Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 347
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and they cannot turn to me
and let me heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they
hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to
see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you
hear, but they didn’t hear it.
“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting
seeds: The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the
message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one
comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. The
seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t
last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted
for believing God’s word. The seed that fell among the thorns represents
those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out
by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.
The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred
times as much as had been planted!”
Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a
farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers
slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped
away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also
grew.
“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you
planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’
“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.
“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.
“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow
together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the
weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in
the barn.’”
Here is another illustration Jesus used: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a
mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes
the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make
nests in its branches.”
Jesus also used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the
yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little
yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.”
