He spake many things . . . in parables

Matthew chapter 13 marks a significant watershed in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. We see Him leave the house, v. 1, and go to the seaside, v. 2. This was a highly symbolic move, and foreshadowed the time, when shortly afterwards, the unique privileges of the house of Israel would be set aside, and the gospel would be preached to the nations, as signified by the sea. The Lord’s ministry now takes on a universal character, where He shows in the Parable of the Tares that ‘the field is the world’, v. 38.

Thereafter, the chapter describes the progress of the kingdom, the character of which, at present, is spiritual rather than visible. It is worthy of note that the Lord adopted the parabolic method in His teaching concerning the kingdom. This prompted the disciples to ask the question, ‘Why speakest thou unto them in parables?’ The Lord showed them that speaking in parables was a judgement upon the nation of Israel, ‘because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand’, v. 13. We must not take this to mean that the Lord had imposed this blindness and deafness on them, but rather as the Lord said, ‘For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed’, v. 15. They were the ones who were deaf and unseeing by their own choice, and the Lord simply takes them up on the position they had already adopted. But to the ready-minded and open-hearted the Lord made His teaching known, vv. 11, 12.

In the same manner, when speaking about the impotence of worldly wisdom in the spiritual realm, the apostle Paul wrote, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit’, 1 Cor. 2. 9, 10. Fallen man has shut God out of his mind and heart, and consequently he is completely insensitive to spiritual things. But those who have come to Christ and have the indwelling Holy Spirit are able to comprehend spiritual things that are beyond the capacity of the world’s greatest intellects. This is one of the great blessings that the Lord has bestowed upon us, and we must take advantage of it in our spiritual lives.