Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 13-14.

Usually when I look at the Parable of the Sower, or hear someone preach about it, the focus is on what kind of soil the seed falls upon.  However, today I want to look at the one who scattered the seed.  Jesus tells us that the parable is about those who hear the message about the kingdom of God.  Here’s what I noticed about the one spreading the message about the kingdom of God: they did not concern themselves with what type of soil they spread the seed on.  Which brings me to the Parable of the weeds.  There Jesus tells us that weeds were mixed in among the wheat and that the servants asked the farmer whether they should pull the weeds.  The farmer told them not to pull the weeds because they might uproot some of the wheat in the process.  I think this emphasizes the lesson I wrote about the previous parable.  It is not up to us to decide to whom to spread the message about the kingdom of God.  It is not our job to decide if someone is packed down ground, or rocky ground, or thorny ground.  We should assume that everyone to whom we have the opportunity to preach God’s word will be good soil.

I was tempted to stop there, but the message from the Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Yeast have a message which fits with that one.  Mustard seeds are very small, but grow into large plants.  Yeast is even smaller, yet a small amount of yeast can transform a large amount of dough completely.  So, just as we are not to worry about whether or not our “audience” will be receptive to the message of God’s kingdom, we should not worry about whether we are “big” enough, or strong enough, to accomplish the mission to which we feel called.  We should just do what the Spirit leads us to do and leave the results to Him.

Speaking of leaving the results to Him, this passage ends with the story of Jesus walking on the water.  We always talk about it as Jesus walking on the water, but the real point of the story is Peter.  Peter had enough faith to get out of the water and start walking towards Jesus, but then he looked around and got scared.  Which brings us to the first lesson of this story: when Peter took his focus off of going to Jesus, he began to falter.  However, that isn’t the end of it.  When he faltered and began to sink beneath the water, he called out to Jesus to save him.  Jesus did so.  So, when we inevitably allow ourselves to become distracted from God and begin to falter. we know that Jesus will be there to reach out a hand and catch us.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.