Bible Study on Matthew 13, verses 1 to 23, Jesus speaks in parables

 

Matthew 13:1 ¶  The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 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 spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4  And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, 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 an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. 10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest 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 saith, 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 any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side. 20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23  But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

 

I am not going to expound on these parables much here but to make a few comments on each passage. I will save a more detailed exposition for another time. This is a curious passage. Jesus gives parables to the multitudes who cannot understand them. He explains the parables to his Apostles. The reasoning for doing this is based in Isaiah.

 

Isaiah 6:9 ¶  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

 

This should give us pause. There are clearly things stated in the Bible that we should understand but don’t because of our spiritual state. Perhaps this gives us a clue to difficult prophecies. It is our sorry spiritual state that keeps us from understanding and allows unscrupulous preachers to fill our heads with their own agenda.

 

The words of God in this parable have different effects based on the spiritual state of the people it falls upon. Christ makes it plain that this is so, so this is not a contradiction of the following verse from the Old Testament;

 

Isaiah 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

 

The verse in Isaiah is not about passing out gospel tracts and Jesus makes it clear here that the words of God have little effect on certain types of people.

 

But in the end it is made apparent that the word of God does bear fruit in people who hear it and understand it, having their hearts prepared. God has dealt varying measures of faith to different people as shown in the following;

 

Romans 12:3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

 

We are not robots and we are all different. But with a heart that seeks God’s truth we can all be blessed by His words.