We will be in Matthew this Sunday, but it may feel a little out of order.  You see, we’re largely following the chronology of the Gospel of Luke, so whenever the text is from one of the other gospels, it may seem like we’re skipping a lot.  And that’s because each gospel writer has a different audience and a different focus, so they organize the stories differently, in a way that’s more understandable to their intended audience.  But not to worry, we’re still going to hit all the high points in the life of Christ.

However, in order to fit this series, Walking with Jesus: A Year with the Savior. in a year, we’re skipping about half of the stories found in all four gospels.  For example, we’re not going to look at each and every parable, but some of the ones that seemed to be most central to Jesus’ ministry.  And we find one of those in Matthew 13:1-23 and The Parable of the Sower.

The whole of Matthew 13 deals with the parables of Christ ­ seven parables in this chapter.  This is the most concentrated section of parables anywhere in the Gospels.  Jesus calls the messages contained in these parables, “the mysteries of the kingdom.”  And mystery is right, because the people don’t seem to fully understand them, and He only explains them to the disciples.  Why teach something that people have a hard time understanding? (I know, some of you are asking that question of me regularly).

Well, that’s what we’ll be looking at this week (Jesus’ teaching, not mine).  What are the parables?  Why does Jesus use them so often?  And what are we supposed to learn from them?  All good questions, the answers should be interesting, see you there, Dr. Dave