Lesson 8
Parables of Redemption into the Kingdom
Our Lord was a
masterful story teller, employing an assortment of literary devices for effect,
including similes and the parables that blossom from them. The word “parable”
is constructed from two parts. This word is derived from the preposition
“para” which means “besides”
or “near.” It is also derived from the verb “ballo” which means “to cast” or
“throw.” With this in view, a parable literally means “to
cast alongside.” One of the subjects that become the theme of many
parables is the
As we engage
these similitudes, it is important to point out at
the start that there is not a consensus of how they are to be interpreted. For
instance, in both the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great
Price, many teach that Jesus or the gospel is the treasure and the pearl.
Within this interpretation, we are those who seek after Christ or salvation. I
lean towards the interpretation that Christ is the one who finds the treasure
and the pearl, which are symbols of church. This seems to follow from the
preceding parables. As we shall see, in both the Parable of the Sower and the Wheat and Tares, Christ is represented as
being active rather than passive. It seems a bit difficult to maintain that
Jesus would switch gears in the succeeding parables. Furthermore, Jesus
declares that the “field” is the “world” in the Parable
of the Wheat and Tares. It’s safe to assume that since these parables
were given one after the other, then the form and definitions of one carry over
to others. This would seem to point to Christ being the person acting in these
parables. With that in mind, let’s dive in.
I. Parable of the Hidden
Treasure
Text: Matt 13: 44, "The
kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and
hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that
field.”
The sun
blackens his skin while baking the ground. Perhaps this was a man merely
plodding through the field of another, or maybe he was a hired hand tending
soil that didn’t belong to him. As he is plowing the ground or crossing
this fateful field, he stumbles over or feels resistance to something other
than a clod or rock. Inquisitively, he digs up the mysterious ground until to
his wonder, he finds a coffer. Opening the coffer, he is poised breathless over
a chest full of precious metals and jewels. With his heart racing he looks
around to see if any has seen his new found treasure. Quickly he buries it,
rushes to the owner inquiring as innocently as he can about the price for the
plot of land. With the price in his purview, he spends days joyfully selling
all his possessions, including his house and clothing. With the complete
payment, this man buys the entire field and then unearths his treasure.
This is a story
cast next to the teaching of God’s kingdom to illustrate an important
premise of his kingdom. The man seems to portray Christ, and the field
represents the world. In one sense, this world is ruled by another, the prince
of the power of the air. He rules a spiritual graveyard of lost souls. It was
upon this ground that Christ walked and labored. Among the mass of lost
humanity, he sees a people for his own possession, a treasure of restored
individuals. Jesus, “who for the joy set before Him endured the
cross” and bought the mass of humanity for the sake of his treasured
Church.
II. Parable of the
Text: Matt 13: 45 & 46 "Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, 46 and upon
finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought
it.”
Whereas the one
who found the treasure did so by accident, the merchant finds the one pearl by
an earnest pursuit. He will travel over the roughest seas or weigh through the
thickest woodlands if it means finding fine pearls from anywhere or anyone. His
eye is sharp and mind is keen when it comes to this unique product of nature.
During his earnest seeking, he discovers a valuable pearl. Like the one
plodding through the field, this merchant sells all for one. Away with his
precious jewels! Away with his vast collection of pearls! The brightest day is
as the darkest night in comparing his entire collection of jewels to this far
superior jewel. They are as rank rubbish in contrast to this one pearl of
superlative grandeur.
This parable
seems to further limit Christ’s activity in redemption. Whereas the last
parable speaks of Christ purchasing the world to obtain the church, this
parable reveals Christ’s limited and earnest pursuit of the church.
Doesn’t this accurately reflects Paul’s sentiments when he says,
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in
all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should
be holy and blameless” (Eph 5:25-27). Christ, the heavenly merchant,
seeks and acquires the
Another
heavenly picture is given as we consider the making of a pearl. This jewel is
formed at the expense of another. As a foreign particle of sand injures and
irritates the soft part of a shell-dwelling animal, the creature produces a
substance which coats the irritant. With time, the sand is clothed in a
majestic outfit. But it is only as the shell is drawn out of the sea and the
creature killed that the pearl is brilliantly displayed.
In a similar
manner, the church is formed at the expense of Jesus. Our sin, which was
completely foreign to him, fatally injured him on that tree. From this
suffering, Christ has clothed a sinful people with the most majestic outfit:
his righteousness. In truth, our life is wrought by his death.
III. Parable of the Dragnet
Text: Matt 13:47-50, "Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish
of every kind; 48 and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and
they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they
threw away. 49 "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come
forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50 and will cast them
into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
At the bidding
of the master, the fisherman cast the net into the deep. When he commands, they
draw the net in. Fish of all variety are apprehended by a web-like enemy.
Helplessly, they are cast upon the shore to be separated into two groups. One
will be used while the other discarded.
The first and
second parable accentuates our redemption from sin to God. This third parable
illustrates the completion of that redemption. At the end of the age, the Son
of Man will send forth his angels who then gather up the just and unjust. With
this gathering, resurrection life infuses into what will have become mere
vestiges of our bodies. Out of the dust of the earth he will reconstitute our
bodies in a celestial metamorphosis. The righteous are brought into God’s
kingdom while all others are banished into a fiery furnace.
In retrospect,
what is the
"In a city on the shore of a
great lake lived a small boy who loved the water and sailing. So deep was his
fascination that he, with the help of his father, spent months making a
beautiful model boat, which he began to sail at the water's edge.
One day a sudden gust of wind caught the tiny boat and carried it far out into
the lake and out of sight. Distraught, the boy returned home inconsolable. Day
after day he would walk the shores in search of his treasure, but always in
vain. Then one day as he was walking through town he saw his beautiful boat -
in a store window! He approached the proprietor and announced his ownership,
only to be told that it was not his, for the owner had paid a local fisherman
good money for the boat. If the boy wanted the boat, he would have to pay the
price. And so the lad set himself to work doing anything and everything until
finally he returned to the store with the money. At last, holding his precious
boat in his arms, he said with great joy, 'You are twice mine
now - because I made you, and because I bought you'" (Hughes 32).
Possible Discussion Questions
1. We know that parables were meant
to illuminate truths to God’s people, but what of non-believers? (c.f. Matt 13:13)
2. What does redemption mean? How
is it illustrated by Christ?
3. Are there different
‘stages’ of redemption? (e.g. soul and
body)
4. How does the scope of redemption
seem to be narrowed from the first to the second parable?
5. In what way has Christ purchased
the world?
6. How can these parables be
interpreted differently?
Works
Cited
Hughes R. Kent Ephesians: The
Mystery of the Body of Christ Crossway Books