Are You Watching Or Being Foolish?

aha...Now where do you biblically explain that the light equals "love and good deeds"(your concept) with this parable?

Now, what is the fruit of the Spirit?
Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

You seem to be on an entirely different track then what is being discussed.

So it seems.
We have different roles.
And our roles, I think make us look more on one aspect.

Please understand my background is secular* I tend to look more on the fruits .

*In doing business: the bottom line is results. ie. profitability.

I have high regard with missionaries, teachers, pastors….. in fact, I like or “wish” to be one……
…….but I think am called to clean the dishes, i.e. secular tasks : )
 
Last edited:
I have a better question. What was the reason Jesus instituted the parabolic method of teaching?
The narrative goes from "the people understood him clearly" to "why do you teach in parables?"
 
I have a better question. What was the reason Jesus instituted the parabolic method of teaching?
The narrative goes from "the people understood him clearly" to "why do you teach in parables?"

He said so Matthew 13:13 to fulfill prophecy, as in Is 6:9
 
Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. (Matthew 13:11 NASB)

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:10 ASV)
 
Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. (Matthew 13:11 NASB)

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:10 ASV)

I answered your question. I'm not sure what these verses are about? It's normally prudent to MAKE a point when you post, if you're not asking a question.
 
Yeah, Stan, I really liked what you said about parables teaching a singular point/moral. I know I have a tendency to get way out of hand when deciphering parables, so I try to keep it simple, otherwise I know I'm going to force meanings and links where there aren't any. That's not to say that there isn't a lot to talk about here. I just think you can drive yourself mad trying to create an extended metaphor in what is actually a fairly simple parable.

So, I guess I can't really say I'm convinced that I know exactly what this parable means, but I'll add to the discussion. Here are my impressions.

- So for the question of "who is the bride," I don't think there necessarily has to be one for this to be a complete parable. The parable only needs the characters it already has: the groom is just the guy overseeing the wedding "event." I too read the groom as Christ and the event as His second coming. If this was an extended metaphor, the bride might be significant, but it's a parable -- just one main point to take home. We don't need a bride here.

- I also read the virgins as believers waiting for the second coming. I don't really see another possible reading there.

- I don't know if we can really separate the wicks, oil, lamps and lamplight as all being separate and specific things. It occurs to me that they can all be grouped together as "what we've done to be ready." Although, I think it's clever (but not essential to the meaning here) that Jesus did choose to use the lamps in this parable, because of the connotations they naturally carry, which is what aha talked about.

- As for what "The Kingdom of Heaven" is, it seems to me that this is just a way of saying "what things are going to be like after the second coming," i.e., The kingdom of our Lord as opposed to the kingdom of the world, as in Revelation 11:15.

I feel that the message of this parable is adequately summed up by Matthew 7:21, "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." In the parable, the lamps/oil are the things done by the individuals when they have done the will of the Father. So it occurs to me that we could now have the "once saved, always saved?" discussion now, but being a parable, I don't think Jesus is necessarily trying to teach theology along those lines here. Also, there are other threads discussing that issue.

Instead, I think the singular message of this parable is, do not wait, time is short, get up now, get out there and do God's work.

- Also, Stan, since you asked about the "watch" part in the original post, I'd originally interpreted that as "watch for signs of the second coming," but I think it's more likely saying "watch yourself to make sure you're still being vigilant about spending your life doing God's will," which seems to fit more with what I said is the "singular message" of the parable.
 
Last edited:
Okay back to the question of Matthew 13.
To understand what caused the Messiah to change His ministry the student must identify the results of the events of chapter 12. Up to that point Yeshua had been proclaiming that the Kingdom was at hand (being offered by Himself to Israel) and was authenticating His Messianic claims by healing everyone that came to Him. But what transpires in Mt 12 gets missed by the vast majority of believers. Mainly because of the lack of insight available from the Jewish frame of reference. In chapter 12 of Matthew's account a man is brought (produced) who is demonized. What is unique about this particular man? According to the text this demon has caused muteness and deafness. The Pharisees were able to cast out demons themselves but could not cast out a demon who caused its victim to be deaf and dumb. The way in which Pharisees conducted exorcism was they had to get the name of the demon first, and once they had the demons name they would cast that demon out. A dumb demonized man couldn't speak thus the teaching of that day was that when the Messiah came, only He could cast out that type of demon. Yeshua performs this, His second Messianic (meaning only Messiah can perform this type of miracle) Miracle in front of the Jewish people. By performing this Messianic Miracle Jesus forces the nation to make a decision concerning His Messianic Person. Note the response of the people, they ask a question. Is this not The Son of David (an Old Testament Messianic Title)? What transpires next is the people turn to the Jewish leadership rather than answering the question themselves.

More later.
 
The Jewish Response In light of the second messianic miracle, and in light of the questioning by the masses, the Jewish leaders realized they had to make a public declaration concerning their final decision about Yeshua's messianic claims. They had two options. First, declare Him to be the Messiah in light of all the evidence. Or, the second option was to reject His messianic claims. If they took the second option and rejected His messianic claims, they also had to explain to the Jewish masses why He was able to perform the very miracles they themselves had said only the Messiah would be able to do.

In Matthew 12:24 the Pharisees took the second option: But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.

The Pharisees took the second option and rejected His messianic claims. In order to explain His ability to perform these very unique miracles, they claimed that Yeshua Himself was possessed or demonized–not by some common demon but by “Beelzebub the prince of demons.” The name Beelzebub is a combination of two Hebrew words, which combine to mean “the lord of the flies.” This became the basis of the Pharisaic rejection of the Messiahship of Jesus: He was not the Messiah on the grounds of being demon possessed.
 
Jesus responded in two ways. The first response was to defend Himself by saying four things in Matthew 12:25-29. He said this could not be true because it would mean a division in Satan's kingdom. Second, they themselves recognized that exorcism was a gift of the Spirit, and even their followers were able to cast out demons, though not dumb demons. Third, this miracle authenticated His claims and His message. Fourth, it showed that Yeshua was stronger than Satan rather than subservient to Satan.

The second response was a condemnation in Matthew 12:30-37. In this condemnation, Jesus said that this generation was guilty of the “unpardonable sin,” the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Because this sin was exactly what He said it was–unpardonable–judgment was now set against that generation, a judgment that could under no circumstances be alleviated. It came forty years later, in A.D. 70, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

Exactly what is the unpardonable sin within the context where it is found? It is not an individual sin but it is a national sin; it was committed by the Jewish generation of Jesus' day and cannot be applied to subsequent Jewish generations. The content of the unpardonable sin was: the national rejection by Israel of the Messiahship of Yeshua–while He was present–on the grounds of being demon possessed. Individuals of that day could, and did, escape that judgment, as was true with the Apostle Paul. Nor is it a sin that anyone can commit today. On this point, the Bible is very clear. Regardless of what sin anyone commits today, every sin is forgivable for that individual who will come to God through Jesus the Messiah. The nature of the sin is irrelevant. Every sin is forgivable for that individual who will come to God through Jesus the Messiah. But for the nation as a whole, for that particular generation, this unique sin was unpardonable.

http://www.ariel.org/mbsnit.htm

Manuscript 35 The Three Messianic Miracles
 
The Change in the Messiah's Ministry At this point, the ministry of Y eshua changed radically in four major areas. These four changes can only be understood in light of the commitment of the unpardonable sin in response to the rejection of the second messianic miracle.

1. Concerning the Purpose of His Miracles The first change concerned the purpose of His miracles. As stated earlier, no longer would the purpose of His miracles be to serve as signs to Israel; to get Israel to make a decision concerning His messianic claims. That decision had been made. Instead, the purpose of His miracles from that point on was for the training of the twelve disciples for the kind of work they would perform because of this rejection; the kind of work they conducted in the Book of Acts. But for the nation, there would be no more signs except one: the sign of Jonah, the sign of the resurrection.

2. Concerning the Basis of His Miracles The second change concerned the people for whom He performed the miracles. Until this event, whenever He performed miracles, He did so for the benefit of the masses without requiring them to first have faith. But from this point on, He only performed miracles for the benefit of individuals, in response to the needs of individuals. And He did demand that they first have faith. Until this event, whenever He healed a person, He told that person to go and proclaim what great things God had done for him. But from this point on, He told the healed individual to tell no one what God had done for him.

3. Concerning the Message of His Messiahship The third change concerned the message that He and His disciples gave. Until this event, He and His disciples went all over the Land of Israel proclaiming His Messiahship, and He even sent out His disciples two-by-two to do exactly that. But from this point on, He would forbid His disciples to proclaim His Messiahship. When Peter made his great confession in Matthew 16:16, and said, “Y ou are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus instructed Peter to tell no one that He was the Messiah . 4. Concerning the Method of His Teaching The fourth change concerned His method of teaching. Until this event, when He taught the masses, He taught them clearly and distinctly in terms they could and did understand. One example of this was the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. Matthew points out that when Jesus was through with His sermon, not only did the people understand what He was saying, but also more significantly, they clearly understood where He differed with the Scribes and Pharisees. However, from this point on, whenever He taught the masses, He taught them only in parables. In Matthew 13:10-14 when He began His parabolic method of teaching, His disciples asked Him, “Why speak you unto them in parables?” Jesus answered that the parabolic method of teaching was for the purpose of hiding the truth from the masses.

Notice a very graphic statement in Matthew 13:34: All these things spoke Jesus in parables unto the multitudes; and without a parable spoke he nothing unto them: ... To the masses, He spoke only in parables. This was not true before the rejection in Matthew 12. It is true only after the rejection. It is literally impossible to understand why the ministry of Yeshua changed in these four major areas unless we first understand how crucial the unpardonable sin was. The unpardonable sin was the rejection of His Messiahship on the grounds of demon possession, and it was a direct response to the second messianic miracle. Sufficient light had been given to them. They rejected the light they had, so no more light would be given.
 
Back
Top