Chewing Cud (Matt. 13:47-52)

I’ve been chewing on this since yesterday, rather cow-like (sorry, I grew up on a farm spending far too much time watching cows chew their cud). Actually, I’m not sorry if that grosses you out. because it is the best way I know to explain how I digest Scripture. When I first read it, I swallow it best I can, usually quickly as I tend to read large amounts at one time. Then, it comes back up in my thoughts and I dwell on it, chewing it up and swallowing it again with more understanding or sometimes more questions. At some point what I've read is finally digested. 

I know that I sound like a broken record sometimes, but as I have read through a chronological arrangement of the Scriptures this year, things have clicked like they never have in all my years of reading and studying. Maybe it is getting to a certain passage and seeing it linked to another relative passage that in the regularly arranged canon is far removed from it, maybe it is seeing the repetition that occurs when that happens, maybe it is slowing down enough to read the history surrounding all of it, maybe it is solely that Christ has matured me to a point that I can understand it and now has brought it to mind through the help of the Holy Spirit, whatever it is makes me notice things I have never noticed before. 

This week I arrived at the gospels and found the familiar parable about the dragnet in Matthew 13:47-52, which I’ve read many times:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.

This last parable (or two depending on how it is read) is found only in Matthew, and it is located at the end of a long section of Jesus’ parables  about the kingdom gathered together. Maybe because it is at the end of this section in the past I’ve had parable fatigue, meaning my brain is so tired from trying to understand so much that this one has slipped past me and I haven’t spent enough time digesting it, or in cow terms, it just hasn’t come back up to be further digested until now.

The context of these parables given in Matthew follows Jesus claiming that “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:50) rather than the woman who gave birth to Him and her other children. The context is a heavenly one, the focus on the kingdom. Our relationships here will not last apart from Christ. All will die. This world will pass away. Judgment will come. Why would we focus on the here and now, which is ethereal, and miss the future, which is eternal?

As I’ve taught through Luke with the women’s Bible study at church this year, we have had much discussion about the hypocrisy to be found within the church today. Not discussing it would be naive folly, as Jesus spends so much time pointing out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and scribes in His teaching. They constantly followed Him around and constantly failed to truly hear what He has to say, yet they comprised the leadership of the established religious community at that time. The blind led the blind, and still there is nothing new under the sun. The dragnet, the gathering in, will draw many, some good, some bad. Similarly, not all will be of Christ that come through the doors of the church buildings. Not all are the Church. The problem is that we in our limited human scope of knowledge cannot see what is in another’s heart, only God can. We cannot winnow out hypocrites without doing harm. It is not our job, m but it is the job He has given to His angels who will winnow out the bad at the end of the age and will throw them into the fire, into eternal punishment. 

[Side note: angels. So many today, even in the church, think that their loved ones die and become angels. These are created beings who long to look into the things given to us through Christ (1 Pet. 1:12). In reality, these are powerful creatures assigned tasks by God to help bring about His will for His creation. One of their tasks is to separate the wicked from the just and throw them into the fire, no questions asked. Before you call your loved one an angel, understand what they are and that there are good angels and bad ones (demons). Be wise! Understand that being human is so much better!]

Jesus chose this parable for His disciples, many of whom were converted fishermen who now would be fishing for men. He directed this parable specifically to them. They understood nets. They understood nets caught whatever was in their paths. They understood that not all of what they caught was good. They understood that much work was required to separate the good from everything else gathered. They understood that sometimes nothing good was gathered after all that work. Jesus spoke their language so that they could not fail to understand because it had been given to them "to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” whereas it had NOT been given to the multitudes (Matt. 13:11). The multitudes weren’t supposed to understand everything because they neither saw, nor heard, nor understood (v. 13). The hearts of the people had grown dull, hard of hearing, blind to the truth of the healing that was to be found in Christ even though they had looked forward to Messiah for many years (v. 15-16). The problem was they wanted their own make-believe version of one, not the reality God gave, and lest we judge . . .

There is an end of the age that will come. It is not the fairy tale many believe today. I cannot convince you of this, but God can. Read His Word for yourself and ask for wisdom to see the truth that is there. He will not hide from you if you are truly seeking Him. 

Jesus pointed His disciples to the end that will come. It is painful. It involves eternal punishment. It is hot. Even worse may be the sounds that accompany it, intensifying its agony, filling hell with the wails of people who can no longer repent and find forgiveness but can only repent and find regrets. There is also violence. Not all will wail with repentance that doesn’t lead to forgiveness; some will lash out, gnashing their teeth at those they are locked away with, angry over their circumstances in death just as they were angry at their circumstances in life. The picture is terrifying and is one of torment that we can barely begin to understand. 

Jesus paints His disciples this picture of what is to come for those who reject Him. This should inspire us as it did them to understand the Word so that we, too, can share the gospel to the dying world around us, to those oblivious to what is to come. 

Jesus asks them if they have truly understood all this that He has spoken of in the parables. Proverbs 2:6-11 speaks of understanding:

For the Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,

Guarding the paths of justice,

And He watches over the way of His godly ones.

Then you will discern righteousness, justice,

And integrity, and every good path.

For wisdom will enter your heart,

And knowledge will be delightful to your soul;

Discretion will watch over you,

Understanding will guard you.

The understanding of His disciples was so important because they would be the ones to record (or tell others) what Jesus said for us to read. His end comment about scribes being instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven was about them. They had spent three-plus years being instructed about the kingdom of heaven, three-plus years being trained, following in His footsteps, being eye-witnesses to His glory, His humility, His suffering, His death, His resurrection, His ascension. Their understanding was crucial. It was a gift from God to mankind that tied the Old Testament to the New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It clearly shows the treasure is Christ, the Word given by God, the One by whom all things were created and hold together. He is the treasure to be displayed by those who follow Him. 

“The householder brings out of his treasure things new and old,” and I chew on it, digesting it one morsel at a time.