This week we’re looking at the final parables in Matthew 13 that point both to the coming of Jesus with the final judgment and our ministry and teaching today. When the final judgment happens, there will be a sharp line between those who belong to Jesus and those who don’t. In light of that, our ministry today must encompass both the old and new treasures of God’s kingdom.

In a pair of very short and powerful parables, Jesus tells his disciples that the kingdom of God is like a treasure that is worth far more than any sacrifice anyone ever might make to acquire it. God welcomes us freely into his kingdom by grace, but Jesus makes it clear that our entry must be decisive. No one can take hold of the treasure without making a game-changing commitment to it. May we find the treasure God has revealed to us, and from great joy may we put everything on the line to enter the kingdom.

Last week we looked at a parable in which good seed fell on all kinds of soils, but this week Jesus is teaching about good and bad seed planted in fertile soil. The presence of evil in the world shouldn’t surprise us, but it isn’t a call to arms, either. In a parable filled with tension, Jesus teaches what the familiar song affirms: “Though the wrong is great and strong, God is the ruler yet!” This calls for patient hope and a lot of grace on the part of believers.

This week we are hearing a familiar parable – the parable of the sower. It is a parable about the powerful seed of the Word of God (the kingdom of God), and it is also about hearing the Word of God. Within the parable are 4 kinds of hearers, but the parable contains a bigger story as well. When we hear the parable, are we really hearing the big story of God’s amazing work? Fruitful hearing is like a growing seed – just when we think we understand what it is, we find that it produces even more. To those who have ears, let them hear.

The kingdom of God is not the home of those who have it all together; the kingdom of God is the home of all who trust in God to set things right. God the Father’s heart seeks the spiritually wandering person as a shepherd seeks a wandering sheep – one by one. If our hearts are in line with God’s, then we will also seek out the wanderers – one by one. May our words and actions bring joy to our Father in Heaven as we reach in love to the fringes.