Life is a story. Moses said, “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” Perhaps that is why people around the world love to hear a good story – in some way, we can all identify. We weep at tragedies, laugh at comedies, and thrill at adventures. The ancients passed along truth through…
The Parable of the Moneylender, also called the Parable of the Moneylender and Two Debtors or The Parable of the Moneylender who Forgives Unequal Debts, is found in Luke 7. The parable is short, on…
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins one of Jesus’s parables of the kingdom of heaven. There are a few symbols to look at here. In this article, we are looking at one section at a time and c…
Kanye was recently recorded saying he has a problem with Jesus because he prayed about some issues he’d experienced and Jesus did not show up
Eliezer Gonzalez
Jesus spoke differently to the crowds who came to hear him publicly than to his disciples in private. With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. Jesus is kind to us, and he leads us like a good earthly father leads his little children. He takes us by the hand and leads us patiently and gently. When Jesus taught people, he only ever told them what they could understand. He knew that his disciples could understand more than the rest, so he explained the parables to them clearly, and spoke as plainly as he could.
Eliezer Gonzalez
Jesus taught using a series of parables from the world of farming: a world his listeners knew well. He uses the mustard seed as a symbol of the kingdom of God. Again, the sower is Jesus himself. In this story, he is sowing something that seems small and insignificant: mustard seeds. The mustard seed was one of the smallest seeds known to people back then. Even though the mustard seed is tiny, when it grows, it becomes a tall shrub that provides shelter for the birds.
30 But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole n…
Eliezer Gonzalez
Now Jesus tells a parable about how the kingdom of God grows. It’s an important one with a beautiful lesson for us. The seed is the Word of God, and the man who scatters seed on the soil is Jesus. We’ve seen previously that we are the soil on which Jesus scatters his Word, and of course, we want to be the good soil. The Word of God is powerful in and of itself. That’s why, once the seed has been scattered, it grows and develops by itself. The first lesson of this parable is this “all by itself” principle: that if we let God do his work in our lives, there’s no need for us to do the work. If we are the willing “the good soil,” then God’s work in our lives will happen “all by itself.”
Eliezer Gonzalez
The disciples have been thinking that the parables of Jesus are too mysterious: too hard to understand. But now Jesus tells them that’s not the way it is at all. Jesus explained the Parable of the Sower, but his disciples didn’t understand the meaning of this, or his other parables. Here, Jesus tells them that his parables are actually meant to shine a light on things that are hard to understand. Jesus says that his teachings are like a lamp that needs to be lifted up high, so its light might shine everywhere and illuminate every dark corner.
Eliezer Gonzalez
The disciples did not understand the Parable of the Sower, so here Jesus explains it. This parable is about different soils. The different soils represent different kinds of people, and how they receive the word: The Good News about Jesus. The seed is always the same, but the soils are different. Some soils are unproductive, while other soils help the seed produce a good crop. Jesus’ story is true to real life. Some people won’t hear the word at all. Some people receive the word with enthusiasm, but it doesn’t last. Many people allow the things of this life to choke the things of the Spirit in their lives.
Eliezer Gonzalez
Many people have wondered why Jesus taught so much in parables. Here Jesus himself gives us the answer. What Jesus said has caused many people to wonder. Was Jesus really saying that he intentionally didn’t want people to understand, to prevent them from repenting and being forgiven? Not at all. 2 Peter 3:9 says that God wants everyone to repent. John 3:16 says is that salvation is for “whoever believes,” and Revelation 22:17 says, “let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
Eliezer Gonzalez
Jesus teaches by the lake, but there are so many people that he gets on a boat near the shore so everyone can see and hear him. Jesus tells the people an important parable: a story with a spiritual lesson. Jesus taught a lot in parables, using stories and scenes from the people’s everyday lives to illustrate spiritual truths. Perhaps as Jesus told this story by the lake, the people could see a farmer sowing seed in the distance. In this parable, Jesus talks about different kinds of soils. Some soils produce nothing at all. Other soils produce a little. And still other soils produce large amounts of crop, multiplying the farmer’s investment many times over, even up to a hundred times. Sometimes Jesus explained his parables, and other times he didn’t.
Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been … Continue reading "On Forgiveness: The Broken Vase Parable"
By Elizabeth Prata Darnel, NOT wheat. Source: Yesterday I wrote about how the ancients winnowed and threshed. Now here is the Parable of the Weeds (Tares) “He put another parable before them,…
In Luke 16, Jesus emphasized the importance of God's law and the preaching of the gospel. Right after that, He told a story of two men, one called Lazarus and t
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) If…
In times of pain—before the Lord has healed an illness or restored a relationship—it can be tempting to focus on what hasn’t happened or get trapped in an endless cycle of questions.
Check out the So We Speak podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ And the manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, an…
God is waiting for you. Eager for your return. But it has to be your choice. And you must do so in humility and with a repentant heart. When you do, he will rush to meet you. And there will be a heavenly celebration.
Three parables Jesus taught about lost and found are recorded in Luke 15 and about a lost coin, lost sheep and lost son.