(Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52)

31He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches." 33He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough." 44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. 45"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. 47"Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51"Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked. "Yes," they replied. 52He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."

The crude logic of history outlined in Scriptures is that God is sovereign and one day he will replace this present age with his own righteous and loving reign. The Old Testament prophets taught that when this happens and God's kingdom comes, the Messiah will exercise immediate, worldwide dominion (Daniel 7:27; Zechariah 14:9; Isaiah 11:9-10).

The new information that comes from Jesus is that God's kingdom will not start this way. Jesus affirms the Old Testament view-but he adds some crucial additional information. What the Old Testament prophets called the coming of Messiah is actually his Second Coming. Prior to that time, he comes -not as a reigning King but as suffering Servant-to die for our sins. His first coming would usher in an unanticipated form of God's kingdom that is different in important ways from the kingdom in its fullness.

This first coming is what Jesus calls "the mysteries of the kingdom" and describes through the seven parables in Matthew 13 . The seven parables in Matthew 13 have "the mysteries of the kingdom" (13:11a) as a common theme. They reveal secret, hidden, surprising and unexpected aspects of God's kingdom that had not been revealed in the Old Testament.

• The Parable of the Sower
• The Parable of the Weeds
• The Parable of the Net
• The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast
• The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

The word for "parable" is parabole--literally, "thrown alongside." Parables are stories "thrown alongside" life, you might say, which prompt comparisons and contrasts between the two. The stories challenge people to think. It would have been a surprise to his listeners that in the Parable of the Yeast the God-figure was a woman. The second surprise in that parable would have been the amount of flour--"three gallons," a great amount, enough to make over 100 pounds of bread. The parables of Jesus might sometimes use hyperbole to make the point. A mustard seed is small, but it is not the smallest of all the seeds, and it doesn't grow into a tree.

Universality and weakness are the two primary themes in the parables. In the "mystery" phase of the kingdom, things start (like the mustard seed and pinch of leaven) in very small, virtually invisible way-but (like the mustard plant and the leavening process) grow to extensive size and influence prior to its worldwide dominion at Messiah's Second Coming. This universality has an anti-triumphal twist, however. The seed itself, the agent of this universal mission, is small and hidden in the ground. It "dies" into the field.

This is a statement of how God runs the whole universe. The promise of his second coming throws into focus the waiting that we have to do in the meantime. It is through suffering, weakness, and vulnerability that God is present with us and saves us. This has been true from the beginning of creation. God runs the universe through the paradoxical nature of the "theology of the cross": reigning through "weakness," becoming empty for the benefit of others, bringing life out of vulnerability and death.

The key to understanding these parables is to ask: What do they teach about this "mystery" phase of God's kingdom that is different from its completed phase? There are important differences between how Jesus will affect his followers at his return and how he affects us during this "mystery" phase of his kingdom. When Christ returns, each of his followers will see him physically and be immediately and visibly transformed (1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:20-21).

In this "mystery" phase of God's kingdom, however, it doesn't work like this. You don't see Jesus physically; you hear a message from him (from a friend, through a teaching like this, by reading the Bible or a Christian book) inviting you to receive his forgiveness and to become members of his kingdom. When you respond to this invitation, you aren't changed visibly.

Others (and you yourself) may notice hardly any change initially. But (like the mustard seed and leaven) God's Spirit begins to initiate a gradual process of spiritual transformation that radically changes your thinking, attitudes, values, relationships, goals and plans, etc.-so much so that a few years down the road you are amazed. Nothing delights Jesus more than taking people who seem least likely to be able to represent him-and transforming them into people who are so permeated by his influence that they become powerful witnesses of his transforming power.