Good Morning! Today we will begin our study of Matthew 13:1-9. The group stood on the shore of the Sea of Galilee on a spring morning. The bus was up by the road, and they had walked down, to where the lake was glistening in the sunshine. It was peaceful and still. The ground slopes up steeply from the lakeshore, curving sharply around a narrow inlet. There are several such inlets along the shore just to the west of Capernaum. Their guide knew what he was doing. He had already asked a local fisherman to bring a small boat. Leaving the group on shore, he got in the boat, and they pushed off and rowed out to the middle of the inlet. Then he stood up in the boat, and in a clear voice, without needing to shout, he read to them this story, the parable of the sower. They were amazed. His voice came to them across the water, clear and crisp in the morning air. The steep banks of the inlet acted like a well-designed theatre with perfect acoustics. They stood there listening, imagining a crowd many times larger than themselves listening to another voice from another boat 2,000 years before. Jesus had discovered a perfect way to speak to several hundred at once, and to have them all hear what he was saying. Jesus is not the only one who k new what he was doing. Matthew, in collecting together the parables which form this long chapter, has put them more or less at the center of his whole gospel. Chapter 3 is the third of the five discourses which make up the book (Matthew 5-7, 10, 13, 18 and 23--25). These stories draw together all that has been going on so far in the gospel story, and point ahead to what is still to come. In particular, several of the parables look ahead to the warnings of a great coming judgment, in which God will establish the kingdom once and for all by rooting out all wickedness. God willing, we will continue with this part of our study tomorrow. May he bless you in wonderful ways, and may he surround you with his grace and peace throughout this day!
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:07:42 +0000
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