Mt 13:10-17
Grace and free will: The problem that the parables illustrate, for Matthew, is Israel’s lack of faith. Israel, God’s chosen people who are awaiting the Messiah, should have believed but did not; the Gentiles, who were not awaiting a Messiah, should not have believed but did.
Grace and free will: The problem that the parables illustrate, for Matthew, is Israel’s lack of faith. Israel, God’s chosen people who are awaiting the Messiah, should have believed but did not; the Gentiles, who were not awaiting a Messiah, should not have believed but did.
In Matthew, Jesus speaks to the crowds in parables because they have already refused to see and to hear his message. Through the words of Jesus, Matthew is speaking to his own audience; he is both urging them to believe and warning those who do believe to be careful that they do not lose the precious gift that they have received.
The people of the present age (at the time of Matthew’s writing as well as now) are blessed because they can see and they can hear what those who longed to see and hear (prophets and righteous people) never saw and heard. The present age is being offered by God the possibility of believing and understanding. They can either accept it or reject it, and, according to Matthew, whatever they choose to do must be done because of God’s will, righteousness.