Friday, December 19, 2014

Matthew 13:1-8




Mat 13:1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Mat 13:2 And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.
Jesus had stopped preaching in front of the scribes and Pharisees. He now was teaching among those that wanted to listen. He also started teaching in parables. As he explained to the disciples, the people needed to understand what he was speaking in parables . He also was in a boat, that may have been to insure that the audience was in front of him so they could hear. It may have been to show that he was one of them. None of the commentaries had a clear idea on this. It was his pulpit he did it several times in the Bible so I think he liked it.

Mat 13:3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, "Behold, the sower went out to sow; Mat 13:4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Mat 13:5Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. Mat 13:6But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Mat 13:7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. Mat 13:8And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. Mat 13:9 “He who has ears, let him hear."
The Guzik commentary explained parables like this: Then He spoke many things to them in parables: The idea behind the word parable is “to throw along side of.” It is a story thrown alongside the truth intended to teach. Parables have been called “earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.”

These verses pertains to the word that Jesus was preaching. They were directed towards the crowd. Some would hear his words and end up on the road, not believing. Some would hear and be like the shallow rocky soil. They would agree but not for long and go back to the way they were. Others would believe but end up being around their non-believing peers and give up on the teachings. The unbelieving peers were the thorns. And then there were those that accepted Christ and grew in their faith.
Mat 13:9 “He who has ears, let him hear." This small verse was a bit more complicated than I thought. How do you hear? If a professor is going to give a talk that you will be graded on you listen intently, but do you retain or believe it and put it to use in your life? There is listening where it is cursory and you retain little of what was said and a day later it is gone. Then there are those who listen to the doctor and he/she says, you need to take this pill twice a day to get rid of your illness? You listened to what he/she said and abided by it to get well. That is what Jesus is talking about. He is giving you information that needs to be retained and put to use for the good of the Kingdom and the good society. Mat 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

You are to pass on what you have learned and accepted by faith. The whole world needs Jesus so we present the gospel and depending on how they listen it may fall on fertile ground.

Agape

Dave

 

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