Two more parables

Today we are going to look at two parables from nature.

Mathew 13:1-23

The parable of the sower

Have you ever thought of the parables as frightening?

When jesus is asked why he spoke in parables he says it is because in seeing and hearing they will not see or hear and understand

However to the disciples these things are revealed to them and they are told plainly what the meaning is.

The parable of the sower more than implies that many will hear the word of God and apparently respond to it but the roots are not deep.  That would mean that many of the large crowd would not have comprehended what he said.  We know it was a large crowd because the passage says so, he got into a boat to speak to them.

He warns that to those who have, more will be given ( what a blessing)

To those who have not, even what they have will be taken away ( what a curse and a warning)

Jesus says the people hearts are caloused.  This was Jesus talking to them, not you or me, It was jesus pleading with them, yet he says their hearts were caloused

The disciples some of whom were fishermen would have understood this image from caloused hands from handling fishing nets.  Their hands would have had hard skin and he himself probably had hard skin from doing carpentery.

The people were not able to see that in their midst the prophecy of Isaiah was being fulfilled

We find the prophecy in Isaiah 6:9-10

He then explains the parable

The seed sown along the path, is when one hears the word of God and the devil snatches it away ( they do not understand)

The seed in the rocky ground is one who receives the word with joy but the roots are not deep.  When trouble or persection comes, he lasts only a short time

The seed among the thorns is one who hears the word, but it is choked because of worries of this life and wealth choke it

The seed that fell on good ground and produced crop is the man who hears the word and understands it and endures and he goes on to bear much fruit.

I am sorry to say, that there are people I once knew, who once walked with lord. People I looked up to and admired, but you will not find them worshipping the lord today. 

This has stood as a warning to me.  I do not want to be like them, but at the time when they walked with the lord, I did.

Pehaps you to, have known people that you admired and loved, but who also no longer walk with the lord.

The parable of the fig tree luke 13 1-15

Those of you who were present last time Diz led devotions, will recall that he described a fig tree as very large and it bears fruit for about 10 months of the year.

Lets consider the circumstances in which Jesus told this parable.  Some people told Jesus about the Galilleans, whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrafices.  This would have been an anathema

In fact jesus speaks not against pilate or the romans, bu against them

He poses a question “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other galileans because they suffered this way?

I conclude from the fact that Jesus started by putting this question that those who told the story thought that the Galileans who suffered this way were worse sinners than Galileans who did not.

I think that if we are being honest with ourselves, we all judge others and think that some people are worse sinners than others.  Surely God will punish them severely, but not us as we are not as bad as them.

This is not the truth

Jesus turns it upon those speaking to him and says “Unless you repent, you to will perish”

He then tells the story of the fig tree.  I remind you that Diz told us that a fig tree bears fruit for 10 months of the year, to it is reasonable to suppose that the man looked at it when he would have expected it to be full of fruit.  Not only did it not bear fruit, it had not born fruit for three years.  Therefore he had lost 30 months of fruit.

He spoke to the man who tended the vineyard and told him to cut it down

The man says sir, leave it for one more year and I will dig round it and fertilise it and then see if it bears fruit, it not then Cut it down.

The parable is left open ended. The story has yet to be finished. 

Did it bear fruit or not?

I think the story is left without a conclusion, because the story is still being told.  It was up to the hearers of the parable to respond by repenting of sin.  We are not told if they did or not, and likewise in our own time, we still need to repent and as long as there are still sinners who need to repent, and lord has not returned, so the story still goes on

We have to finish the story, HOW are you doing in your part, finishing the story?