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PARABLES 8 Leaven in three loaves This is the shortest parable of Jesus in the Bible and it occurs in Matthew Ch.13 and in Luke Ch.13. Jesus taught this after he had taught the parables of the mustard seed and the growing seed. Reading now from Matthew. Matthew 13:33 Another parable He spoke to them: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was fully (holos) leavened.’ Three measures of meal means three portions of flour made into three loaves of breadcake. The leaven is ‘hidden’ and the Greek word for hidden that Jesus uses here is (egkrypto – encrypted) and this word is not found anywhere else in the Bible. The usual word that is used for hidden in all other Scriptures is ‘krypto’. The word Krypto means something hidden but egkrypto means not only hidden but encrypted with a code, and there is a big difference between the two words. Encryption is a two-way process because encrypted information has to be decrypted by someone who has the appropriate c

GOSPEL PARABLES 7 THE GROWING SEED  The parable of the growing seed is only found in the Gospel of Mark, and it comes after the Parable of the Sower who sows seed on four different types of soil – the wayside and the rocky ground and the thorny ground and the good soil. It follows the same Kingdom theme that sets the overall framework of the seed as being the word of God and the soil being our hearts of faith. Today we are reading from the Gospel of Mark. Mark 4:26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” We see in this story that the farmer or husbandman does his work and sows the seed and then sleeps and rises day and night while the unseen seed silently grows and then emerges into sight. This is how Go

GOSPEL PARABLES 6 THE MUSTARD SEED  This parable comes after the parable of the Sower and the seed in the three Gospels of Matthew Ch.13 and Mark Ch.7 and Luke Ch.13. It follows the same Kingdom theme that sets the overall framework of the seed as being the word of God and the soil being our hearts of faith. Jesus told his disciples that if they did not understand that truth they would not understand any of the parables (Mark 4:13). Today we are reading from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 13:31 He told them another parable, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all other shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”  The birds in the mustard tree parable symbolize the Gentile Nations coming to find shelter in the kingdom of God, a theme rooted in Old Testament prophecy and fulfilled in the New Testament. There are two Old Test

PARABLE OF THE HUMAN DIVINE SPIRIT BARRIER  Today we are revisiting the last parable that we looked at where Jesus was describing the four types of soil that the Sower sowed the seed into, symbolising the four states of the human heart in receiving and understanding and acting upon God’s word to us. Seed was sown by the wayside, some on stony places, some on thorny ground and some on good soil.  The type of heart soil that spoke to me the most was ‘Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun was up they were scorched. Jesus explained that these hearts receive the Word with joy; yet they have no root in themselves but endure only for a while and because they had no root in themselves, they withered away. This speaks of our human heart needing more resilience or staying power when life gets difficult and our faith gets tested at the root level of who we are. It speaks to us about not understanding that root lev

GOSPEL PARABLES 5 THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER  We have come again to the place where the three Gospels all write about the same parable and it is about Jesus teaching the parable of the Sower. (Matthew 13:3 Mark 4:1–9 Luke 8:4). Matthew 13:2 Great multitudes had gathered to Jesus, so that He got into a boat and sat down and the whole multitude stood on the shore. Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Jesus then explains that last statement about having ears

GOSPEL PARABLES 4 THE FIG TREE The next parable that Jesus taught while he was still in Galilee is recorded in Luke Chapter twelve and it is about a fig tree that had not borne any fruit for three years and the owner of the vineyard had ordered the vinedresser to have it cut down.  Luke 13:6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilise it. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” This parable tells a different fig tree story to the other parables about fig trees that Jesus taught later in Jerusalem which were all about the signs of the times and his returning to the earth at his second coming (Matthew 24:32; Mark 13:28–31; Luke 21:2

GOSPEL PARABLES 3 BUILDING BIGGER BARNS  We have been reading in chronological order the Gospel parables that are common to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and there are also some that are only recorded in two of the three Gospels. And the next small group of parables that come in chronological order that we will do are only found in Luke. Today, we are looking at a parable in Luke 12, where Jesus teaches about a man building a bigger barn for more grain. We begin with Jesus answering a question from somebody in the large crowd.  Luke 12:16 Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”  In disputes like these, an arbitrator appointed by the synagogue would legally apportion property or wealth, and Jesus was not interested in this legal role. His mission wa

GOSPELS PARABLES 2 BUILDING ON ROCK OR SAND Matthew 7:24 Luke 6:46 The next parable that Jesus taught was about a man who either builds a house upon a rock or builds his house upon the sand. Matthew 7:24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. When we look at the final comment in that Scripture, we see that it says that the people recognised that Jesus had authority when he spoke,

GOSPEL PARABLES 1 SALT AND LIGHT  We have mentioned that there was a turning point in the public ministry of Jesus where because of his influence and miracle working power, he had become Public Enemy Number One, posing a threat to the Jewish leadership and also to the Roman Empire.  Up to this point we have been studying the major events of his ministry which was mostly in Galilee and after his baptism by John, and that period of time is believed to have taken a little over two years, up to when he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration where he was visited by Moses and Elijah. The next period of a little over one year of his public ministry involves his setting his face to go to Jerusalem to be tried by the Jewish leaders and by Pilate and be sentenced to his death upon the cross. Jesus taught a little more than forty parables over his entire ministry, with a handful being repeated in another Gospel with a different setting or time frame or emphasis. About half of the parables were taught in the two and a

GOSPELS 17 THE TRANSFIGURATION The turning point in the public ministry of Jesus where he now becomes Public Enemy Number One was the message of Jesus to the disciples about taking up the cross. He had said he was going to the cross and now that journey begins. He had become an enemy to the Jewish leaders, and many of his followers had turned away from him. His influence over his followers included people even among his close disciples who wanted him to fulfill his mysterious Kingdom statements and become a political power to rule the world - so now he was going to become a threat even to the Roman Empire, not just because of his commanding influence,  but also because of the powerful demonstration of the the undeniable miracles that astonished everybody. The Bible says in Matthew and Mark and Luke that six days after Jesus had just spoken about us taking up our cross he took his disciples up to the Mount of Transfiguration. The Apostle Peter also describes this event in his second epistle.  (2Peter 1:16–18 M

GOSPELS 16 TAKE UP YOUR CROSS  In the three Gospels of Matthew and Mark and Luke, (Matthew 16:21 Mark 8:31; Luke 9:21), after Jesus declares that he is the rock upon which he would build his church, he straightaway tells his disciples not to talk to anyone about that fact that he is the Christ, and he then says, ‘I must suffer many things at the hands of the Jewish leaders and be rejected by them and be killed, and after three days I will rise again’ (Mark 8:31).  Peter immediately takes Jesus aside and scolds him for saying a thing like that. Peter has just previously had a revelation that Jesus is the Christ and was probably feeling a little heady with all the authority that Jesus said was coming his way, along with the promise about being given keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. So Peter decides to weigh in on this plan of Jesus, which was far too negative for his liking.   To Peter’s surprise Jesus did not seem grateful for Peter’s kind-hearted advice. Jesus turned and faced all the disciples and said very st

GOSPELS 15 UPON THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, after the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus declaring Himself the Bread from heaven, Jesus and the disciples travelled to Caesarea Philippi, a Roman colony near Syria and Lebanon. This affluent, idolatrous area, devoid of Jewish crowds and synagogues, was an unusual place for Jesus to visit, but he had a purpose. It was here where Jesus asked His disciples, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"  The disciples said that people thought Jesus might be John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another resurrected prophet, indicating that the people held Jesus in high regard as sent by God, and they believed in resurrection, but they did not fully recognize him as the Messiah. Jesus then asks His disciples, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?" Peter answers, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." This contrasts with a previous moment when the other disciples also said that, when the disciples were rowing in t

GOSPELS 14 BLOOD COVENANT In Gospels 14 we will continue in the Bread narrative that we looked at in Gospels 13 in the Gospel of John and Chapter six where Jesus said that he was the Bread of Life. And just as we eat bread and take bread into ourselves to sustain and energise our natural life, we take the Spiritual life of Jesus into us by faith through the Holy Spirit, to sustain and energise our inner spiritual life together with God. This inner spiritual life was made available to humanity after Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.  Jesus continues in John Chapter six, saying he was the Bread of Life from Heaven, and the crowd fiercely resisted him and everything he was saying. John 6:41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” They could only see the natural man Jesus wh

GOSPELS 13 THE BREAD OF LIFE  Today we are continuing in the story of the feeding of the five thousand and the disciples rowing across the lake and finally arriving at the other side at Capernaum. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and John we looked at the stories of Jesus walking on the sea and we saw the different points of emphasis that the writers had about what happened when Jesus entered the boat. But in Mark’s Gospel there is another point of emphasis about getting into the boat that is not mentioned in the other Gospels, and it is about the bread that was miraculously multiplied to feed the crowd. Mark writes ‘And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves of bread, but their hearts were hardened’. (Mark 6:51) So what did they not understand about the bread and what has this to do with their hearts being hardened? The Greek word for understand here is syniemi which means putting two ideas together in the right way

GOSPELS 12 JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA  John 6 Matthew 14 Mark 6 When we come to the end of the story of the feeding of the five thousand which was included in all the four Gospels, we see that the crowd wanted to make Jesus their king… ‘Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force and make him their king, so he went higher into the mountains alone to pray’( John 6:15). And in the Gospels of John and Matthew and Mark Jesus tells his disciple to row back to another part of the seacoast of Galilee. The story goes on to tell us of the disciples rowing against the wind in a storm-tossed sea while Jesus is praying up on a mountain and Mark includes that Jesus was watching them as they rowed, He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. (Mark 6:48) The story then tells of Jesus walking upon the sea to join them in their boat for the rest of the journey, and each Gospel talks of their fear of the storm and their even greater fear when Jesus appears walking on the

GOSPELS 11 FEEDING THE FIVE THOUSAND Matthew Mark Luke and John all have the same account of the feeding of the five thousand with the five loaves and two fishes, and this account is placed early in the ministry of Jesus. Luke and Mark place the event just after Jesus had sent the twelve apostles out to preach the Kingdom of God and they had come back with a good report. Mathew Mark and Luke also place this account around the time of John the Baptist being beheaded by Herod. I will read from the Gospel of John today. John 6:1 After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. And a huge crowd, many of them foreign pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for the annual Passover celebration, were following him wherever he went, to watch him heal the sick. So when Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him, he soon saw a great multitude of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip he asked, “Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all t

GOSPELS 10 YOUR KINGDOM COME In Gospels 10 we are staying in Matthew Chapter six where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s prayer, and the parallel verses are also in Luke Chapter eleven. But even before he taught the disciples about prayer Jesus had referred to his Father four times as ‘Your Father’ in that section of Scripture, teaching what many called his ‘hard sayings’, the revolutionary teachings that puzzled those who heard them because they seemed impossible to carry out. He spoke about being perfect as ‘your Father’ is perfect and loving your enemies as ‘Your Father’ does, sending his rain on the just and the unjust. But these puzzling revolutionary statements of Jesus were not said simply for the sake of being a revolutionary. A definite theme of the nature of ‘Our Father’ was emerging that Jesus was declaring. After Jesus taught them The Lord’s prayer, the ‘Our Father’, it starts becoming very clear that the mission of Jesus was to bring about The Way for us all to live together with himself and

GOSPELS 9 FAMILY  Today I’m doing number nine in the Gospel series and I’m calling today’s word Family. I’m looking in Matthew and Luke, the two longest gospels, where Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer and then teaches them the Lord’s prayer - The ‘Our Father’ – the Father of his family in the earth. The accounts of this are in Matthew chapter six and in Luke chapter 12.  Matthew has a bit more detail, so I’ll go there.  Reading in Matthew 6:5 ‘And when you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, so that people can see them. I’m telling you, they already have their reward. But for you, when you pray, go into your room, and close your door, and pray to your Father privately; and your Father who knows every hidden thing will openly show you afterwards how he has answered you’. This kind of prayer works. Jesus had criticised the show off Pharisees for good reason because they looked good on the outside but all they had on the

GOSPELS 8 LIVING WATER  We have been going through the four Gospels attempting to put together a consistent account of the early ministry of Jesus. But some of the early chapters of John tell us things that the other Gospels do not mention, such as the wedding feast at Cana in Chapter two and today in Chapter four we will look at the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well.   John 4: 1 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They remarked openly that Jesus was ahead, which in the eyes of the people turned Jesus and John into rivals. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee and he needed to go through Samaria.  Jesus purposefully travelled through Samaria on his way back to northern Galilee from the Judean countryside which was unusual for a Jew because they did not want to mix with the Samaritans who were ancient religious adversaries – So Jews always took

GOSPELS 7 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD  We started the Gospel series where all four Gospels gave of the account of the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, being baptised by John the Baptist. Some of John the Baptist’s disciples began to follow Jesus, and after his forty days of temptation in the wilderness he regathered some of these disciples by the sea of Galilee and they followed him into greater Galilee where he chose the twelve Apostles and performed many miracles and healings before returning to his hometown in Nazareth.  But we now need to go back to the first section of Chapter one of John’s Gospel and fill a gap which contains something that is unique to John’s Gospel. It is the magnificent account of the creation of all things in the Universe through Jesus the Word – Logos – of God. Jesus as the Logos is the eternal creative articulation of the will of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the eternal supernatural activity that acts upon that creative Word of Jesus in every situation. That is what ha