Parables

He taught them many things in parables and this is one:

"A man went out to the field to sow grain. Some fell by the roadside and it was trampled by the traffic and the birds ate some. Some grain fell on rocky ground and quickly sprouted but there was no room or moisture for the roots so it quickly withered. Some fell where there were brambles and other weeds and were soon choked out. Some fell on good ground and grew well and produced heads with thirty, sixty and even a hundred grains. Anyone who has ears, let him hear!"

"When someone lights a lamp they don't put a basket over it or put it under a bed. No, they put it on a lamp stand so that everyone in the room can see the light. There is nothing that people try to conceal and keep hidden that will not be revealed. There is no secret thing that will not be brought to light.

"Pay attention to what you hear; by whatever standard you judge, you will be judged by that standard."

Then He told them more parables. "The Kingdom of God is like a man who has sowed his field with good grain but in the night his enemy comes and sows tares in the field with the wheat. Later when the wheat was growing the man's servants noticed the tares in the field. They said, 'Didn't you sow good wheat, where did these tares come from?' He told them it was an enemy who sowed them. 'Do you want us to root them out?' they asked. 'No, for you might harm the good wheat - wait till the harvest, then we'll go through the fields and gather the tares first and burn it, then we'll gather the wheat.'

"Another lesson from the sowing of grain: a man sows seed and goes about his business; the grain sprouts and grows but the man doesn't know how. You can also compare the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed; it is one of the smallest seeds, but it grows to be a large plant, so big that birds can roost in its branches. It's also like leaven - when a small amount is put into a large lump of dough the whole lump rises."

Later when He was alone with His disciples, including the twelve, they asked Him, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"

Most people think Jesus taught the people in parables to make it easier for them to understand, but that's just the opposite of what He told the disciples. He didn't tell the people what the parable meant; he only told the disciples. Here is what He said:

"You have been given the privilege of understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but no one else has that privilege. Whoever has understanding will be given even greater understanding. But those who don't have understanding, even what they think they have will be taken away. That's why I speak to them in parables; looking they do not see and listening they do not hear or understand.

"This fulfills Isaiah's prophesy: 'In listening you shall hear, and in no way understand; and observing you shall see, and in no way comprehend.'

"The hearts of the people have become corrupt, their ears hardly hear and they have closed their eyes. They can't see or hear or understand, if they could they would be converted, their sins forgiven and I would heal them.

"But you are blessed; you can see and hear and understand. Many of the prophets and other righteous men have greatly desired to see what you are seeing and hear what you are hearing but they didn't get to."

They also asked Him what the meaning of the parable was; for they didn't understand any better than the rest of the people.

So he said to them, "Don't you understand the parable either? Then how are you going to understand all the other parables? This is the meaning:

"The man who sows, sows the words of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. The seed that falls on the roadside and is eaten by birds represents those who hear the words but Satan immediately comes and takes them away. The seed that falls on rocky ground represents those who hear the words with joy but they have no depth of character and when trials or persecution come they quickly repudiate what they learned.

"The seed that falls among the thorns and weeds represents those who hear and grow in the truth but when the cares of the world or riches come into their lives they return to their old ways. But the seeds that fell on good ground represent those who hear the words and live by them and produce fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times and even some a hundred times."

"What about the tares?" they asked.

"The man who sows the good seed is the Son of Man and the field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the Kingdom but the tares are the sons of Satan. The harvest is at the end of the age - the Son of Man will send out His angels to gather all those who live and practice lawlessness and sin by breaking God's Laws. They shall be gathered and cast into the lake of fire with weeping and fury. Then the righteous good seed will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of God. Anyone with ears, let him hear." Then He said to them, "The Kingdom of God is like a treasure a man found buried in a field. The man covers the treasure again and sells everything he has and buys the field. It is like a man who deals in fine pearls who finds one exceptional valuable pearl and sells all his other pearls to buy the one.

"The Kingdom of God is also like a net that brought up all kinds of fish and other sea creatures. When the fishermen got it to shore the put the good fish into containers but threw away the worthless. So will it be at the end of the age; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous."

Life of Christ Part Seventeen - A Storm and Demons

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