Matthew 13

One of the biblical concepts that is most interesting to me is that a particular passage can have more than one meaning, or that it can have different levels of meaning.

The more I learn about the bible, the more it seems to be almost fractal; no matter how deep I go, I still find just as much complexity as I can handle.

I never seem to get to the bottom of it.

I have heard people make comments like "new christians need to be fed on milk, but as they become more mature in Christ they will be ready for meat." Although I have no idea how they determine which portions are more "meaty" than others, or even if I am misunderstanding the meaning, it seem to me that this 13th chapter of Matthew has something for everyone.

Jesus implies that there is more to the story than what appears on the surface

Mat 13:10 And the disciples said to Him, Why do You speak to them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said to them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

For example, when I first heard the thing about the mustard seed in verses 31-32

Mat 13:31 He put out another parable to them, saying, The kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field;
Mat 13:32 which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.

As a child I had such a pleasant mental picture of this, a beautiful tree full of lovely songbirds.

But now that I am an adult, and have learned a little bit about the internal consistency of the bible, it takes on a whole new meaning to learn that "birds of the air" are evil or wicked, as taught by Jesus himself in Matthew 13:19 when he was interpreting Matthew 13:4

Mat 13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them.

Mat 13:19 When anyone hears the Word of the kingdom and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown by the wayside.

He makes a direct correlation between the birds and the wicked one (or evil one, in other translations)

In my mind, that changes the meaning of the unnaturally large mustard tree quite a bit.

(and if you can't trust Jesus' interpretation....)

-=-=-=-

Or consider the leaven in

Mat 13:33 He spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.

As a child I assume the parable is the spreading of the good news throughout the world.

Great!

But then Jesus himself speaks of leaven in this way:

Mat 16:6 And Jesus said to them, Take heed, and beware the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:12 Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Don't get me wrong, I still believe the living word grows and is beautiful in people's lives.

I still believe wholeheartedly in the surface part of the picture.
To study it furthur does not diminish the value of the easy interpretation.

But I also believe there is more to the story that can only be found by having "ears to hear".

-=-=-=-

I have searched out many studies on this chapter because it fascinates me, but anything else I could say right now, I fear I would just be repeating someone else.

One of the best studies I have found on this subject is by a teacher I respect,
Ray Stedman
He presented a very good series called Behind the Scenes of History back in 1971.

If you are interested, you can read it online, or download a PDF, or listen to it in RealAudio at http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/behind/index.html

I have heard it a few times now, and each time has given me more to think about.