What should we learn from the parables about the kingdom?

How do we deal with belief and unbelief

In the last two parables of Matthew 13, Jesus taught about two issues that have troubled the church for its entire history. How do we handle belief and unbelief before Jesus returns and what is the relationship between Jesus’ message and the Jewish teaching before he came.

The parable of the fishing net reiterates the surety of judgment taught in the earlier parable of the wheat and the weeds.  It also makes it clear that the ultimate separating will take place when Jesus returns. (Matthew 13:47-50)

Christians must still deal with sin in our own lives and in the community.  

But, we can be confident that the true and ultimate separation between belief and unbelief will take place in the end times.

The last parable talks about the master of a house who has old and new treasures to bring out. The disciples are like this master if they understand these parables. (Matthew 13:51-52)

Christians have treasures from the old and new-  God’s written revelation before and after Jesus. Christians must not abandon the Hebrew Scriptures nor have a canon within a canon focusing on their favorites texts. We need to appreciate the entirety of God’s written word.

It must be noted that Christ’s teaching about his kingdom came after his rejection by the religious leaders and before his rejection by the people of his hometown.

Jesus reached out to the leaders, the crowds, and his disciples during his time on earth.

The religious leaders rejected him and said he was able to perform miracles because he worked in collusion with Satan. (Matthew 12:22-32)

The crowds eventually grew tired of him when he demanded that they needed to focus on him and not on other benefits from his work. (John 6:60-71))

His primary focus during the last months of his first coming was to prepare his disciples to carry on his work after he was crucified, rose from the dead and ascended to the Father.

Do we focus on the rejection of God by others more than seeking a growing closeness in our own pilgrimage with him?

Do we focus on our favorite parts of Scripture or do we regularly read and meditate on all the Scriptures?