God in Sandals: Transformational Encounters With the Word Made FleshSample

A Change of Strategy

In Matthew 13 there is a growing opposition from Israel’s religious leaders towards Jesus. This should be a warning to all who want greater intimacy with Jesus. Far from being applauded, people will try to disturb, discredit, and question all we experience. Pray that Christ’s influence may be stronger than your desire for the approval of others.

It is surprising that in circumstances so apparently favorable to Jesus’ ministry, He should so dramatically change His method. But at this time Jesus suddenly began to teach through parables. This confused even His disciples. They lost no time in approaching Him to ask, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” (Matt. 13:10).

“To you, it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,” Jesus told the disciples, “but to them, it has not been granted” (13:11). This declaration reveals a clear principle regarding the proclamation of the Word: access to Kingdom mysteries has been granted not to all but only to some.

God does reveal Himself sufficiently so that everyone can understand His invitation to new life in Christ. However, attaining a deeper understanding of the Most High is a privilege for those who have made a serious commitment to Him. It is for those willing to live the kind of life He offers, whose passion exceeds momentary enthusiasm. These are the kind of people God chooses to receive the deepest mysteries of the Kingdom.

The Lord clearly alluded to this privileged position when He declared to His disciples shortly before His death,

You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. (John 15:14–15)

Christ also quoted the prophet Isaiah to justify His use of parables:

You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; for the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them. (Matt. 13:14–15)

In the picture described by the prophet, we clearly see the human attitude by which men and women close themselves off from the possibility of greater intimacy with God: The people wanted to hear the truth but were not willing to adjust their lives to it. Even though they carried on with religious practices, on the inside they were hardened.