Why did Jesus teach in parables? The disciples asked Jesus, and Jesus responds something along these lines, “They think they know everything about who God is and how he works. Their minds have become so clouded by their misperception that they can’t perceive what’s going on right in front of them. They have shut their eyes, stopped up their ears. I’m speaking in parables in an effort to break up the hard ground of their wrong-headed expectations, to loosen the soil so the seed of the Gospel can take root. But you [Jesus’s disciples] didn’t have many expectations in the first place. Your eyes and ears have been open to see and hear the wonderful works of God.” Jim Somerville, Pastor of Richmond’s First Baptist Church and Co-Founder of A Sermon for Every Sunday, says, “In other words, the last people you would have expected to get it are the ones who get it.” In today’s sermon, “The Reckless Sower,” from Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, Somerville talks about the right way and the wrong way to scatter the seeds of the Gospel.
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