Messiah Yeshua is Israel’s Greatest Rabbi, Our Most Authoritative Teacher – greater than Moshe Rabaynu, Moses our teacher, greater than any of Israel’s prophets, sages or scholars. Rabbi Yeshua was a master teacher and used various methods to teach, one being parables. Parables enable people to remember a story and its lessons.
These particular parables teach us how the kingdom of Heaven operates. The kingdom of God is real. God is a great king and really rules the universe and is active on planet Earth. These parables help us understand what God is doing in this world, and why He is doing what He is doing. That’s really important to know! If we know understand how the kingdom of God is working, then we can line up our minds and attitudes so that we will be good citizens in that blessed and eternal kingdom, and our lives will be truly successful.
The parable of the unforgiving servant, found in Matthew 18, tells us that the King is at work forgiving fallen human beings, and we must forgive them too.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Ten thousand bags of gold was then, and still is now, an immense amount of money. It would take 10,000 people working 20 years to earn that much. This was an amazingly huge debt that could never be repaid.
Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. Debtors prisons were in used in ancient times and were still in use in Western Civilization until the 19th Century. People are still put in prison for failure to pay debts in China and in the United Arab Emirates. You don’t want to end up in debtors prison.
At this the servant fell on his knees before him. “Be patient with me”, he begged, “and I will pay back everything”. The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. That’s a lot of debt forgiveness. That’s a lot of grace. That’s a lot of mercy. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins (that’s what an average man working a third of a year could make. That’s a minuscule amount compared to the 10,000 bags of gold the first servant owed). He grabbed him and began to choke him. “Pay back what you owe me”! he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, “Be patient with me, and I will pay it back”. But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant”, he said, “I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you”? In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
God is not only all-powerful and all-knowing and all-wise, but He is morally perfect. He is infinitely righteous and just, faithful and true. But we are fallen creatures with a twisted nature, and we are very far from moral perfection. Sinning comes naturally to us – like breathing. Throughout a lifetime in the fallen world we sin often in thought, in word and in deed; we sin by doing what we shouldn’t do and we sin by not doing what we should do. During our lives on Earth we fall so far short of the moral perfection of God. That offends the Morally Perfect God and makes it impossible for us to have a good relationship with Him – until our sins are forgiven.
The Good News is this Morally Perfect Being made it possible for all of our sins to be completely forgiven! When we come to the Three-In-One God on His terms, and we know the Three-in-One God, and transfer our loyalties to Father, Son and Spirit – all of our many sins are completely forgiven! All of our many iniquities are atoned for, our transgressions wiped away, our crimes declared “not guilty”! We are clean! We are washed! We are reconciled to God and will live forever with Him! Adon Olam, the Lord of the universe, graciously forgives us a huge spiritual debt we could never repay. But He demands that in return for great forgiveness granted, we do unto others as He has done unto us; that we extend that same kind of forgiveness to our brothers and sisters who have hurt us; and their offenses against us are lesser than our many sins against God; that we treat the other sons and daughters of God as the Lord has treated us – with much grace, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. We must become more and more like the gracious God. We must forgive!
And the reality is that we will need to forgive because we will be hurt. Christians and Messianic Jews will hurt one another, sometimes deeply. The Church is made up of saved people, but still imperfect people. As imperfect people we will say things and do things that will hurt one another.
Even when we have been saved, it can be hard for us to forgive. But if we have been forgiven, we must forgive others. This is not optional. The Lord demands that we forgive each other. He threatens us with the most serious consequences if we don’t forgive one another!
David Brickner made an observation that can help us forgive. “The more we realize the depth of our own sinfulness, the more we will be able to forgive others. When we recognize the darkness of our own sin; when we really come to grips with the depth of God’s grace in our lives, the forgiveness He has bestowed upon us, how can we not forgive”?
How do you know when you have forgiven someone? When you are able to pray that the Lord blesses them – and mean it.
The next parable also deals with resentment. Matthew 20: The Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard teaches us that God wants us to work hard serving Him, and be happy for those who serve the Lord a shorter time that we do, but still get a great reward like ours. It’s natural for us to think that the more hours worked, the more money that should be earned. That’s fair, and God is fair, but He is also gracious. He wants us to understand that when He is gracious to others, it will not diminish His grace to us.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius (a day’s wage for an average worker) for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right”. So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” “Because no one has hired us”, they answered. He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard”. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first”. The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius (a full day’s salary, even though they only worked a short amount of time).
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. “These who were hired last worked only one hour”, they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day”. But he answered one of them, “I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous”? So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
In the unknowable will of God, not everyone will have an equal amount of time to serve the Lord. Not everyone will have the same opportunities. Some will have the advantage of growing up in a strong Christian or Messianic Jewish family and will come to the Lord early in life. They will serve the Lord their entire lives. Others will come to faith later in life. Some may come to a saving knowledge of God a short time before they leave this world – like the thief on the cross. It’s not so much a matter of time served, but more about a person’s attitude that counts. The shorter candle burns as bright as the longer one. It’s about faithfulness. What would that person have done if he was granted a longer amount of time to serve the Lord? If the Lord had given him more time and opportunities, would he have been a faithful servant? The man who serves the Lord a shorter amount of time, but with faithfulness, may receive a greater reward than a man who served longer but didn’t work as hard and was not as faithful. Which one are you?
And, knowing that God has a great reward for you – eternal life in the amazing New Jerusalem, and honors and an inheritance fit for a king or queen, can’t you be happy if others who serve the Lord for less time but had a great attitude also get a great reward?
Matthew 22: The Parable Of The Wedding Banquet: Don’t Expect Many Of The Political Or Religious or Economic Elites To Enter God’s Kingdom. Make Absolutely Sure You Do.
The kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, “Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet”. But they paid no attention and went off – one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find”. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, “How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend”? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. For many are invited, but few are chosen.
How is the kingdom God operating? What is God doing in this world? He is extending His gracious offer of salvation to many, but few will respond. And, the ones that you would think would be the first to respond, may be the last to respond, or not respond at all.
The Son of God had finally come to planet Earth! Through the Incarnation, the Seed of the Woman had been born and had started the process of crushing the head of the satanic serpent, undoing the disastrous consequences that resulted from Adam and Eve joining the rebellion of the fallen angels. You might think that the religiously well-educated among the Jewish people, who knew the Word of God the best; or the wealthy, or the politically connected, who had more opportunities, more connections, more information, would be the first to recognize that Yeshua was the Messiah and respond. The political and religious and economic leaders of the Chosen People should have been the first to understand and become Messiah’s most ardent supporters, but that didn’t happen. Most of them turned out to be His greatest detractors.
But, that’s OK because if the first come in last, then God can make the last come in first! If those who should have the easiest time entering the kingdom of Heaven refuse, Heaven won’t be lessened. Heaven won’t be diminished in any way. The Lord will fill up His kingdom with the perfect number of redeemed human beings. That is how God is working in this world – offering salvation to those who seem to be the most likely candidates, but also offering salvation to many others as well, and some of those others will respond.
This teaching answers the objections: If Yeshua really is the Messiah, why don’t the rabbis accept Him? Or, if God is real, why don’t the scientists, the intellectuals, the Ph.D.s who are smart and have access to a lot of information, believe in Him? They should be the first respond, but for various reasons – the fear of man, pride, confusion, commitment to the status quo, or other things, most of the political and economic and thought leaders won’t. But others will.
But, like Yeshua told us before, not all of those others who respond will truly be saved. Just as there are wheat and weeds, there will be those who come to the wedding dressed inappropriately. There will be those who enter the Church, who will be baptized, who will be among us, but lack the clothes of righteousness and the garments of salvation. And, one day they will be rejected from the kingdom of God. It is so very, very important that you make sure that you are saved before you leave this world, that you are a genuine child of God, that you have a right to be at the wedding celebration of the Messiah, and you are not a wedding crasher! If you are not sure, make an appointment to meet and talk with me.
Immanuel, God With Us, came into this world. He lived a perfect life, overcame Satan and the demons, died, ascended back to Heaven. From there He gave His Spirit to His followers whom He entrusted to carry on His mission. When He returns He will reward those who were faithful to Him and His mission. Those who weren’t will not only lose their reward, they may forfeit eternal life because they may never have been saved.
Matthew 25: The Parable Of The Bags Of Gold: Carry On Messiah’s Mission, Proving You Belong To Him
Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more”. His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness”! The man with two bags of gold also came. “Master,” he said, “you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more”. His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness”! Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. “Master,” he said, “I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you”. His master replied, “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
How does God work? He will reward those who use their gifts, talents, time, strength, opportunities for Messiah and for Messiah’s mission. We must use our gifts and talents and time and energy and money to carry on Messiah’s mission – to proclaim the Good News about God’s kingdom to those who are in rebellion against that kingdom; to teach those who are receptive; to help others in practical ways; to evangelize those without and build up those within. Some will have greater gifts to accomplish these God-ordained responsibilities, but greater or lesser gifts, all will be saved and get a great reward!
However, we need to understand that there will be those who claim to be Christians, Messianic Jews, who will do nothing to carry on Messiah’s mission. They will not use their abilities to serve the Lord. Not only will they lose all reward, their lack of interest in Messiah’s mission may reveal that they were never true believers to begin with. How can you have the Spirit of Yeshua in you and not have His passion to declare the Good News to the lost, to teach those who are interested, to help hurting people?
I am telling you that there are many in the Church and in the Messianic Jewish movement who have no interest in Messiah’s mission and were never saved. You make sure that you are not one of them by knowing the truth and by taking an active part in Messiah’s ongoing mission!
Matthew 18: The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant tells us that the King is at work forgiving fallen human beings, and we must forgive them too.
Matthew 20: The Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard teaches us that God wants us to work hard serving Him, and be happy for those who serve the Lord a shorter time than we do, but still get a great reward like ours.
Matthew 22: The Parable Of The Wedding Banquet: Don’t expect many of the political or religious or economic elites to enter God’s kingdom. Make absolutely sure you do!
Matthew 25: The Parable Of The Bags Of Gold: Work Hard For The Lord, and carry on His mission, proving you belong to Him!