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Wednesday 12 October 2011

Day 286: The parables of Jesus

As well as long sermons, Jesus popularised the parable. No one is as good as he is at choosing a short, meaningful story that will lodge in your mind and reveal something important.
Jesus’ mother and brothers
Matthew 123:46-50, Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21
The parable of the sower
Matthew 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9, Luke 8:4-8
The purpose of the parables
Matthew 13:10-17, Mark 4:10-12, Luke 8:9-10
The explanation
Matthew 13:18-23, Mark 4:13-20, Luke 8:11-15
A lamp under a bowl
Mark 4:21-25, Luke 8:16-18
The growing seed
Mark 4:26-29
The parable of the weeds
Matthew 13:24-30

The gospel writers suggest that once there were crowds of people following Jesus, he started to use parables in his teaching. These little stories work on all sorts of levels, and are perfect for people with all levels of understanding and interest. Not everybody will get to appreciate the “true meaning” of them.
The idea of a seed us one of Jesus’ most popular choices for the theme of a parable. It’s small, insignificant and unregarded, but from it amazing things can grow. It’s the perfect one for Matthew Mark and Luke to start with as well - because parables are like seeds, they drop into our lives quietly, almost unnoticed, and gradually start bearing their life-changing fruit.

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