Plymothian

⁴⁷ “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

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.”

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”

⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Filtering The Good From The Bad

Jesus acknowledges that the Teachers of The Law, his usual enemies, have something to their credit.  If they become Jesus’ disciples they can trawl through their learning of the Old Testament and pull from it wonderful truths.  In addition to that, if they become disciples of Jesus, they will have more resources with which to grow spiritually.  If we are to apply this teaching, we should learn both the Old and New Testaments and apply wisdom from both sections of the Bible.  Jesus does not dismiss the Old Testament but acknowledges that it has value.

In the second story, those in Jesus’ home town filter him out.  Familiarity breeds contempt as we say today.  Those that know Jesus find it hard to attribute anything special to him.  They know how human he is.  They know his parents.  They know his family.  Therefore they have limited acceptance of who he could be.  It is hard when we are rejected.  We all have a need for acceptance that can only be fulfilled in Christ.  Jesus was secure in the knowledge of who he was, but the people of his home town missed out on great blessings because they limted their thinking.

What do you expect Jesus to do?  What do you filter out about Jesus?  Do you trawl the Old Testament looking for truths, or do you just prefer the New Testament?

Questions

1. To what is the Kingdom of God compared?
2. What advantages do Teachers of the Law have?
3. Why did those in Jesus’ home town find it hard to put their faith in him?
4. How would a person discern whether they are a good fish or a bad fish since they are only seperated at judgement?
5. How do Christians today sometimes limit Jesus in their expectations and downplay him in their lives?

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

All That I Have

I used to sing this song growing up and it stuck with me:

Two little fishes, five loaves of bread, Five thousand people by Jesus were fed. This is what happened when one little lad Gladly gave Jesus all that he had.

Chorus:  All that I have, all that I have, I will give Jesus all that I have. [Repeat]

One lowly widow, two mites small, Jesus was watching when she gave her all. Then Jesus spoke, for His heart was made glad, that she had given all that she had.

Do modern children get what the Kingdom of God is worth?

Questions

1. What is of worth in the parables?
2. What is the common feature of the two parables?
3. What is meant by selling ‘all’ that they have?
4. What did it cost you to enter the Kingdom of God?
5. How does emphasis on salvation by grace through faith mess with ‘all that I have’ being given up?

³⁶ Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

⁴⁰ “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. ⁴² They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

Whoever Cares To Delve Will Learn

The circumstances a few years ago were baffling to me.  Why would God allow me to feel so anxious and overwhelmed?  What had I done to deserve this?  I didn’t realize how passive and blaming I was being for what was in essence my own sinful construction.  I had spent years soaking up stress and storing it in my back.  I was pressured by my home life, but I did not have the tools to unpack the years of sinful process.  God was speaking to me and pain in my back and anxiety in my heart was his ‘megaphone’ (Lewis).  God lets difficult circumstances and difficult words come our way.  We think we have ears.  Last time we looked they were there.  However, some of us think we have ‘been there and bought the T-shirt’ and God can teach us no more.  Some of us are angry and stuck in our own desire to have control, we can’t hear the truth.  Some of us are fatigued and want rest.  We want time to rest alone with our ignorance and we sleep lest we find rest from listening to the one who can truly lit the burden.  Best to take the attitude of a disciple in our anguish, pain, confusion, or tiredness.  Best to come to the Master and pursue him and say, “So what was it you were trying to teach me.  I have my ears on now.”

Questions

1. What was Jesus explaining in this passage?
2. How would you describe disciples’ relationship with the rest of the world?
3. How is a true disciple’s fate different from others’?
4. When do you find it hard to seek out Jesus so that he explains things?
5. When have you been motivated and consistent in digging deeper with Jesus?

³¹ He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³² Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

³³ He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds^[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. ³⁵ So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,     I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”^[c]

Small and Hidden Kingdom

Jesus amazes his listeners who thought that when the Kingdom of God would be established on earth it would be instantaneously big.  Jesus indicates that the kingdom that he has established by this point is small but that it will grow.  It is small like the mustard seed and it is small like yeast.  Yeast also is hidden in the bread and this indicates a hidden element to the Kingdom of God.

God’s kingdom is wherever he has reign.  The kingdom is established in each of us in a small hidden way but it grows to consume every part of our lives as we realise its power.

Questions

1. To what small things was the kingdom compared?
2. Why would this smallness have shocked the hearers?
3. What did Jesus use as an illustration of the kingdom being hidden?
4. Why does God start in small and hidden ways sometimes?
5. How is God’s kingdom growing through you?

²⁴ Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶ When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

²⁷ “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

²⁸ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

²⁹ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Dark Disciples

It seems that God allows dark things to happen in the church and sinister people to move among his disciples.  Jesus had a disciple whose heart was gripped by Satan.  Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for silver coins.  I heard how a student of mine was betrayed when her pastor was convicted of killing his business partner in a car crash and was sent to jail.  In this parable the grass that grows among the wheat looks like wheat but does not bear the same fruit.  In fact the fruit of this grass is poisonous.  If God were to weed out such ‘disciples’ from among the true disciples though, damage would be done to the whole harvest.  It is at the end of time, before the judgement throne, that a person’s heart will be revealed.

Questions

1. Who plants weeds?
2. How might the previous parable and this one be related?
3. How does this parable fold in end times?
4. What kind of person might be a false or dark-hearted disciple?
5. Why do you think that we have this parable for believers?

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

The Parable of the Sower

The Sower went and spread the seed over many different kinds of soil.  THis had varying results.  The seed didn’t change but the soil did.  With this in mind the parable might be called the Parable of the Soils.  Jesus continues to hide hi,self.  This time he cloaks his real meaning in stories,.  Only those disciples who come to him afterward and have the meaning revealed actually get the insight to know what Jesus is talking about.

The Pharisees and scribes would be in mind for those who are like rock.  They do not accommodate Jesus at all.  The crowds are split into two categories, there are those who are shallow and enjoy a good story and there are those who get it but give up.    Finally there are those who dedicate their lives to being a true disciple of Jesus.  These people find that they reap a harvest for the Kingdom of God that they do not anticipate.

How would you make a case for which kind of soil you are?  You can be hard to Jesus teaching and resist his claims on your life.  You can be well-intentioned but busy or just not willing to put in the effort to develop a true relationship.  You can be well-intentioned but fail to associate difficulty with your relationship with Jesus.  Finally you can follow through on your commitment to Jesus and develop a deeper relationship with him which is known by its fruit.

Questions

1. What kinds of soils are there?
2. Why did the disciples come to Jesus after he had told the story?
3. Why does Jesus not make himself clear?
4. How do you invest in relationships even when they are not easy?
5. How is Jesus bearing fruit in your life?

³⁸ Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

³⁹ He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now something greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

⁴⁶ While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

⁴⁸ He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he 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.”

No Sign

Many people insist that God should prove his own existence and yet he stays hidden from them.  Some people insist that God should do their will and think that He is crazy because he doesn’t do what they expect.  Most people have expectations of God.  They expect God to make their lives better in ways that they define themselves.  We believe that Jesus is God.  Jesus seems to be just as difficult to nail down.  He won’t prove to skeptics his own deity and he won’t follow the commands and desires of his own family.  We think he should make it easy for us, but he communicates in ways that obscure his meaning.  He uses parables and proverbs rather than just saying it like it is.

We have made Christianity too simple.  We water it down in terms of its importance and its demands.  We would do anything to remove obstacles from people believing.  We waste time trying to reason with cynical atheists and we try everything to convince nice people that if they just add a little Jesus their lives won’t have to change too much.  I do think that we should be winsome, relevant, and persuasive, but I don’t think we need to water down the gospel and chase after people.  Why do you think that Jesus didn’t bother?  Why do we do what we do?

Questions

1. Which two groups tried to bend Jesus to their will?
2. Why didn’t Jesus do as they asked?
3. Why is Jesus often making it difficult for people to work with him?
4. How did you become a Christian?  Did people make it clear that your whole life was to be surrendered to Jesus unconditionally?
5. What does it mean that God often hides himself from us or refuses to give us the assurance we think we need?

¹⁵ Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed all who were ill. ¹⁶ He warned them not to tell others about him. ¹⁷ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

²² Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. ²³ All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.”

²⁵ Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁸ But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²⁹ “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.

³⁰ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. ³¹ And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

³³ “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. ³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Power Behind The Power

When I was growing up I was in a cessationist environment.  In other words, the general opinion was that when the books of the Bible were brought together the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and words of knowledge ceased (hence the name).  Where the teaching went further was in discussing where there were healings, tongues, and words of knowledge present.  In such cases the word ‘counterfeit’ was just a mask for the belief that Satan was behind such things.  It was like the candy offered by the evil stranger at the local park.  It was like the first fix from a drug dealer.  Satan was handing out copies of God’s gifts to lead people astray.  It is debatable whether some of the manifestations today of the gifts of the Spirit are genuine, but to leap to the conclusion that Satan is behind some of the self-deception and naivete is a little like the passage above.

The logic ran something like this.  We do not believe that the gifts of the Spirit were in operation after the canon of Scripture was established.  We see people using these gifts after we believe they have gone away.  It can not be genuine.  It must be counterfeit.  Satan is the Father of Lies.  Satan is the source of the power behind any ‘sign’ gifts since the canon was established.  The logic of the Pharisees was similar.  They could not deny the power of Jesus’ miracles.  Such miracles did not fit with their narrow interpretation of scripture.  There must be a source for the power, the source must be Satan who has authority over the demons Jesus is manipulating.

Jesus response uses similar logic.  There must be a source for your unwillingness to believe.  If you looked out of the hearts from which your comments flow, you would find that Satan is the source of such deception.  We should be very careful about condemning work that leads people to him in supernatural ways.  What can Satan benefit from those who are led to God because of supposed Satanic signs?  In many cases there is a showboating in more charismatic churches that is generated by the individual, but in being guarded against that falsehood we shouldn’t stand in bold opposition to God ever using supernatural means to draw people to himself.

Questions

1. What does Isaiah tell about the power behind Jesus’ ministry?
2. Recount the line of argument the Pharisees use against Jesus.
3. How does Jesus turn his response into an accusation?
4. Do you think people attribute the Holy Spirit’s work to Satan these days?
5. How do you think Satan generates skepticism of the supernatural in western society (in Africa for example there is not as much skepticism)?

 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? ⁴ He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. ⁵ Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. ⁷ If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a] you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

⁹ Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, ¹⁰ and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”

¹¹ He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? ¹² How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. ¹⁴ But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

Jesus: More Than Rules

We like to have people play by our rules.  Parents make rules to control their children.  Teachers make rules to control their classrooms.  Countries make rules to control their citizens.  Churches make rules to control their congregation.  Control gives us a sense of safety.  However, Jesus is unsafe.  Life is his game.  He made the rules.  He has the authority to interpret them.  This is what made the authorities in Jesus’ time mad.  They had delineated the vague rules of the Bible into minute rules that could manage every moment of every day.  People needn’t think or relate or be whatever it means to be human.  If they followed the rules of the Pharisees every detail for every moment was laid out.  Jesus doesn’t rewrite the rulebook, but he makes up his interpretation of the rules as he goes along.  He understands the spirit behind the law so he can circumstantially choose the right decision.  Pharisees said that harvesting grain and milling it was work.  You couldn’t pick grain and harvest it like Jesus’ disciples did.  You certainly couldn’t heal people.  Jesus sees that rules were made to serve people and lead them into a richer life.  He breaks the rules of those around him in order to do good.

Do you try and control your life by making rules that you expect to be able to follow?  Do you seek the one who made the rules and follow a person?  It’s the world of difference.

Questions

1. What did Jesus and his disciples do on the Sabbath?
2. How did the Pharisees react to Jesus and his disciples actions on the Sabbath?
3. What is more important to Jesus than rules?
4. What rules have you made and what rules do you follow?
5. How would you justify the rules that you have chosen to follow as loving God and your neighbour?