Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

The context

The parables we hear this week are part of a collection of parables of the Kingdom collected by Matthew in chapter 13 of his gospel account. As with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), there is ambiguity around whether Jesus’ audience is the crowd (13:2; 34) or the disciples (13:10; 36). A natural reading seems to suggest verses 31-33 are addressed to the crowd, and 44-52 to Jesus’ disciples. To what extent does the audience affect our understanding of the meaning of these parables? Does it change the way we approach preaching these passages?

The well-known formula “the Kingdom of Heaven is like…”, which appears (with small modifications) throughout the chapter may be somewhat misleading. The parables of this chapter expand not so…