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“How can I explain what the kingdom of God is like? What can I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed sown in the ground. It is smaller than any other seed, but when grown, it is a huge tree, taller than any vegetable. It becomes a tree big enough for birds to make nests in its large branches.”
MT 13:31-32, MK 4:30-32, LK 13:18-19
Jesus offered his listeners another parable. “The kingdom of heaven may be thought of as being like a farmer who sowed good wheat seed in his field. One night while he slept his enemy came and planted weeds in amongst the good wheat seed. Later the plants sprouted. The wheat and weeds had grown up together.
The man’s servants asked him ‘Didn’t you only sow wheat here? Then why are there weeds?’
‘This was done by an enemy!’ he said.
His servants asked him ‘Do you want us to pull out the weeds?’
‘No’ he said. ‘You might accidentally uproot the good wheat at the same time. Let them both grow together until harvest time. Then I will tell the reapers to sort out the weeds, tie them in bundles, and burn them, but put the wheat in the barn.'”
MT 13:24-30
Jesus said “Do you not understand this parable? Then how are you going to be able to understand any of them? The seed is the word of God. The sower is the one who shares it with others. The people along the path are those who have heard the message about the kingdom and don’t understand it. Satan has snatched away the words that were sown in their hearts so they would not believe and be saved.”
“As for the seed sown on rocky ground, this represents the people who hear the word and immediately receive it joyfully. However, because they are not rooted in their faith, they believe for a little while but stumble when troubles come because of the word.”
“Regarding the seed sown among thorns, these are the people who hear the word but are distracted and paralyzed by worry and greed, and the word is not able to take root in them and produce any fruit.”
“But the seed sown on good ground represents the people who hear the word with honest and open hearts. They understand it, welcome it, and through endurance are able to bear much fruit, even up to 100 times what was sown.”
MT 13:18-24, MK 4:13-20, LK 8:11-15
When Jesus was alone with his disciples, they came up and said to him “Why do you speak to people in parables? What does the parable of the sower mean?”
Jesus answered them “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been revealed to you but not to everyone. For them the information is transmitted in parables so that Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled. It says ‘They may listen but never understand, and they may look and never see. For people’s hearts have grown hard and their ears have grown deaf, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they might see, hear, and understand and turn back, and I would heal them.'”
MT 13:10-15, MK 4:10-12, LK 8:9-10.
Jesus was again teaching beside the sea. He decided to teach while sitting in a boat in the water because a large crowd had gathered around him. The crowd stood on the shore to listen to him. They had come to hear him from every town.
He taught them many things using parables, including this one: “Think about the person who went out to sow his field. While he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path and birds came and ate it. Other seeds fell where there were more rocks then soil. The seed sprang up quickly, but then withered just as quickly in the sun because it didn’t have deep roots to gather moisture. Other seeds fell among the thornbushes and the thorns made it impossible for them to produce a crop. Yet other seeds fell on good ground and were able to produce 30, 60, even 100 times what was sown. Anyone who has ears should listen to this!”
MT 13:1-9, MK 4:1-9, LK 8:4-8
His mother and siblings came to him while he was speaking with a large crowd, but they couldn’t reach him. They sent word that they wanted to speak with him. Someone in the crowd told him “Look, your mother and siblings are standing outside waiting to speak with you.”
Instead of going out, he replied “Who is my family?” Indicating his followers who were seated in a circle around him, he said “Here they are! Whoever hears and does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother and brother and sister.”
MT 12:46-50, MK 3:31-35, LK 8:19-21
Jesus left the area when he became aware that they were plotting against him.
MT 12:15a
He left, traveling with his disciples to the sea. Immense crowds followed him from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon. The huge crowds sought him out because they had heard the news about everything he was doing.
MK 3:7-8, LK 6:17, MT 12:15b.
They came to listen to his teachings and be healed. Everyone who was afflicted by an unclean spirit was healed.
LK 6:18
The crowds were thronging to get near him to touch him because he had already healed many other people before, and healing power was coming out of him that day.
MK 3:10, LK 6:19
There were so many people trying to get to him that Jesus told his disciples to prepare a small boat for him so that he would not be crushed by the crowds.
MK 3:9
The unclean spirits made the people they had possessed fall down and cry out “You are the Son of God!” when they saw him.
MK 3:11
He strongly warned them to not reveal who he was.
MT 12:16, MK 3:12
In doing this he fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, who said –
“Behold, this is my chosen servant, the one I love and my soul delights in. I will anoint him with my Spirit, and he will tell the world about justice. He will not fight or yell, and he will not speak in street corners. He will be kind to the weak and give hope to the hopeless, until he has successfully brought justice to the world. His name will bring hope to everyone.”
MT 12:17-21
Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath. He noticed a man there whose hand was paralyzed. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely to see if he violated the Law against working on the Sabbath. Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and speaking to the paralyzed man, he said “Come stand here in the middle” and the man did.
Then, speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees, he said “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or evil, to save life or destroy it? If any of you had a sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, wouldn’t you pull it out? A man is certainly worth more than a sheep, so it fulfills the Law to do good on the Sabbath.”
He then looked around at all of them, angry and sad at how hard their hearts were. Then, speaking to the man, he said “Stretch out your hand.” The man did, and his hand was perfectly healed.
The scribes and the Pharisees were filled with rage and they began to plot with the Herodians about how they could destroy Jesus.
MT 12:9-14, MK 3:1-6, LK 6:6-11
Jesus and his disciples were walking through the grain fields one Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began picking the heads off the grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating. When the Pharisees saw them doing this, they said “Why are you doing what is it illegal on the Sabbath?”
Jesus answered them, “Didn’t you read what David and his companions did when they were hungry – how he entered the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and took and ate the sacred bread, which only the priests were allowed to eat, and also gave some to his companions to eat?”
MT 12:1-4, MK 2:23-26, LK 6:1-4
“Or didn’t you read in the Law that the Temple priests violate the Sabbath and are not guilty of breaking the Law? I tell you that something greater than the Temple is here! If you knew what the phrase ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’ means then you would not have condemned innocent people.”
MT 12:5-7
“The Sabbath was created for man, not the other way around.”
MK 2:27
“Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
MT 12:8, MK 2:28, LK 6:5
Then some of the Jewish leaders including the scribes and Pharisees said to him “Teacher, show us a sign.”
But he said “An evil generation demands a sign, but only the sign of the prophet Jonah will be given. In the same way that Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for the same amount of time. In the same way that Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation. The men of Nineveh will stand up and condemn this generation at the Day of Judgment, because they repented when Jonah spoke to them, and something even greater than Jonah is here right now! The Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the south, will also rise up and condemn this generation at the Day of Judgment, because she traveled all the way from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and something even greater than Solomon is here right now!
MT 12:38-42, LK 11:29-32
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