Matthew 5:1-12
Sermon on the Mount
1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them.
The Beatitudes
He said:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 13:1-23
Jesus Speaks in Parables
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
St. Matthew writes of Jesus' interesting and direct and His Great Sermon on the Mount...And a few chapters later Matthew writes about Jesus teaching in parables...The Sermon on the Mount is direct and effective...And then Jesus seems to change His teaching style and go to a parable indirect oriented teaching style...His Disciples seem to see the style change and ask, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”...The parable makes us think...His parables have layers of teaching to it...They make us not only think in a deeper way, and they make us pause and reflect...And they make us think of what lesson did He want us/me to learn in this parable...
And in an odd way, Jesus using parables could wind up dividing people...Different people could have different answers and teachings...And this is despite, Jesus gave everyone the same teaching or the same seed...Each listener would hear Jesus and interpret His parable around his thoughts, his own life, and in his own personal belief system...With the Disciples always at His side, these parables could be answered by Him...Whereas the crowds and the others did not have this one hundred percent assess to Him...So one listener might leave with one interpretation and another listener might leave His teaching with a different interpretation of the same parable...Also, the parable could put a commitment on the listener...Those who wanted to know more about the Kingdom of Heaven, and maybe those who did not understand the meaning of the parable, would need to listen to Him more and more to become a follower...These people could become more rooted in their faith...Some might just drop off after listening to Him, if that is all they wanted to hear (and these people would only have a shallow and short faith)...Those who know the importance of salvation would want to know as much as they could about Jesus as He walked around and taught...And there would be those, who thought or knew He was from God and above...So these groups would want to understand what He meant, when He spoke (if they had trouble understanding Him)...These people by staying and learning and better understanding Him would have a more mature faith, and could withstand the full catastrophes of life...Their faith roots were the deepest...They believed in Jesus and trusted Him...
So He could explain these parables to the Twelve...And He did so like this...“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart...This is the seed sown along the path...The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy...But since they have no root, they last only a short time...When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away...The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful...But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it...This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”...
So Jesus parables could be interpreted in different ways...And in this respect, if one wanted to know and believe in Jesus, it was a great advantage to be Disciple...The Disciples got to hear Jesus' exact meaning to parables, while others did not...So it took effort to learn about Jesus' meaning of the parable, and this showed a commitment to Him and His teachings by the extra effort of learning more and more about what He said in His parables...Jesus told His Disciples, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them...Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance...Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them...This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand...In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving...For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes...Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’...But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear...For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."...