Crossway Christian Church Doug Wallaker

Parables are a rich way to teach the truths of the Kingdom to all. Memorable and illustrative, they nevertheless provide a good deal of material for us to think through. Today, Jesus gives us three parables to consider, focusing on how the Kingdom of God relates to the world. Let those who have ears to hear, hear!

Appetizers are designed to simply whet the appetite for the real entrée. Often, though, we make full meals out of them. Last week we looked at the nature of the parables as something of an appetizer for them. While it was a full meal, it is hoped that meal simply made us hungrier for the rest! Today, we start by looking at the parable of parables, the parable of the sower.

The Gospels, as pictures of the life of Christ, run in a general chronological pattern. From his birth to the beginning of his ministry, to the triumphal entry and the eventual and fateful crucifixion and resurrection, the main timeline is kept intact. But the individual events are often compiled for the author’s own reason, as Matthew has done in his 13th chapter. But why teach in parables, when Jesus was so capable of teaching in other methods which were clearer and more straight-forward? The disciples ask the same question of him, and we look at his answer today.

Paul has finished the main body of the letter, the vast majority of his exhortations, and did it with quite a flourish. The resurrection is important to us, theologically as well as personally. We who await a better place than this, who know of bitterness and sadness here, are justifiably excited about a new and better home. Yet, it does us little good to just look up at the sky. Paul reminds the Corinthians that there is yet work to do here on earth, and much of it imperfect and filled with hardship.

Of all the days that Christians celebrate, today is the grandest of them all. Jesus Christ has risen from the grave, overwhelming death and justifying all who believe in him. Praise be to God! And, better still, this is a prelude of our own fate, of our own resurrection. So, let us consider the triumph of our resurrection and what it means for us!

Good Friday is a blessed day if, for no other reason, that it shows off the oddity and irony of the cross of Christ. It is a wondrous exchange: Christ knowingly gives us his life and righteousness and takes our death and sin. We talk often about this, central as it is; yet that very comfortability can, if we are not careful, lead to a flattening of the gospel. Today, with the help of one short verse, let us think about its depth and beauty.