Understanding Parables

Matthew 13:31-33 & 44-52

Pentecost 9, July 26, 2026

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“Understanding Parables”

Jesus asked them, “do you understand all this?” And the crowds answered, “Yes”. Meaning “No.” We may think we get the point of the simple stories Jesus told, but how we really grasp the kingdom of heaven depends on what we believe about him. 

As scholar William Barclay puts it, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. When Jesus was speaking to the crowds that came to hear his message of repentance, forgiveness, and new life, he cast familiar images into teachable tales.  And those who heard them, repeated and shared them, grouping them together like Matthew does in his gospel.  “Do you remember when Jesus said…?” they would remark.  And so today we have a section of scripture that contains five short parables that talk about the coming of the kingdom.  The first two have to do with growing: the seed and the yeast.  The second pair have to do with seeking and finding: the treasure and the pearl.  And the fifth, the net of fish, is about gathering and judging.  From everyday things, we are to grow in understanding and find the meaning that will lead us to the kingdom.

Some early explanations for parables are contained in the gospel accounts.  Jesus’ first disciples, like Matthew, asked the Lord about what he meant in his stories.  Some elements could be allegorical, with a correspondence between a story element and a deeper truth.  “This is that” in an allegory.  But there is not just one meaning for a parable: we get as many applications as there are writers of the gospel.  Or preachers, for that matter!  There is in each story a twist that each of us would do well to pay attention to.  It is in that jarring point when our human heart asks questions of the text.

“The kingdom of heaven is like…” Jesus would begin. Those who believe in his good news catch on that there is more than literal meaning to follow.  But it’s not a simple moral reminder or trite proverb.  The early bird here is not interested in getting the worm.  We are encouraged multiple times: “anyone who has ears, listen!” (Matthew 13:43).  We have to go a little deeper for meaning, and get past the familiarity of the stories to our ears.  Consider what is going on in each one.  After all, the actions of the characters in the stories are a little perplexing.  To most listeners, when we stop to examine the goings-on in the parables, they don’t make much sense.   Are there clues here?

In the first parable we heard this morning (Matthew 13:31-32), someone plants a single mustard seed in the middle of a field.  Why would he do that? One seed.  A weed.  Allowing it to grow so big and crowd out the other plants so that it becomes a roost for the birds.  This doesn’t seem like very efficient agricultural practice, either in New Testament times or today.  Something strange is going on here that defies human understanding of how things ought to grow to harvest. 

The second parable is just as weird.  A baker mixes yeast in with the flour.  Even given that the recipe calls for commercial dry yeast (which didn’t exist in Jesus’ day), the quantity and process are bizarre.  This woman is dumping active yeast into enough flour to make bread for a hundred people.  Now it is all rising, what is she going to do?  Bake all the loaves at once, or have the bread starter spoil with the leaven in it.  This seems either extravagant or wasteful.  By this point, Jesus’ listeners are wondering what is going on.

Then we come to a pair of parables about the kingdom as a treasure.  In one, treasure is buried in a field, where some lucky soul discovers it.  But since it is not his field, he has to first go and cash in all his assets to buy the piece of land before he can make it his own.  The implication is that the hoard is worth the transaction, because it is now all he has.  Similarly , there is the merchant who presumably knows his jewelry.  In seeking out fine pearls, he finds one he considers above all others in worth.  He then converts all his worldly goods into a payment for this pearl of great price.  For both these individuals, their discovery of an object leads to radical action.  Never mind that they no longer have a place to live or money for food!  Would any reasonable person do the same?

Finally comes the parable of the net cast into the sea.  It catches fish of every kind.  The fishers bring it back to shore, where they sort the haul.  Only then do they decide which good fish to keep and which bad fish to throw out.  I don’t know if this is how fishermen worked on the Sea of Galilee, but his audience might have wondered why waste time and energy dragging everything back to land at the end of the run.  This is a parable with an editorial flourish.  The writer of Matthew adds, “so it will be at the end of the ages.  The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Matthew loves to use that phrase!

All five of these parables are about the workings of the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus, like other rabbinic teachers, uses the storytelling method of illustration for teaching.  “Mashal” or story encompasses comparison, allegory, fable, proverb, riddle, symbol and jest.  But in this para-bolic use, Jesus does something new.  He “casts alongside” (the literal meaning of parable) something familiar with something that turns our expectations upside down.  We are to ask, “How can the kingdom of heaven be like this?”.  The hidden meaning, Jesus, explains, is for those who have not hardened their hearts and accepted an obvious worldly interpretation.  In this way, parables are a riddle which demands open ears and open faith to unlock.  God gives the secret of the kingdom to those who are willing to listen, repent, and learn from his Son.  The key is Jesus himself.

All of the teachings of Christ have to be seen in the context of Jesus’ life and death.  When he is not just the speaker but the subject of the parables, they become deeply subversive.  Jesus is the weed growing in the midst of the field.  Jesus is the yeast leavening the whole of the dough.  Jesus is the treasure and the pearl to be valued before and above all else.  Jesus is the net which catches all creation and gives us opportunity to be the good fish of the kingdom.  There is an invitation to not just hear the words of the story but to encounter God’s unexpected and unearned grace in our own lives.  We enter the parables as actors.  What will we do?  Will we pull up the plant that disturbs the crop we thought we were growing, and that attracts birds we don’t want.  Will we get baking for the multitudes or thrown out the dough that is too much work to deal with?  Will we glimpse the treasure and turn away because we cannot bear to part with what we already think we own?  There is a Love that is so vast that it is like a great net, catching us all and gathering us up for the kingdom.  Our response marks us as ready, or not.  In the listening, the growing, the seeking, and the finding, we discover the kingdom of heaven is near.

Not a parable but a children’s story called “The Runaway Bunny” by Margaret Wise Brown also illustrates the reach of love.  In pushing the boundaries of a mother’s patience, the little rabbit comes to understand that no matter how far he roams and how he tries to change, he cannot escape from the one who claims him as beloved.  In the end, he says, “Shucks, I might just as well stay where I am and be your little bunny.”  We don’t understand why God loves us and came as Jesus to show us what the kingdom of heaven is like.  We won’t understand fully until that day when we are gathered in, like fish in a net, to become part of that kingdom. Until then, may our ears and hearts be open. Amen.