Lessons from Matthew 13: Consequences

Have you ever tried to teach someone something or show them how to do something and you can see that they are just not getting it? So you try to come to them with a different approach, hoping to help them see the subject matter more clearly?

Well, after much teaching and preaching and physical evidence that Jesus was truly the Messiah, the majority still refused to accept and believe who He was. Only a small minority had followed His call and chosen to place their faith in Him. A few trusted the fact that Jesus was indeed the Promised Messiah of Genesis 3:15.

Yet the crowds continued to gather. But they were coming for a multitude of reasons. Some came in order to receive His healing either for themselves or for their loved ones, while others came just to witness His miracles.

Others, like the religious leaders, came while silently plotting to kill Him.

So there came a change in Jesus’s approach to teaching and preaching in Matthew 13.

Chapter 13 is a 2-part lesson of what we believe to be a day’s worth of teachings. It was a message given while Jesus sat out on the lake. We could call this message the Sermon on the Sea. In it we find 7 parables Jesus used to illustrate a heavenly truth with an earthly example.

Since so few chose to believe who He was and accept His words, Jesus began to speak in parables. This was to try and reach the lost people of Israel and others who might believe.

The first division for these lessons is found in Matthew 13:1-9, the Parable of the Sower. The second is the purpose and explanation of the parable, found in verses 10-23. And last, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.

Jesus’s aim in all of these was to teach the truth that there are consequences to one’s response to God’s Word, both now and for eternity.

I’d be honored if you joined me in the coming weeks as we study, explore and challenge ourselves with the readings from Matthew chapter 13.

Terri Hamman

Faith & Fitness Coach