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Day 31 Matthew 13:1-23 Matthew 13:1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3 And he spoke many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speak thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which said, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and understands it not, then comes the wicked one, and catches away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the wayside. 20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and anon with joy receives it; 21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but endures for a while: for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that hears the word, and understands it; which also bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Everyone likes a good story. When they read one, they tell others what they’ve read, so they will go out and read it for themselves. Parables are earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Jesus taught the people using parables or stories so they would know about the kingdom of God. His first parable was about a sower who sowed seed into the ground, but some seed was scattered on hard ground, such as the path a person walks on. Some on stony ground. Some among thorns, and some on good ground. Jesus explained the parable to his disciples showing that the sower was Jesus. The seed he sowed is God’s Word. However, people will either receive – hear, what he said, and accept it and live by it, or they will harden their hearts against what he taught them, so that they heard, but didn’t take it to heart to understand. There were those who liked what he had to say, and wanted to live by his words, but it was too hard to do so, especially when it came to loving their enemies. It was hard to love the Romans who occupied their land. So, for them, it was a good story, and nothing more. There were those who wanted to do what Jesus said, but found it hard to do so when the world encroached on them. Some simply refused to listen to what he said, thinking he was just giving a nice speech, but nothing would come of it. Then there were those who understood what Jesus told them, and went out and lived by his words, and found the love of Jesus welling up in their lives. As Christians, you know those types of people are in the world today. They are the scoffers and mockers who refuse to acknowledge that what Jesus taught the people would help them and not hinder them in their relations with other people. You also see people who willingly go to church, seem happy with the message, but then you don’t see them, and find the problems of life have eaten away at what they heard, so they turned away. You know Satan will do all he can to snatch the Word away from people, so that no matter what they hear, they won’t believe. However, there are those who refuse to allow Satan to take away the Word from their hearts, and they turn their lives over completely to Jesus as Savior and Lord, and determine to live for him, no matter what Satan throws their way. Those are the people who have a smile on their face, and always have a word of encouragement on their lips. You like being around them, even if you don’t believe all your problems can be fixed by believing in Jesus. What kind of person are you? Do the cares of this world choke you, so you don’t know where to turn, or have you embraced Jesus as Savior and Lord, believing him, no matter what troubles you have? Let’s pray: Father, life is not without trouble. Help me see the trouble as from the one who gave it and turn to you to see me through the trouble, casting Satan from my life, and living for you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 20 May 2018 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay