Difference between revisions of "Sermon for April 16th, 2017"

Revision as of 16:28, 14 April 2017

Luke 8:1-15

1 Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2 as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

4 When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. 7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8 Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

9 Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’

11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14 As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.

Small Stories, Big Ideas: Parable of the Sower

In churches across the world today, countless sermons are being preached on the classic Easter Sunday text: The resurrection of Jesus, found in all four gospels. Unless today is the very first time you've stepped into a church, I suspect you've probably heard that message many, many times. And it's a good one--one we will undoubtedly return to in years to come.

But this year, and for the next five weeks, instead of preaching about the resurrection of Jesus, I'd like to resurrect some of Jesus' most important teachings about the Kingdom of God--the teachings known as parables.

What are parables? As the title of this sermon series suggests, they are some pretty small stories which contain some pretty big ideas. The word "parable" comes from the Greek word παραβολή (parabolay). παρα is a preposition that means "next to" (cf parachute, parasite paramour) and βάλλω is a verb that means, perhaps surprisingly "to throw." So a parable is literally to throw something near or next to something else. In this case, it's to throw a story near or next to--but not precisely at--it's actual meaning. A parable is a parallel, an extended analogy, or a story where something fictional represents something real.

Parables are associated with Jesus more than any other historical figure, and they were certainly his favorite method of teaching. But Jesus didn't invent the parable. In fact, one of my favorite parables is an ancient Jewish parable whose purpose is to explain parables themselves! It goes something like this: