The Parables and the Transition

What did Jesus teach about the beginning?

In our previous post we saw how Jesus’ parables in Matthew 13 provide a framework for the flow of His kingdom from beginning to end. As seed growing abundantly yet in a field also sown with tares Jesus’ kingdom will progress through history till harvest time. When the fishing net becomes ‘full’ then comes the final judgment when the good are sorted from the bad.

The question comes to us, if Jesus promised abundant kingdom growth why did it seem to face such immediate opposition in the beginning? The answer lies in understanding a crucial transition Jesus predicted.

After Matthew 13 the next time we encounter Jesus speaking in parables about the kingdom of heaven is in Matthew 18-22. In these five parables the images have dramatically changed from agriculture to a relational drama. Instead of wheat and fish we see a focus on servants, labourers, sons, and guests.

• Matt 18:23-35 The parable of the unforgiving servant

• Matt 20:1-16 The parable of the labourers in the vineyard,

• Matt 21:18-32 The parable of the two sons

• Matt 21:33-46 The parable of the tenants,

• Matt 22:1-14 The parable of the wedding feast.

When we read these parables who do we meet? We meet an unforgiving servant being rejected by the king. We meet workers jealous of the labourers who come later. We meet a first born son proving to be disobedient and a second becoming obedient. Who are these servants who are unforgiving, jealous, and ultimately disobedient? From the parable of the Two Sons onward it becomes clear that Jesus is speaking about the religious leaders and the Jewish nation. What will happen to them? The message of the parable of the Tenants and the Wedding Feast gives us the answer. In their hardness of heart they will be rejected, judged, and their responsibility given to others.

Matthew 21:43, 45 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits… 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

Matthew 22:7-10 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

While the Parables of Matthew 13 speak to us about the abundant growth of the kingdom these next set of parables explain to us how this abundant growth will happen; there will be a change of management.

The kingdom will undergo a transition away from unfaithful stewards to fruitful stewards bringing with it a universal invitation. What happens to the unfaithful stewards? The parables make clear they will be rejected, killed, and their city burned; a frightening prediction which came true with Jerusalem’s destruction in AD70.

Notice that the wedding feast doesn't end with that rejection—it transforms into a celebration that extends to all who are found. The kingdom's transfer enables its expansion. Though beginning with a burned city the wedding celebration continues far beyond and the invitation reaches unto the highways—pointing toward the global scope of the kingdom's future growth among all nations.

These parables both refine and continue the framework we saw in Matthew 13. The Wedding feast still has great growth (the hall is filled with guests) and ends with separation (the one guest without the garment) at the King’s coming yet adds the new dimension of judgment/transition at the beginning.

Putting these together we may conclude the kingdom of heaven would experience a judgment and transition in management leading to faithfulness, fruit, and universal spread. This is can be confirmed by history with Jerusalem’s destruction in AD70 and the gospel’s spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth as seen today. When the net is full and the hall is filled with guests the King will come and separate the good from the bad.