

Even though there were some factions within the pharisaic order that began to take Jesus seriously like the one to which Nicodemus belonged to, the efforts of the particular pharisees who blasphemed the Holy Spirit, caused them to be excluded from ever reaching saving faith and for them, they were without remedy and in their unforgivable state, ended up pursuing the destruction of Jesus until they succeeded in having Him crucified.

Have mercy on us O God.

8

OUR FATHER'S KINGDOM IS AMONG US WHEN WE SEE THE KINGDOM OF SATAN BEING PLUNDERED 

Matthew chapter 12 verses 22 - 30 says this;

22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

As the Lord Jesus ministered in healing and deliverance, His reputation grew among the people and they brought people with various afflictions for Him to restore.

On one occasion, a demonized man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and when Jesus healed him, the man could see and speak again and these kinds of astonishing miracles caused the multitudes of people to increase in their esteem of the Lord Jesus.

The existing religious establishment felt threatened by the ascendancy of Jesus in the minds of the people and one of the prongs that was used to try to discredit the Lord Jesus Christ was to ascribe His power to His collaboration with the king of the demons named Beelzebub.

Jesus detected the thinking of the pharisees and countered their conclusions by showing them that it was illogical.

He asked them how the kingdom of Satan could possibly stand if Jesus was undermining the kingdom Satan by the power of Satan.

How could Satan sponsor the destruction of his own kingdom and expect to sustain his kingdom?

Jesus then asked the pharisees by what power their own sons were casting out demons. If they were claiming that Jesus was doing so by the power of Satan, were not their own sons doing the same? Jesus warned the pharisees that their own sons would judge them for falsely claming that Jesus was casting out demons by the power of Satan.

Jesus pointed out to the pharisees that the more likely explanation of what was happening was that the demons were being evicted by the  Spirit of God which then clearly indicated that the kingdom of God was now in operation among them.

Jesus explained to the pharisees that in order to undermine the holdings of Satan, the owner of the holdings must be bound first and then one can enter and take what the strongman has secured for himself.

The Lord Jesus then revealed the polarized nature of existence where there is no neutral ground. Human beings are encamped in one kingdom or the other. If a person is not subscribed to the kingdom of God, one is automatically subscribed to the kingdom of darkness and subject to its mandates.

That is why Jesus said that if we are not aligned with Him, we are against Him because we are aligned with the kingdom of darkness by default..

If we are not actively working in His kingdom gathering in the harvest, we are, conciously or not, scattering that which is slated to be brought in with the harvest and we are undermining the kingdom of God. As verse 30 says;

He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

Amen.

4

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON IS WONDERFULLY FORETOLD IN THE SCRIPTURES

Matthew chapter 12 verse 15 - 21 reads this way;

15 But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

18 “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.

19 He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench, Till He sends forth justice to victory; 21 And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

The establishment did not appreciate the challenge that the Lord Jesus represented to their religious dominance over the culture and began to consider ways to ruin Him.

Jesus, knowing their schemes, retreated from the towns and to avoid being tracked down by those who wanted to kill him, He warned His followers not to give away his location.

This was the fulfillment of the Isaiah chapter 42 verses 1 - 4 which fortells that our Father  in heaven would declare over Jesus His son that with Him, He was well pleased.

The Spirit of God would then be placed upon Him.

He would bring His justice to the gentiles.

He would retreat to isolated places so as to have a low profile and not end up in brawls with the pharisees.

Any tiny ember of faith held by a person would be protected by Jesus and the Lord would not do anything to quench the small flame of faith.

This gentle and delicate handling of those with  weak faith  would continue to be practiced by the Lord Jesus until He gained the final and great  victory for the kingdom of God and gentiles abandoned their pagan ways and trusted in Him.

Amen.

12.

OUR FATHER WHOSE SON RESCUED PEOPLE IN NEED EVERY DAY OF THE WEEK

Matthew chapter 12 verse 9 - 14 captures an amazing miracle performed by the Lord Jesus in the meeting place where religious people gathered.

Having just had a confrontation with religious leaders regarding the fact that His disciples were working on the Sabbath day picking grain to eat, the establishment figures began attempts  to entrap the Lord Jesus and so when He joined their Sabbath gathering, they asked Him a loaded question.

9 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

11 Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

The Lord invoked a principle where, in spite of the strict rules against working on the Sabbath, people in urgent situations like if theit sheep fell into a pit, they were permitted to reach out and grab the sheep to pull it to safety.

Jesus argued that if they felt that they could rescue animals on the Sabbath day, would it not be even more permisible to rescue human beings on a Sabbath day?

After asking the question, Jesus said to the man with the withered hand to stretch out his jand and in full view of the attendees, an amazing healing miracle occured and the man's hand was restored to the same condition as his healthy arm.

The religious leaders were offended by Jesus and they felt threatened by His accumen and so they put their heads together to plan how to destroy Jesus.

These plots ultimately culminated in the arrest and killing of the Lord Jesus Christ.

8