Fall 2023 · Vol. 52 No. 2 · pp. 159–162
Ministry Compass
All to Jesus: A Meditation on Jesus’s Parables
Jesus had the wisdom to simplify profound spiritual truths into relatable stories. Some think that Jesus told parables to make things easier to understand. I’m not so sure. They were to help his listeners understand, for sure, but I’m not sure they were intended to make understanding easier.
Have you ever read a parable and been totally confused? What is Jesus trying to say here? Does he really condone this behavior or these actions?
If Jesus was willing to give it all up so that he might have us, what are we willing to give up to have him?
WHAT PARABLES DO
Jesus did not invent parables. In his day, they were a common way to impart wisdom. Ancient Jewish rabbis taught in parables, often in response to a question asked by a disciple. Their stories got disciples to look at something from a different perspective, to think a different way, and to discover the answer to the questions themselves. Teachers in Jesus’s day understood that facts don’t exercise the mind. However, when people are pushed to discover insights for themselves, they learn better—the insights penetrate deeper into their heads.
Today, we often want to simplify matters so people won’t have to work so hard to understand what’s being taught. Jesus and other contemporary teachers seemed to want to hide the truth within parables, which forced people to think hard in order to understand the truth being taught. p. 160
We like ease and convenience; people in Jesus’s day liked discovery, thinking deeply, and wrestling to understand. We prefer clear-cut answers and straightforward interpretations; they preferred puzzling and paradoxical truths that had to be held in tension with one another. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus says, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Yet, he follows this up in Matthew 6:1 with, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.” Well, which is it? I think the right answer is both. We’re supposed to live in this tension, always reflecting on the motives and attitudes of our hearts, but without letting that reflection paralyze us into inaction.
Jesus’s teaching style often leaves us with a tension. When he speaks to an audience about what his kingdom will look like, he’s sometimes purposefully ambiguous so that those “who have ears” to hear the truth of the kingdom of God will hear, and so that those who have their preconceived notions of this kingdom will not perceive. Those whose hearts are already hardened to the notion of the kingdom of God will grow harder while those who are open and responsive to this new understanding of the kingdom will gain new insights and understanding.
MATTHEW 13:44–46
We have what seems to be a simple parable in Matthew 13:44. A man finds a treasure in a field, covers it up, sells all he has, and buys the field. This parable raises many questions. What was the man doing on another person’s property? Why wouldn’t he have told the owner about the treasure? Was the man unethical in covering the treasure and then purchasing the field? Why would someone bury treasure in a field in the first place?
With some research we learn that although there were banks in Jesus’s day, ordinary people didn’t always use them. If they needed to keep something safe, they would bury it in the ground. We have an example of this in the parable of the talents, where the man with one talent, fearful of losing it, buries it until the Master returns (Matthew 25:25). But the man would not have been considered unethical for covering the treasure and purchasing the field. Jewish law stated that whatever you find outside someone’s house is yours—finders, keepers.
The man paid everything he had to purchase the field, but the treasure came free. Now, what is the treasure? This is the big question. What is worth so much that a man would sell everything he had and, in joy, buy the field? A common interpretation is still a good one. When we seek Jesus, he asks us to give everything to him, and when we choose Jesus, we choose his will over our own, giving everything over to him. Complete and absolute surrender. Then he freely gives us his grace, love, p. 161 and forgiveness. The cost of following him may be high, but the treasure we gain far outweighs the cost.
In Matthew 13:45–46 Jesus tells another short parable with a related message. A man seeks a valuable pearl, and when he finds it he likewise sells everything he has and buys it. Both parables make a similar point about the kingdom of heaven—Jesus is the greatest treasure. Those who find this treasure value it above all else. The order is the same in both parables: joy on finding the treasure, then selling all belongings in order to gain possession of it. A great sacrifice for something that brings even greater joy!
Marriage—saying “yes” to one person means saying “no” to all others. This vow sheds light on Jesus’s troubling statement in Matthew 10:37: Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Imagine a bride or groom standing at the altar and saying, “I sure love you a lot, but I will always love my mother more.” That’s unthinkable. Yet do we somehow do this with the Lord? I love you a lot, but I’m not quite willing to sacrifice the other things I love to have you.
Our joy in Jesus produces the willingness to give everything we have to God—our talents, time, and resources. It should also impact how we live and respond to life’s challenges. Our joy should make it easier for us to obey Jesus when he asks us to deny ourselves, love our enemies, give to the poor, and love our neighbor. This joy in finding the greatest treasure, Jesus, results in radical life change, the kind of change that causes other people to wonder and ask questions.
These two parables encourage me to think about my own life and relationship with Jesus. Does my greatest joy come from my relationship with him or from my hobbies, pastimes, and possessions? What is my greatest treasure?
THE SHOCK OF THE PARABLE
Parables almost always have a shocking point: The Samaritan who helps when others do not; the tiny mustard seed that grows to dwarf other plants; the sower who carelessly scatters seed in a time of scarcity. The parables of the buried treasure and the pearl of great value would have shocked the original hearers by the reckless abandonment of everything for an object greatly desired. It’s still shocking to us because the idea of selling all that we have seems so irresponsible. However, people in the time of Jesus were so ready for the Messiah to drive out the occupying Romans that they would have gladly sold all for the kingdom. The Zealots, a militant religious group, did just that. They sold everything p. 162 for the cause of overthrowing their Roman overlords and establishing God’s kingdom on earth.
So, that made me consider these parables from another angle.
In every other parable in Matthew 13, the main character is God. God is the Sower scattering the seed. God plants the mustard seed in the field and adds leaven to the flour. But in the parables we’ve been examining, we often identify ourselves with the main character. We are the man in the field that finds the treasure, the man who finds a pearl of great value. What if we followed the other pattern?
Throughout Scripture we read that God’s treasured possession is his people. When he found this treasure, he joyfully gave up everything so that he might obtain it. Jesus was his “everything”—God gave him up for us, in joy and love, so that he might acquire us.
This would have been shocking to a first-century crowd of oppressed Jews. They were expecting a conqueror who would free them from Roman tyranny. Yet, Jesus’s parables tell them he is going to give up everything—even his own life—to have us (his treasure) and set us free from all that enslaves us.
If Jesus was willing to give it all up so that he might have us, what are we willing to give up to have him? Are we willing to give all to obtain him?
This is Jesus’s marriage vow. Are we who want to be Jesus’s disciples willing to say “yes” to him and “no” to everything else?
