July 26 2020

Rev. Arturo Mendez

St. Matthew Lutheran church of Westfield

 

 

Theme: Jesus teaches us in Parables.

 

 

May the Peace and Grace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ abound in all of us.

 

We've been listening for the past two weeks the parables of Jesus in Matthew's account,

and today is not the exception. Today Jesus also wants to teach us and His disciples about these 4 parables, but perhaps we ask ourselves a question, why does Jesus speaks to us in this particular way that it is certainly a little difficult to understand?

 

 First of all, what is a parable?

Parable is a figure of speech, which presents a short story, typically with a moral lesson at the end. You often have heard stories from your elders, such as The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and All is Vanity. These are parables, because they teach you a certain moral lesson. Parable is, in fact, a Greek word, parable, which means “comparison.” It is a briefly expressed narrative, or a universal truth that uses symbolism, simile, and metaphor to demonstrate the moral lesson intended to be taught. Like analogy, we find the use of parables in verse and prose.

 

And also Jesus said.

³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’^[a]

 

In todays account of Matthew we heard 4 parables, The Hidden treasure, The Expensive Pearl, The Net cast down, and  The New treasures and old.

 

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure 

 

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.

 

 

The Hidden Treasure: There can be different interpretations of this parable. You can naturally see the man as any man, and the treasure is like the Kingdom he discovers. This is something that we human beings do very normally. We are too concerned about the material things of this world, that our first priority is to be able to fulfill all our goals in life and to be able to acquire those things that we desire. We put too much interest in the god mammon (the god of richness and money) that we forget who has control of all the things that we have, and we tend to forget the Only one and True God “YAWHE “. We are so tempted to sin because that is our sinful nature, to fall into the temptation of sin and want to do things our way and set apart God our father and supplier. Don’t get me wrong, working hard and achieving great things in life is not bad, but if we put those things above God we forget the real treasure which is in Heaven.

 

The Treasure in the Field: Let’s look at a more Christological way of this interpretation. The Field is the World, and the Treasure is us, His human creation. God the father created the world and saw that it was good and then He created the Humans in the world and saw that it was good too, but He said to them to do not eat of the forbidden tree of life, but we know what happened. The Evil came and foolish Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of disobeying God and they fell into Sin, and because of that all humanity fell into sin too. Our tendency is always to reject the gifts and blessings that God our Father has given to us, and we commit sin in thoughts, words, and deeds. But we thank God the Father for His only begotten Son Jesus Christ the He loves us so much and came to earth to fulfill what we cannot fulfill, the law of the ten commandments.

 

Christ find the Treasure: 

 God the Father loves us so much, that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to find us His treasure. Yes, we are the treasure. Jesus is the one who finds us, and He rescued us from Sin, Dead and Condemnation. He is the one who came to this earth (the field) to find His precious treasure, all humanity. He is the one who finds us, because we human beings cannot find Jesus. Our tendency is always do what we want and set God apart from our lives and do wrong in our hearts and reject de gifts and blessings from God Our Father.

 

Christ Buying the Field:  Yes, Jesus is the one who came to Earth and bought the field and found his precious treasure. We are His precious treasure, He gave up everything He had in heaven to come to earth. He stripped himself of all his glory regardless of being equal to God, and left all his richness to come and buy the field so that he can have that treasure with Him forever, in eternity. God gave his life for all mankind and now we can be His treasure. He bought us with His death on the cross giving His own life, so that whoever believes in Him as their Lord and Savior will not perish but have eternal life with the great treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the one who seeks us and left behind His Kingdom and paid the price of death for us, His most precious treasure. Through faith in Him alone we human beings can be saved. God the Father has given us His Son Jesus to pay the price of our sins and by faith in Him He rescues us, and  he keeps us and puts us in a very special chest so that we can never get lost and be able to participate of the riches that the kingdom of Heaven offers us through the saving sacrifice of Jesus. 

 

We are The Expensive Pearl:  This parable has very much connotation of the hidden treasure. Jesus, is the merchant who seeks that perfect pearl and after finding it sells everything He has and goes for it and buys it. Once again who is the one who seeks and finds us? it is Jesus himself who seeks us.         We can comprehend in this parable that we are the expensive pearl. They were worth millions. We see here the meaning of that great value. Now, why is that pearl so valuable? Jesus wants to show us through this parable that we are his precious pearls, and that he left all that he had in heaven, he was stripped of all his glory, so that he can buy us at an expensive price. The death of Jesus on the cross was the price that He paid for us, His pearls, and so through Faith in Christ alone as our Lord and savior we have eternal life. 

 

Can we sell everything and buy the kingdom of Heaven? 

We have to understand this very well. There are certainly people who think that they can sell everything they have so they can buy their place in the Kingdom of Heaven. This reminds me of the rich man that Jesus tells to go and sell everything and give it to the poor and follow Him. But we know what happened, he was too sad that he had to give everything and could not do it. Certainly, Jesus knows the hearts of all of us and he knows what our priorities are. Can we buy the grace of God? Can we gain a favor from him by doing all of this? Definitely not, since there is nothing that we as human beings full of sin can do to win God's favor and redemption. Many people are wrong and misinterpret the Law and the Gospel, and they want to act for their own benefits. But we thank God that we can differentiate the Law and the Gospel of Christ in our lives. The Law is what condemns us which are the ten commandments of God. For there is no human capable in the earth to fulfill them, and that is why we are condemned since we are sinners and our only tendency is always to do wrong before God in our hearts. We are separated from the glory of God. For all have sinned are destitute of the Glory of God the Father. But the good news is in the Gospel of Christ, is that anyone who confesses their sins before God, He will be faithful and just to forgive us. That is the Grace that God the Father offers through his Son Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in Him will never perish but have eternal life in Heaven.

 

It is Christ who bought us: 

In these two parables Christ teaches us that He is the one who seeks us and finds us, calls us His treasure and also His very valuable pearls, certainly gives us a very great value to his creation, and when we have been found, he sells everything to be able to possess us, so that we can be part of Him.

He finds us, he strips away all his glory in Heaven, never minding being God, and comes to us to rescue us from the terror of sin and eternal death. He is willing to pay a very expensive price for us His treasure and His pearls. That price that was so expensive was His death on the cross and He gave His own life in ransom for all mankind. This is how Christ Jesus has bought us through His sacrifice and His bloodshed on the cross. So that we may be His own, and in His sacrifice He has paid the wages of our transgressions. We can be part of the owner of that treasure and those pearls as he calls us in these parables. He has bought us through the meaning of grace of His death and His resurrection, and when we have understood all this, there is no human sacrifice that we can make in order to attain the Glory of the Father in the Kingdom of Heaven, but only through faith in Jesus. When we have been brought to the waters of Baptism, Christ himself buys us and makes us his own and now our names are in the book of life and every time when We partake of the Lord's Supper when We eat and drink His body and His blood it strengthens us in our faith in Him alone. By hearing His word, the Holy Spirit works in our repentant hearts and keeps us to remain united to Him. Christ has bought us at a very expensive price, and we are so valuable to Him, who gave His own life for all of us. That is the Gospel of Jesus, that is what He wants to teach us in these two parables that we do not waste the Grace of Jesus that offers us day by day through his sacrifice.

 

The Net:

In this parable Jesus tells us about the net cast. We should remember that in those times it was very common being a fishermen. Some of His disciples like Peter and Andrew were fishermen. So they could understand more clearly what Jesus meant. The Net is the Word of God cast down into the world. 

 

The Net is cast down:

Jesus illustrates what will happen at the end of these times. When the net (the word of God) is cast down all kinds of fish are found. This has a similarity to the parable of the weeds, Jesus wants to teach us that when his word is proclaimed he reaches all kinds of people and Hearts in the world, and that there are people who listen to His gospel and others who reject it.

 

Separate the Fish:

As in the parable of the bad weed, Christ teaches us that there will be a final day of Judgment in which all who have denied the gospel of Christ will be separated from the mercy of God. Also, it  teaches us today in this text, where the good fish and the bad fish will be separated and just like in the parable of the bad weed they will be thrown in the furnace of fire. It is very important to thank God that through His grace He has saved us. That is why, all believers in Christ must be sure that when the day comes, we will not be afraid. Because we have been bought through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross our sins have been forgiven through the expensive sacrifice of Jesus, and we are part of his Kingdom as His precious treasure. Just like the fish are separated from the good and the bad, us too believers will be separated for eternal life on the day of final judgment. Anyone who has rejected the grace of God through his son Jesus will be cast into the Furnace of Fire, that is, eternal death where there will be tears and teeth grinding.

Thank you Lord for your love to your creation and for sending your Son Jesus Christ who has saved us.

 

New Treasures and old:

What is Jesus trying to teach us about the new and old treasures? The teacher of the law that he is referring to in this scripture is like a homeowner who brings out the new treasures and old. What does this mean? In this writing from Matthew it shows us through the words of Jesus that it is very important to be instructed as teacher of the Law, and this teacher of the law describes himself as "the owner of a house". This tells us that God enlightens his mind so that he can understand the mysteries contained in these parables. The master of the law has the ability to interpret the events in the life of Jesus. To interpret the Old Testament in the Light of the Law that was given to Moses, and in the life of Jesus, the coming Messiah into the world. The correct interpretation of the New Testament to the Light of His Life, His Death, and His Resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus. Every believer can be a teacher of the Law and His disciple. Jesus wants us to be able to learn to interpret correctly the message of His Old Testament, the Law and His prophets, and the New Testament. So we can all be able to spread His message of salvation to more people in the world.

 

Did you understand?

Can we really answer so aptly as the disciples answered yes to Jesus? We examine our hearts and ask ourselves if we too can answer yes just as quickly as the disciples did. Do we understand what holy scripture speaks to us? What's the message He wants to give us? Jesus asked a very important question to His disciples. Jesus was preparing them for the most important task after His departure. They had to be witnesses of all that they saw and learned from Jesus and they in turn transmit to more people, so that they could know the message of salvation that is in Christ through the Faith. That was the real purpose of this question. Are we ready to do the same?

 

Jesus is Inviting us to become teachers and Disciples:

What Jesus really meant by this question was if we are ready to be teachers and disciples. He was preparing teachers of the Law and the Gospel. Before He departed, His disciples spent three years by His side learning His teachings. He is inviting us to be masters and His disciples so that we can share the message of salvation for more people throughout the world. All of us who have heard the word of God are witnesses of what Jesus has done and continues to do for all of us. Every believer in Jesus is a disciple of Christ, and like these parables that we have been listening to in these last weeks like The Sower, and The Bad Weed, etc. Jesus invites us to be that sower who sows the seed of the word in the hearts of the World. The field is very wide but the sowers are few. Christ is giving us an opportunity to serve Him as teachers of the law and as His disciples to go and proclaim throughout the world the Gospel of Christ and to reach more souls for the Glory of God the Father.  We have an important task to do for the love of the father in response to what He has given us, peace, hope and eternal life. We pray to God that the field is fertile so that He may sow His seed and His fruit may grow. That God the father prepares our infertile hearts and turns them fertile so that that seed that has sown in our hearts will produce that fruit in our lives. That's why we must be prepared. It is necessary to remain in the word of God because it is He himself who strengthens us. He is the one who has forgiven us of all our iniquities and invites us to partake of His table when we eat of His body and drink from His blood that has redeemed us. We should pray that our desire is to be disciples and teachers of His word to extend His kingdom. That He helps us always answer yes, so that we are willing to be teachers and disciples of Him. So that we may have courage to go to all the world and Nations to seek the lost and make disciples. Help us Lord Jesus, to let us always say yes.

 

Conclusion:

Just as King Salomon was able to accumulate materialistic treasures during his reign, we too accumulate treasures in heaven that our Lord has prepared for us. You have called us your treasure and You have saved us for eternal life, just as the Psalmist found in the teachings of the Lord his greatest and unique treasure. Help us Lord find in You our true and unique great treasure, just as the apostle Paul and Your Disciples found in Christ all the treasures that they could desire for this life and for the life to come. You are and will be our only and sufficient Treasure. Jesus Christ promises us all these same spiritual treasures necessary for our salvation and to be able to fulfill the mission He has entrusted us to do. Christ has given us His life and has paid a very expensive price for us in the death of Cross, and has redeemed us and now His death and His resurrection is ours. He promises us a life with Him in Glory and all of these treasures are ours through unbreakable faith in Christ Jesus Our Lord and Savior. Amen.

 

 

May the peace of God trespass all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the life everlasting. Amen.