The Core of Matthew's Gospel Message

The Sunday readings for the middle of this summer have been from a special part of Matthew’s Gospel. As it turns out the whole Gospel of Matthew is organized around a core message, and the readings from three summer Sundays comprise that core.
At the center of Matthew’s Gospel is a set of parables that Jesus presents to his followers to teach them about the Kingdom of God. Remember that the Hebrew people had been looking forward to the Messiah who would bring to reality the Kingdom of God on earth for almost 2,000 years when Jesus was born. Many expected it to be a military kingdom. They expected the Messiah to raise a great army that would throw off the hated Roman occupiers and re-establish the Kingdom of Israel as a mighty world power.

Jesus needed to teach his followers that the reality of God’s kingdom was much different than that. That’s what these parables are about. Let’s review what Jesus has to say:
The first parable is about a sower planting seeds. Some seeds fall on good ground, but many do not. Many people God invites into the kingdom are so dried up and hard that the seeds of the kingdom can never even start to grow in them. Some accept the invitation with enthusiasm at first, but their soil is shallow. There is no staying power. The life that springs up in them withers and dies. But some people are persistent and let that life grow in them and yield a bountiful harvest.

The second parable is about a field planted with good seed, but weeds spring up among the valuable plants. Why doesn’t the farmer (God) pull up and destroy the weeds? Because the good crop could be harmed. In particular, some of us who are behaving like weeds may turn to God in time. The presence of weeds in the kingdom is not a sign of God’s weakness, nor does it mean that God is not ultimately just. The presence of evil in our world is a sign of God’s loving patience with us, giving us second and third and fourth chances to turn away from evil and become the good people we were meant to be when God planted the good seed.

The third and fourth parables come as a pair – one with special relevance for men, and one with special relevance for women. Men, who are the ones spending their days working out in the fields, know that a tiny mustard seed isn’t very impressive. But when you let it grow, it becomes a shrub big enough for birds to build their nests in. Women, who make bread for the family, know that the yeast that you put into a batch of bread doesn’t look like much, but it makes a huge difference. Without the yeast, the dough is just a lump. With the yeast, the dough rises and becomes beautiful, aromatic and tasty. The Kingdom of God is in this world, but won’t seem like much at this point unless you are wise enough to not be fooled by appearances. The Kingdom of God is at work. In the end, it will grow to dwarf everything else that appears important to the foolish.

The fifth and sixth parables also come as a pair. The Kingdom of God is like a treasure that someone finds buried in a field. The Kingdom of God is like a fabulous pearl that is worth selling everything you own to obtain. Once you understand what God is offering you as a follower of Jesus, as a citizen in God’s kingdom, you will put everything else aside. You will devote your life to what really matters and not be led astray by the silly or even evil things that the rest of the world may find valuable.

The seventh parable tells of a fishing net that has brought up a whole bunch of stuff from the ocean bottom. Some of the things are valuable, but many of them are not. The things that come up in the net must be sorted. The valuable things will be kept, but the other things will be tossed. Ultimately God’s judgment will prevail.

And finally, a word of wisdom. "[E]very scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." In a way, the Kingdom of God has always been with us. Even the ancient people before God spoke to Moses, had a sense of good and bad, of truth and falseness. They sought God in whatever ways they were able to do so. There is much goodness in that. But Jesus has also brought something utterly new. A new relationship with God, a new way of relating to each other and a new way to think about ourselves. A new way of dealing with suffering and pain. A new meaning to life.

This teaching of Jesus is incredibly rich. I don’t have any idea how to sum it up adequately in just a few words, but Jesus telling us that the reality of God’s presence in our world is much different than most of us expect. It is easy to miss if we aren’t willing to pay attention. It is gentle and unassuming, yet it is ultimately the most powerful force in the history of our world. It provides us with great opportunity, but we choose some pretty scary outcomes if we refuse the invitation offered.