THE GOSPELS: LESSON 37:

JESUS TEACHES IN PARABLES, PART ONE

TEXT: MATT. 13: 1 - 23; MARK 4: 1 - 20; LUKE 8: 4 - 15

WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON THE ACCOUNT IN MATTHEW.

MATTHEW 13: 1, 2. JESUS TEACHES THE MULTITUDES.

Verse 1: “That same day. . .” The same day that Jesus had healed the demoniac and argued with the Pharisees about blasphemy, as we saw in Matthew 12. Why would Jesus leave the house and sit down beside the sea?

Verses 2: "And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there . . ." The pressing of the crowds upon Jesus was a source of constant stress. To avoid their continual “pawing” at him, he gets in a boat while the crowds remained on the beach.

MATTHEW 13: 3 - 9. THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER.

WHAT IS A PARABLE?

          A parable is “an earthly story with a spiritual message.” Unlike the fable (which Jesus never used) the parable uses real-life people and situations to illustrate a moral or spiritual teaching. Fables did the same thing (basically) using unreal and outlandish things, like talking animals, etc. There are only two fables in the Bible: Jotham’s fable of the talking trees in Judges 9: 7 - 15 and Jehoash’s fable of the thistle and the cedar in II Kings 14: 9.

          A parable could be long, like the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10: 30 - 37), or very short, like the parable of the leaven in Matt. 13: 33. Parables are not allegories, so not every point of a parable must have an exact correlation in the interpretation. The larger message of the parable should be understood, without the parable being reduced to a sort of spiritual equation where each element of the parable MUST have a correspondent in the spiritual meaning of the parable.

Verses 3: He told them MANY things in parables. NOT all things, but many things.

“A sower went out to sow.” Thus begins one of the most well-known of Jesus’ parables. Sower - a planter of seeds. Sow - to plant the seed. In this case the seed is some type of grain (verse 8). The sower merely cast the seeds upon the ground, and did not bury them. This is how grains like wheat, barley, or oats were sown.

Verse 4: “ . . . some seeds fell along the path . . .” The sower did not intentionally plant seeds on the hardened ground of the pathway, but as he cast the seeds, some fell there. The seeds on the path were eaten by the birds.

Verses 5, 6: “Other seeds fell on rocky ground . . .” Again, the sower did not intentionally cast the seeds on the rocky ground but some fell there. Since they had not depth of soil, theses seeds sprouted quickly. When the sun came out those sprouts withered away, since their roots were not protected by the soil.

Verse 7: “Other seeds fell upon thorns . . .” In other words they fell upon ground full of spouting thorns. These weeds grew up and choked out the young grain sprouts.

Verse 8: “Other seeds fell on good soil . . .” In the good soil the seeds grew and produced 30, 60, or 100 new grains for every one grain that had been planted. Why the difference in their production? Every seed does not have the same genetic potential, nor are the conditions in which they grow the same. Both nature and nurture play a part here. The important thing is not how much they produce, but that they produce something.

Verse 9: “He who has ears, let him hear.” This is the same conclusion used after each admonition to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3. It basically means two things: 1) you must be wise (have some measure of spiritual discernment) to understand the true meaning of the parable, and 2) listen in the sense of how you might then apply the meaning to your life; I.E. heed the message of the parable.

VERSES 10 - 17: WHY JESUS SPOKE TO THE PEOPLE IN PARABLES.

Verse 10: “Why do you speak to them in parables?” Then disciples had been used to Jesus speaking in plain sentences, now he had gone all mysterious on them. Why the change? As Mark 4: 10 makes clear, these disciples of Jesus did not confront him as he was speaking to the multitudes, but came to him privately with these questions. It was NOT the apostles who asked this question.

Verses 11 - 15: Jesus’ answer to his disciples is a long one. Let’s analyze it in stages.

FIRST (verse 11) – He taught in parables so his disciples would understand the secrets of the kingdom of God, while the average irreligious Jews could not understand. Certainly they would not accept even if they did understand. Jesus did not waste his limited time trying to teach people who refused to understand.

SECOND (verse 12) – Because those disciples believed in Jesus and therefore had some spiritual understanding, they deserved more. The wicked scribes and Pharisees did not deserve such courtesy.

THIRD (verses 13 - 15) – Because as Isaiah prophesied about the hard-hearted and unrepentant scribes and Pharisees, their eyes and hearts had closed and so they WOULD NOT hear and understand the truth. As circumstances were to prove, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees would never repent and believe in Jesus, even though he cast out demons, raised the dead, and he himself raised from the grave and ascended to heaven.

Verses 16, 17: Jesus reminded those disciples how blessed they were, for they were witnesses to the coming of the Messiah, a thing which every holy man since the time of Moses had desired to see.

MATTHEW 13: 18 - 23. JESUS EXPLAINS THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER TO HIS DISCIPLES.

Verse 18: “Hear then the parable of the sower.” In other words, “Pay attention. I will explain the parable of the sower to you.” We will look at the interpretation in the context of Christian teaching.

Verse 19: THE MEANING OF THE SEEDS FALLING ON THE PATH: The seed is the word of the kingdom – the gospel message. The message sometimes falls on unspiritual hearts which will not understand it. Those people have the message taken from them by the working of Satan even before they have time to really believe.

Verses 20, 21: THE MEANING OF THE SEEDS FALLING ON THE ROCKY SOIL: This hearer receives the gospel message with joy, but has no depth of conviction. He (or she) becomes a Christian for a while, but as soon as strife over his beliefs comes, he falls away. The Greek word skandalizo which is translated “fall away” is also sometimes translated “offended.”(As in Romans 14: 21.) It means “to entice to sin.” In other words, such people go back to their sinful way of life, which they find much less confrontational than being a Christian.

Verse 22: THE MEANING OF THE SEEDS FALLING AMONG THE THORNS: This hearer receives the gospel message, but worldly things – cares for worldly things and the love of money – stunts his Christian growth. Are such hearers Christians? I don’t know, but if they are, they are “Christians” who have no time to work for God, and therefore produce no fruit for him. Look at the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 and see what happens to the servant who makes no increase for his master (verse 30): he is cast into hell!

Verse 23: THE MEANING OF THE SEEDS FALLING ON THE GOOD SOIL: These people hear the gospel, understand it, and then do work for God. Not all do the same amount of work but all gladly work. True Christians, indeed!

          This parable is important for it makes us think about how we received the gospel and how we are working in the kingdom of God. The four types of people who hear the gospel are:

Hard-ground hearers – unspiritual people who hear the gospel but will never respond to it.

Rocky-ground hearers – people who are quick to hear and respond, but soon fall away because they never develop any depth of faith. We have seen many of theses people in the church. How many of the people who have been baptized in the last year, for instance, ever assemble with us or do any work for God?

Thorny-ground hearers – people who respond to the gospel but eventually fall away, because “being a Christian is just too hard.” We have seen many of theses over the years. Many of these people end up in the denominations, where it is “easier and more fun” to be a Christian.

Good soil hearers – Thank God that some people hear, believe and actually understand that they need to do some work for God! These are the people who keep the church alive and growing. These are the people who will live forever with God some day.

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