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NASB | Matthew 13:1 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting beside the sea [of Galilee]. [Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15] |
Subject: Purpose of the parables? |
Bible Note: i pray you all can forgive me as i 1) switch to a different track and 2) take you out on a little bit of a limb. i believe the bible gives us much information and then we are supposed to ask questions and possibly come up with our own ideas hoping the Holy Spirit will guide us in truth. Here is my theory on the subject: we need to consider how many people were included in the story and what their part and significance was. firstly there was the Rabbi. He was there to teach and for many more reasons obvious to us that were not yet realized by the crowds surrounding Jesus. Then there was the multitude: they caught a glimmer of something interesting and decided to follow. There were undoubtedly some believers in the crowd for whom it had not yet "clicked." It seems to me that these were largely part of a group Jesus frequently used as well as God in the old testament when He referred to us as a sick and perverse generation (the idea was they were self centered and followed God/Jesus around seeking the next thrill but never truly bought into His godship lest they would have obeyed. Hebrews hits this idea on the head when it states Israel didn't enter the Promise land because they did not have faith (unbelief)). We can then see the obvious disciples following Jesus around everywhere He went. These are the people that gave up their lives, left behind their nets. Though, at first they did not realize the extent to which they would follow, Jesus had known it would be to the death. Usually those parties people don't miss. But it seems to me that Jesus may have been smiling or even winking at the person that is reading the scripture (who would understand this point). I believe the vast majority of this scene was for our benefit and ours alone. This seems to be the paraphrased question here: "Are you going to forever follow me around with your selfish wants (after all, once the benefits stopped, the crowd left) or are you all going to be like these disciples? Only a disciple (someone who sat at Jesus' feet or had their feet washed by Him) could ever truly understand what the Master had been doing and discern His will for their lives. I strongly believe this is why Jesus' last words to His followers was to go and make DISCIPLES of all nations. Only the disciples had the "till death do us part" mentality that Jesus stated made up His church (bride). Whaddya think? |