8. The Parables of the Kingdom

The central discourse in the Gospel according to Matthew is the parabolic discourse that we find in chapter 13. It is the central discourse because there are five discourses and this is the third.

The first programmatic discourse of the mountain corresponds to the fifth eschatological discourse which refers to the fulfillment of the story. The second discourse in chapter 10 is a missionary discourse; Jesus gives directions to his disciples sent out of their normal setting, sent abroad and corresponds to the ecclesial discourse of chapter 18, where the evangelist collected the indications for the life of the Church within herself.

At the center of these five discourses we find the revelation of the mystery of the kingdom; seven parables. The number is significant to the evangelist Matthew who is attentive to these details and therefore he completed the collection of parables that he found in the traditional material to make them seven.

These parables are the discourses of revelation. "You have been granted to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven." The word 'mystery' was very widespread in the Greek environment and indicates a secret reality, a revelation that must be kept secret by those who have been initiated into the mystery.

The original Greek word ‘μυστήρια’ (mysteria) derives from the onomatopoeic sound ‘mmmm’ that we accompany it with a finger in our mouth to say silence. The ‘mmm tery’ is the place where there is silence. The ending 'terion' is a common ending found in many other words, such as the presbytery, the place of the presbyters, of the elders. The mystery is the environment where silence is kept. The mystery is something ‘unspeakable’ that cannot be said and it should not be said. It is not something incomprehensible. It is wrong to use the term 'mystery' to avoid answering. Sometimes very curious children ask complicated questions and they end up being silenced ‘it’s a mystery’. It is not correct. The mystery is the project of God, a secret that nobody can know. It is not known because it is a secret, because it is reserved and protected, yet God revealed it. The Christian announcement implies the revelation of the mystery.

Precisely, by the power of Jesus Christ, we say that the mystery hidden for centuries and generations is now revealed in Jesus. In his preaching he tells the disciples: "You have been granted to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven," that is, the project of God, King and Lord of the universe. "Blessed are your eyes because you see and your ears because you hear." Happy you because you have been given this revelation. Parables are the ways that Jesus presents revelation.

Since it is difficult to explain God's project, to say the indescribable requires images. And Jesus is a master at telling parables. These are not simply metaphorical figures, but real events. The parable is a story that touches reality at one point and shows a better understanding of reality. The parable presents a common, everyday reality, easily experienced, that the listener knows well and can evaluate. The parable leads to a formulation of judgment. Whoever listens to a story has his say.

Many parables end or start with the question: "What do you think?" or, "What will you do?" "What to do?" "And so how is this story going to end?" "What do you think?" It is a way to dialogue. Jesus tells parables to help understand the mystery. It starts from a created, simple, everyday reality, and mentions a principle that illuminates beyond that.

The first parable is that of the sower. The seed is sown and produced in diverse way; it depends on the soil. There are some seeds that fall on the pathway and the birds take them away; others grow in the middle of stones; they have little roots and do not last; the seed that falls in the midst of thorns suffocates; but there is good soil where the seed finds good soil and produces a lot of fruit. What does the parable mean? In all activities one has to take into account some failures. Not all the sown seeds produce fruit because it can encounter obstacles: the path, the stones, the thorns, but if it finds good soil, the seed produces; produces a lot. It is a parable of comfort, with which Jesus compares the kingdom of God with a seed that needs good soil to bear fruit.

The previous chapter had shown a situation of uncomfortable tension, of rejection by the listeners. It is possible that the disciples were a little discouraged, demoralized: ‘What we are announcing is leading nowhere; it does not produce results.' Instead, Jesus' parable notes that there will be a result, despite the losses.

This parable has been modified by Christian tradition. And the explanation has also been added. The allegorical explanation probably does not go back to Jesus himself, but is an interpretation of the apostolic preaching, but it is put in the mouth of Jesus, therefore, at the level of the finished text, has the same importance and the same dignity of the parable that the scholars say it is original of Jesus.

The interpretation of the school of Christian scribes, has allegorized it, that is, converted the parable in a parallel story. All the elements of the parabolic narrative correspond to elements of reality. And here is the explanation that is done part by part: The seed is the word. When it is sown in someone who does not understand, the evil one takes the seed away; the stony ground represents the one who listens to the word and welcomes it with joy, but has no roots in itself, it is fickle, therefore, as soon as a tribulation comes, a persecution due to the Word, the seed does not bear fruit; the seed sown in the midst of the thorns refers to the condition of the problems, the worries of the world, the seduction of wealth that suffocates the seed of the word, but there are some who listen to the word. They understand it and bear fruit and produce 100, 60, and 30 for one. A huge amount! The average grain production was 5, 6, 7 for one. Jesus proposes an immense harvest, even today, with all the most sophisticated means we are equipped with. It is an element that the peasant of Galilee understood immediately. ‘You are exaggerating… a grain does not yield 100 for 1… it is not possible.’ Through this provocation Jesus communicates the message of the kingdom. It's such a small reality, like a seed, but it will grow.

The other parable is that of the mustard seed, followed by another twin parable, of the little leaven put into the flour. They are parables of growth. If one had simply wanted to underline the smallness one could have also taken a grain of dust as a reference, but the difference between a mustard seed, which is really small, a white dot on the hand, barely noticeable, and a speck of dust that could be even smaller, is that the seed develops, transforms, it becomes a plant, while the grain of dust remains always the same; it was small, it remains small, but the seed grows. Jesus purposely uses these growth images to emphasize that the kingdom of God is a dynamic reality that grows and transforms; starts small but gets big, it becomes a plant.

Mustard is a garden plant that even reaches three meters; it is not a majestic tree, and it is a seasonal plant, therefore, the idea that Jesus wants to convey with the parable is the transformation from the small seed to the large plant. There is a path of maturation, the kingdom of God is like that.

Another unique parable of Matthew is that of the weeds. Here too we are faced with the issue of growth, but the prominent problem is above all that of confusion. In a field sown with seeds, weeds also appear, which is a kind of seed, but it is useless, they are those ears that do not produce edible seeds; it looks like seed, but it is not.

How to separate the wheat from the weeds? The parabolic image serves to evoke an ecclesial condition where there was a mix of good and bad. It's a dramatic experience of the early Christian community to discover that there are also bad people inside the community. It is not only the saints who entered the church. Maybe at first there was a movement of enthusiastic, determined, courageous, consistent people who followed the gospel, but over time the enthusiasm of some had waned, coherence had ended and the Christian community that started well, had come down and was living in the world in the same way as the others.

The community that Matthew refers to as Christian community in crisis; it is not a community of the beginning, with the enthusiasm for beginners, but a community of tired people, who have long embarked on that path and perhaps a little disappointed, they have retired to a condition of life like that of the world, without the initial push. It is even possible that there are people within the church who misbehave, that they are serious sinners; sinners are inside the church.

What to do? The solution is not to remove sinners to make a clean sweep, to remove weeds. It is very difficult to make this distinction because the division does not happen outside but inside us. It is not so simple to say that there are good and bad people and eliminate the bad and keep the good because we are all a little good, a little bad; it is the mixture of wheat and weeds, it is within everyone. The field is my life, there are good and bad things; it's not my job to separate the good from the bad, but this does not mean that everything is fine, even if it is acceptable.

Matthew's discourse is very serious and speaks of a separation, a necessary separation that will take place, it will be the Lord's work and it will be eschatological, that is, at the end of time. It is the final fulfillment; in the harvest, then there will be separation. Also, this parable has an allegorical explanation; in this case, we have a list in which all elements of the narrative are explained with reference to some theological reality. "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds, the children of the evil one.” These are typically Semitic expressions: children of the kingdom, children of the evil one; that is, people who really have welcome the announcement of the kingdom and the people who instead allow themselves to be deformed by the evil one.

"The enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil, the harvest is the end of the world, the reapers are angels. As the weeds are harvested and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world.” Here is the eschatological announcement of the fulfillment. "When the son of man comes in his glory, he will send the angels who will pick up the scandals and all those who commit iniquity and will be eliminated, then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” It is a typical apocalyptic formula; the announcement that there will be a separation, but it will be in the end and it will be done by God himself.

The same image of separation is found in the seventh parable, which is that of the network. The kingdom of God is like a net thrown into the sea that gathers everything, but in the end there will be separation; the fishermen take out of the net and separate, collect the good fish in the baskets and throw the bad. This is how it will happen at the end of the world.

Between the allegorical explanation of the weeds and in this seventh parable, Matthew presents two more that are his own; two other twin parables: the treasure and the pearl. The kingdom of God is like a man who finds a treasure in a field, sell everything and buys that field to have the treasure. Or a merchant who goes in search of precious pearls, when he finds the most beautiful one, he sells the rest to buy that pearl. The kingdom of God is a treasure, it is a pearl, it is an immense wealth. He who finds the kingdom of God is willing to lose everything else, because he loses nothing by having found much more. It is not a question of sacrifice, but the acceptance of a treasure that makes it easy, logical to accept, any other sacrifice because there is something much greater and much more beautiful.

It is the experience of the disciples who found the treasure in Jesus; it is a Church experience that fights within, an experience of growth. The mystery of the kingdom of God is growth, treasure and also suffering, in need of discernment, separation, tension towards future fulfillment.

As always, the discourses in the Gospel according to Matthew end with very similar formulas: "When Jesus finished these parables, he left there...." But before this conclusion there is a very interesting editorial note: “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asks his disciples. “Yes,” they answer him. “Well, this is why,” the teacher adds “every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who extracts new things and old things from his treasure.” Looks like the self-portrait of the evangelist, a writer who has become a disciple of the kingdom, who has welcomed the mystery of the kingdom and has an immense treasure. He is the householder and the presbyter responsible for the Christian community that has an inheritance of old and new things. It is the secular tradition and the novelty of Jesus that he extracts from his treasure.

And now another narrative part begins, long enough that it goes from chapter 14 to 17, and in chapter 18 we will find the fourth ecclesial discourse. In this narrative section, we have the break with Israel, there is a strong confrontation with the Jewish authorities and Jesus makes the decision to go abroad, he retires to the northern regions. It is an important choice; it is a geographical departure that preludes the mission to all people and it is precisely abroad, in the region of Caesarea Philippi, that Jesus announces the foundation of his own Church. And the first element of the foundation will be the believing disciple, Simon, who becomes Peter, on whom Jesus begins to build his Church. The mystery of the kingdom is a growing reality.