No one can see God and live. Seeing His face removes you from this fallen existence. God cannot simply reveal Himself to the world as He is, for the world would cease to exist. That Day will come. Until then, His revelation comes in glimmers and glimpses, but never direct knowledge. Man's mind cannot encompass the ultimate reality. If we say the final revelation during this age is in the person of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-3), it remains for us to know the full context of His appearance on this earth. Even then, how does one know a person? While I may well describe to another certain observable traits of a person, it says more about me than it does about that other person. Then, when the other finally meets that person I describe, only a part of that person will be found in my comments. The real person will be somewhat more than human language can transmit. It works better if I am like the Person I seek to reveal, and let you get to know me.
So it is with the Father and His Kingdom. Jesus could describe something of the Father by describing His concerns in each situation, but the human mind in a fallen state can only absorb so much of that. It requires a mind opened to truth which cannot be uttered, by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Even then, the means of expressing the revelation of truth will fall short. All the more so today, as our Western languages lend themselves to descriptions of external observable traits, but little of the substance of things. In Jesus' Eastern Hebrew culture and language, it was an old tradition to regard revelation as something which could be related only in parables. The telling of something very important was more about bringing that moment to life for you, not by describing externals, but by vivid sensations to make you feel you were there. The most important parts of the Old Testament are in parabolic language, the language of personal experience.
In this chapter, Jesus draws a crowd as usual, while sitting on the shore near where He stayed (Peter's house) on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was time to teach, and what better way than to sit in the prow of a small boat just a few yards out, facing the crowd on the shore? This way, more of the crowd could hear Him, and see His dramatic gestures, as He communicated in the ways of prophets. The entire session was a series of parables. It was the Hebrew way, the way to reveal the most difficult and demanding truths of the Kingdom. The Parable of the Sower is really a parable about parables. The truth is offered freely, but not immediately usable -- the experience must be savored. Depending on the character of those hearing, the ultimate response varies. While Jesus was willing to explain the parable to His disciples, it was important they realize why parables were the proper means of Kingdom teaching. Those whose spirits were open to the Lord would eventually make sense of it. Those closed to Him would never get it, despite appearances to the contrary. Since Jesus could not winnow the crowds down to those whose hearts were open, it was necessary to teach in parables.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10, saying it described the Jewish society of that day. They had the truth, they understood parables, but got stuck on the stories instead of the truth within. Their senses worked, but their spirits were dead. That is, they had rejected the ultimate truth of spiritual wealth, power and security; they demanded the worldly kind, instead. Those who recognized in their hearts Jesus was the Messiah were in a position to hear the truth. They needed a great deal more, so they could serve as He served. As soon as Jesus explained the parabolic language, they realized what He meant by the polarizing effect of truth. When God passes by, it cannot be a neutral event. You must either drop everything else and follow, or you will burrow deeper into worldly concerns and hide from Him. In Jesus came this one last opportunity for Israel to decide once and for all time.
Indeed, the truth itself does all the work. In the Parable of the Tares, Jesus indicates wherever the people of the Kingdom gather, there will always be fakes. It is not possible in this life to make a final distinction between those in, and those not in the Kingdom. Those of us serving the Kingdom here must resign ourselves to having at least one Judas here and there. The act of cleansing the body here below would destroy those who belong, as well. Thus, the Kingdom develops until the Final Day, when God alone will decide which is fruit and which is poisonous weeds.
In the next two parables, Jesus shows how the Kingdom grows. As a Mustard Seed, it begins with almost nothing, but spreads to cover the whole world. In that part of the world, mustard can indeed grow into small trees. As Yeast, the Kingdom changes the nature of all things it touches. The lesson of "give it time" is reinforced. God does not operate on our schedule, nor by our rules of management. Revealed truth requires we focus on the truth and transmitting it. There is no way to measure its effect. If some join us right away, we wisely make room for them, knowing they may fall tomorrow, or some day take our place. Others will hang about, vaguely interested, but never quite sure. They may one day be the central figure of a great ministry, or disappear when the it's no longer entertaining. We cannot know for sure, and it's not our concern.
Matthew quotes Psalm 78:2, a psalm of Asaph. In that long psalm, Asaph warns the truth of God caught cannot be taught, only caught. God had made His truth a simple Law in the Covenant of Moses. He backed it up with numerous miracles, but they never got it. It was proof there was no profit in making truth too simple. Truth only works when the very act of hearing it winnows out the closed hearts. When Jesus dismissed the crowd, the disciples asked for an explanation of the parables. Jesus explains because these men needed a head start on such teaching. The warning is clear to turn while the opportunity lasts. The next two parables are actually one, in which Jesus warns the Kingdom will cost you everything. Whether you stumble across it as a treasure in a field, or you've been seeking it long and hard like a pearl merchant, it will consume your whole life or you won't get it at all.
The last parable, the Dragnet, echoes that of the Tares. Doing the work of the Kingdom will draw every kind. Don't even try to tailor your approach to one or another more desirable target groups. It doesn't work that way. You cast the Lord's net and let Him worry about what it drags in, and take what comes. At the appropriate time, the Lord will separate between good and bad. It's not possible to clear the sea of all the bad fish, so don't waste any effort with that. When the Final Harvest of Souls comes, then all will be revealed. We must wait on Him to separate. We give ourselves to spreading the truth, not what it captures.
Of course the disciples got it. Then Jesus hit them with something unexpected. All this time He had been disputing with and condemning the Pharisees and Scribes. Yet, it's not as if their education and training was the problem. It was their hearts. So if a Scribe were to have a Kingdom heart, his education would be a vast treasure of truth. He would be like a desert sheik, who had in his treasury a host of amazing and wondrous ancient things he had gathered in his nomadic life, mixed in with the most recent technological achievements from far lands. The Scribes and rabbis were not human junk, unless their hearts made them junk, so cast the net of truth among them, too. Meanwhile, study the Word with their level of devotion, so as to have your own treasure to offer.
In stark contrast, Jesus' experience in Nazareth was a net nearly empty. He went back for a visit with His immediate family, now at least a year after moving off to Capernaum. In the synagogue He presented the treasuries of the Word, but they were offended. How did this rather ordinary local fellow become such a famous man? Why all the fuss about great teachings and great miracles? They never saw any when He was growing up. For them, the treasures of God could not come clothed as ordinary men. With attitudes like that, it's no surprise He could do only a few miracles there. As a parting shot, Jesus quoted an old proverb about how prophets of old were never respected in their own household. It was a way of saying He left to do great works elsewhere because they rejected Him in the first place (Luke 4:16-30). He knew it would be so, but Jesus still gave them another chance.
The Kingdom does not discriminate in one sense: The message is offered to all. There is no basis for market research, no basis for excluding even those obviously not receiving the fullness of the truth. Ours is to press the truth to all, and to keep pressing it as long as they will listen. Let the recipients be self-selecting; truth will find its own path.
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Ed Hurst
13 October 2007
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