UPDATE ON OUR STUDY OF JESUS

We have finished the very interesting and informative Chapter 13 in the Gospel of Matthew, where we saw Jesus use multiple parables in trying His best to get both His disciples and those who opposed Him to see the truth about the Kingdom of God and what it meant to those who desired everlasting life with God.

He told how the citizens of Kingdom of God would be scattered throughout the world, some in almost impossible places like seed falling on a road; some in difficult places where there is strong opposition; and some in good places where it will grow and produced a good harvest.

But Jesus said, beware!  The devil will try to infiltrate the Kingdom of God with those who look like real believers, but in fact, they are imitations of the real thing.  But don’t panic, at harvest time God will send His messengers to separate the weeds from the true wheat that He planted.

And Jesus told His followers not to become discouraged when those He planted were small in their influence, in the beginning, like a mustard seed, but they would grow large enough to have a real impact on the communities and nations where they were planted. However, when His disciples came to Him and asked for an explanation, Jesus realized that they still did not understand the whole concept of the Kingdom of Heaven.

So He told another parable about a man who discovered a valuable pearl in the marketplace, so he hurried home, sold all that he had to raise the money to go back and purchase that distinct pearl.  He was trying to let them know that by listening to Him and His teaching, they had been shown this pearl of great price. So whatever they knew or believed before about God, His plan of salvation, and a future life in His presence, to sell it all in exchange for what He was telling them.

Then Jesus proceeded to explain how they should proceed as they went out as fishers of men for the Kingdom of God.  He told them that as they cast the net of the Gospel, many would be brought in as they responded to the Good News.  But there would be some who were not worth keeping, just like inedible fish caught in a fisherman’s net. So they were not to spend time on those who were considered unusable and concentrate on those who were good for the cause.

After all this, Jesus decided to visit His hometown of Nazareth.  But instead of receiving a hero’s welcome from his friends and previous neighbors, they questioned His role as a prophet and the expected Messiah.  They remembered Him as a boy, and His mother, brothers, and sisters still lived there.  They were not the elite of the community, they were all children of a lowly carpenter who lived here before he passed away. So they accused Him of bragging. As a result, they did not see any of the miracles that Jesus had performed in other places.

Tomorrow we will begin the exciting Chapter 14.  So let’s continue this journey through the Gospel of Matthew to look at some more exciting things about Jesus, the Son of God. And may the Lord richly bless you for your dedication and love for His Word.