Message by Larry Thacker Jr. from October 31, “It’s All About the King”
In this message, we examine the last three kingdom parables in Matthew, Chapter 13. (Mt 13:44-50) We talk a lot about context, and it’s just as important here in the gospels as it is in the letters. Each author means to communicate something by the things he chooses to include and also in the way he chooses to include them. And of course all of it is being directed by the Holy Spirit.
Chapter 13 consists almost entirely of illustrations (parables) that Jesus begins by saying, “The kingdom of Heaven is like…” Our chapter and verse divisions are somewhat arbitrary, but it does seem that these ideas were meant to go together. Jesus apparently spoke them in the course of one day’s teaching. To put it simply, Jesus has given us a snapshot of the kingdom as it relates to history and the world, and especially of it’s king, Himself.
The parables we’ll be looking into directly follow the explanation of the parable of the wheat and weeds found earlier in the chapter. Jesus has used pairs of similar illustrations, and he does so again here. The parables of the treasure and the pearl go together, then the analogy of the dragnet has a theme similar to that of the wheat and weeds. All of it serves to give us an idea of what God’s kingdom is and what its king is like.
