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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:The Parable of the Sower Bible Verse:Matthew 13:1-9 "That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” " Message:
Matthew (as we have mentioned before) tends to group his text by genre rather than by chronology. We see this again in Chapter 13, for the entirety of the chapter could be labelled Parables of Jesus. He actually stops the historical narrative in order to concentrate on a topic.
A parable is an extended narrative metaphor, which is to say, it is a long metaphor in the form of a story. Obviously, we are not intended to believe that it is factual; the sower is fictional. We have been prepared for parables by the many metaphors in Matthew previously; take, for example, “you are the salt of the earth” in Matthew 5. And a parable is simply a long metaphor, with one or more characters and some sort of plot or action.
Compare Matthew 12 and 13 to Luke 8, and the distinct approach of Matthew to his material becomes apparent. Nearly all of the content of Luke 8 can be found in Matthew, but in different sequence. In Luke, things seem more jumbled together; it seems that Luke tried to set down events more chronologically, stating things in the order in which they happened.
Luke's approach seems to be more historical, while Matthew seems to put less emphasis on historical accuracy and more emphasis on specific themes. Matthew 13 contains six parables, extensive explanations of two of them, a section where Jesus discusses the concept of the parable, a bit of prophesy about parables, and ends with the reaction of the populace to his telling of them. In effect, Matthew 13 is an essay on the Parables of Jesus.
We do not necessarily have to believe that Christ said everything in the chapter while he was sitting in a boat (although He might have), because Luke gives us a different sequence, and the accurate presentation of sequence seems to be a more important aim of Luke. This is one reason we have four gospels, instead of only one. The different styles of the authors afford us a different point of view. We might read Luke to get more of a sense of the life of Jesus, and read Matthew to get a more topical presentation of Jesus' teachings.
When we study topics, we do not concern ourselves with when Christ said these words, or where He was, or whether He was sitting or standing. We concentrate entirely on what He said and meant.
Since Jesus himself explains the parable later in the chapter, we will defer discussion of the meaning of the parable of the sower until then.
Meditation : Prayer : Walk with me, dear Lord, so that I may not be alone as I face this day, but always in your presence. Your joy is a lighthouse in a world often dark with sin, and I pray that I may reflect the light of your truth, to inspire others as I have been inspired. In the name of Christ, bless me this day, and all whom I may meet.....Amen |
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