Matt. 12:46-50 – Then Jesus immediately lets them know what they need to do to clean up. Rather than just expect their descent from Abraham to keep God’s favor with them, they must actually do the will of God the Father. God’s family is being redefined around Jesus, not around Abraham’s Family, like Jonah wanted, or around the Temple, since Jesus is greater than Solomon, but around Jesus. Those who do the will of God the Father who is in heaven, they are the Family of God. And what was God’s will, that they should hear and honor Jesus. “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus redefines the family of God as those that hear and follow him (12:49).
Matt 13:1-23 – Jesus begins with the parables. These are all kingdom parables. Don’t forget to read the parables like they are political cartoons with Jesus using symbols that were commonly known in his day and which were primarily (almost exclusively) taken out of the Old Testament. Prophesying is sometimes foretelling (telling the future) and sometimes forth-telling (The Parable of the Sower is a kingdom parable (13:11) that Jesus says is a description of his own ministry. This is what Jesus is here to do, plant the kingdom. Is. 55:10-13 says that God’s word is like seed and when Yahweh sends out his seed to be planted that the world will come out from the exile that it went into under Adam. While Jesus preaches, he is bringing the world out of exile, but some people will not enter the kingdom. Jesus tells us between the parable and the explanation that He speaks in parables so that some people will not understand.
Matt 13:24-43 – The Parable of the tares is also a kingdom parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a man that sowed good seed (which Jesus just discussed as his role in the return from exile) with an enemy sowing weeds in the middle of the night. The owner of the field will wait until the time of harvest and then Jesus will gather up the tares, bind them and burn them while Jesus gathers the wheat into his barn. This parable is explained by Jesus himself. The devil is the enemy that sows seed in the middle of the night (13:39) the angels are the reapers (13:39), the children of the wicked one, the tares, are the Pharisees (Matt. 15:12-14; John 8:42-44), and this will happen at the end of the age. There are two ages whose end are discussed in the New Testament, the Old Covenant age and the New Covenant age. The Old Covenant age ended in 70 AD, within one generation. This is the only age that Jesus could be talking about, since specifically singles out the Pharisees being the ones that are going to be cast into the fire. (Jesus will interpret it this way in chapter 15) Both ages end in similar ways, with great blessing for one group and weeping and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness for the other group. In between the parable and it’s explanation, Jesus describes what the kingdom of heaven (Jesus’ rule of earth from heaven) will be like for the seed that takes root, it will start very small and quietly, slowly, inconspicuously, but thoroughly spread throughout the world.
Matt 13:44-52 – Jesus’ restoration of God’s people, his bringing of the world out of exile is like a treasure in a field or a pearl of great price. You can sell everything you have to get it and you will be richer than when you started. The kingdom of heaven is also like a great fishing net. It is going to sweep through the world and empty it in preparation for the end of the age and all angels are going to sort through what gets picked up sorting the righteous and tossing the wicked into the fire (think Sodom and Gomorrah). It is that same image about the angels at the end of the age again. And, when Jesus asks if they understand, the disciples say yes.
Matt. 13:53-58 – Jesus tells the people of his hometown that a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country. It is important that we see that Jesus identifies himself as a prophet. This, of course, is referring to the Old Testament office of Prophet. Jesus is certainly more than a prophet, but he is not less. He was anointed and called by God to fulfill the office of prophet, and the praxis of a prophet was clearly spelled out for Jesus by the inspiration of the Spirit in the writing of the Old Testament scriptures.
Matt. 14:1-12 – Herod kills john the Baptist. Herod had put John in jail for prophesying against Herod marrying his brother’s wife (which was most likely a political power grab). Herod kills John when he is pleased by his step daughters dancing. He does it “for the oaths sake” and to impress those that were at dinner (14:9), which shows what kind of hypocrite he was. He has john’s head cut off and put on a serving platter.
Matt. 14:13-21 – Jesus’ response to hearing about the atrocity that Herod had committed against John’s people by crossing the sea in a ship out into the wilderness where he gathered a multitude and miraculously fed them in the wilderness. Jesus’ response to Herod is to cross the sea into the wilderness and feed God’s people. This contrasted the two visions for the kingdom of Israel. Jesus was feeding God’s people; Herod was feeding on God’s people. Also, this would have been Jesus forth-telling Herod to quit acting like pharaoh, with the clear implication that as long as the Israelites were ruled by Herod, they were in exile in Egypt. Perhaps this is why Jesus suddenly constrains the disciples to get into the ship and run for it and disperses the crowds. His time had not yet come, a prophet can’t die away from Jerusalem, and as soon as Herod was going to hear what Jesus had done, he would most definitely be upset.
Matt. 14:24-36 – The disciple get stuck in a storm, Jesus walks on the water to them, Peter walks on the water, gets afraid, but Jesus rescues him and calms the storm. Then they land in Gennesaret and they bring out their sick to him
Matt. 15:1-20 – Jerusalem’s scribes and Pharisees ask him why he and his disciples would not wash their hands before they ate. Why did Jesus insist on flouting the teaching of the elders? Jesus’ response is telling. He calls them on their hypocrisy. They use their tradition to dishonor their father and mother. If you honor your father and your mother you will live long in the land, they are using their bureaucratic approach to righteousness as a way to get out of honoring their parents, so the implication is that the scribes and Pharisees of Jerusalem will not be living long in the land. They don’t realize that it is not what goes into your mouth, but what comes out of your mouth that defiles you. If Israel defiles itself, the land will vomit it out (Lev. 18:23-30). Jesus is making the specific threat that because The Israelites, with the scribes and Pharisees leading the way, have defiled themselves in such a way that they are going to be vomited out of the land. The disciples and the Pharisees both catch the harshness of Jesus’ rebuke, the disciples say, whoa Jesus, don’t you realize that you really offended the Pharisees when you said that? (15:12) Jesus’ response is that every plant that was not planted by God will be rooted up so leave them to themselves. Jesus interprets the parable of the tares in its details for us. And connects the coming “uprooting” of the tares out of the land is because they would not honor their parents. As Jesus puts it when interprets the parable of what enters the mouth. Out of our hearts come the sins that defile us.
Matt. 15:21-28 – Matthew then immediately contrasts the bureaucratic unrighteousness with the humility and simple faith of a gentile woman who does not defend herself or her honor but accepts the satirical reminder from Jesus about her being a dog in the eyes of most Israelites.
Matt. 15:29-39 – Jesus again goes up on a mountain, near the Sea of Galilee and sat down. Then he healed many different diseases and then he fed them with another miraculous feeding. Again they eat bread and fish. Every time that Jesus’ food is mentioned it is fish.
Jesus’ teaching on the nature of the kingdom of heaven continues in concentrated form for ten more chapters. And this is the summary, there are different visions of the kingdom. Those who refuse to enter into the kingdom of heaven and follow Jesus as his kingdom leaves the temple and Israel’s exclusive position of prominence behind will be left behind where their will be great weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is an age coming to a close, but Jesus also begins to discuss a coming age that will be the age of the worldwide kingdom of God, where Jews and Gentiles will together make up the kingdom of the new age, of the new covenant. This age will be similar in that it will end with a great judgment, but it will be different in that the nations will have been discipled rather than destroyed. The old age, the age of the first Adam, came to an end with utter destruction (Peter compares it to Noah’s flood), but the new age, the age of the second Adam, will end with the restoration of Eden and only one enemy left; death. And Jesus will return to prove that death was overcome when He rose from the dead. Death and Hades will be thrown into the final outer darkness where there is eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth, the lake of fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
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