Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 8 July 2012
13:1 Now, during that day, Jesus, after leaving the house, was sitting next to the lake,
13:2 and many crowds were gathered to Him such that He got into a boat to sit while all the crowd upon the shore was standing.
13:3 Then He spoke to them many things in parables saying,
“Check [this out], the seed-planter went out to plant seed:
13:4 Now, during his seed-planting, some fell along the road,
and the birds came and ate them up.
13:5 But others fell upon the rockpile, where they didn’t have much earth,
and right away they sprouted up on account of not having depth of earth,
13:6 but after the sun rose up they were scorched,
and, on account of not having a root-system, they were withered.
13:7 Now others fell upon the thorns,
and the thorns shot up and choked them.
13:8 Still others fell upon the good earth
and started yielding fruit, in one case 100, in another case 60, and in another case 30.
13:9 He who has ears to hear had better be listening!
13:10 Well, the disciples came up and said to Him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?”
13:11 And He, by way of answer, said to them that,
“To y’all it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it has not been given.
13:12 For whoever has, it will be given to him – and it will be surpassed,
but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13:13 It is on account of this that I am speaking to them in parables,
so that while they are seeing they are not seeing,
and while they are hearing, they are not hearing nor are they understanding.
13:14 So, in their [case], the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, the one that says,
‘While there is something to hear, you will not hear, and you shall never understand,
and while you are seeing you will not see, and you shall never perceive.
13:15 For the heart of this people was made calloused,
and their ears hardly heard, and their eyes were shut,
otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart, and they might return, and I will cure them.’
13:16 But the eyes of y’all are blessed because they see – your ears also because they hear.
13:17 For truly I’m telling you that many prophets and righteous men
desired to see what y’all are seeing and to hear what y’all are hearing
yet did not hear.
13:1 Now, during that day, Jesus, after leaving the house, was sitting next to the lake,
Εν [δε-אBC] τη ‘ημερα εκεινη εξελθων ‘ο Ιησους [απo[1]] της οικιας εκαθητο παρα την θαλασσαν
· This is the same day that Jesus gave that long rebuttal to the Pharisees about where He got His power to cast out demons from people.
o When I was in the Middle East, I noticed that people tended to retire indoors during the heat of the day and then come back outdoors to hang out in the cooler night air after sunset, so maybe that’s what was going on – Jesus went and sat out by the lake.
· εκαθητο “was sitting” (Imperfect) –
o This word can have the simple meaning of “sitting at ease”
§ 11:16 – children sitting in the marketplace,
§ 20:30 – blind men sitting on the side of the road,
§ 26:58 – Peter sitting by the fire in Caiaphas’ courtyard, and
§ 27:61 – Mary sitting next to Jesus’ tomb,
o but in other places it means to take a leadership position
§ 9:9 – Matthew chairing the tax office,
§ 19:28 – the Son of Man sitting on His glorious throne (cf. 23:22 & 26:64), and
§ 27:19 – Pilate sitting on his judgment seat.
o I believe this is one of the latter cases. Here, Jesus was assuming the position of a teacher, because, in His culture, teachers sat down to teach. The emphasis is not that Jesus was resting, but that He was continuing to teach the word of God.
· The crowds are gathering. Obviously, the house was too small to fit everybody because Jesus’ mom and brothers were unable to get into the house, so Jesus migrates outdoors by the Sea of Galilee to continue teaching, and the crowds just keep growing!
13:2 and many crowds were gathered to Him such that He got into a boat to sit while all the crowd upon the shore was standing.
και συνηχθησαν προς αυτον οχλοι πολλοι ‘ωστε αυτον εις [2] πλοιον εμβαντα καθησθαι και πας ο οχλος επι τον αιγιαλον[3] ‘ειστηκει
o Notice that the disciples were not out making radio and TV announcements about these seminars, or walking up and down the streets with loudspeakers yelling, “Come one, come all!” Jesus is not advertising Himself to gather crowds; they are coming to Him. The voice of the verb “gathered” in Greek is passive, literally “they were being gathered unto Him” – and that by the work of God, who was drawing them to Himself.
o Notice the progression from outgrowing the house to outgrowing the shoreline to expanding onto the lake itself. There’s a lot of people interested, so you’d think Jesus would adjust His teaching correspondingly with simpler, bolder soundbytes in order to get His message across to the increasing numbers of people, but Jesus does something quite unexpected:
13:3 Then He spoke to them many things in parables saying, “Check [this out], the seed-planter went out to plant seed:
και ελαλησεν αυτοις πολλα εν παραβολαις λεγων Ιδου εξηλθεν ‘ο σπειρων του σπειρειν[4]
13:4 Now, during his seed-planting, some fell along the road [path/wayside], and the birds came and ate them up.
και εν τω σπειρειν αυτον ‘ὰ μεν επεσεν παρα την ‘οδον και ηλθεν[5] τα πετεινα[6] [και[7]] κατεφαγεν αυτα
13:5 But others fell upon the rockpile, where they didn’t have much earth [soil], and right away they sprouted up on account of not having depth of earth,
αλλα δε επεσεν επι τα πετρωδη[8] ‘οπου ουκ ειχεν γην πολλην και ευθεως εξανετειλεν[9] δια το μη εχειν βαθος γης
13:6 but after the sun rose up they were scorched, and, on account of not having a root-system, they were withered.
‘ηλιου δε ανατειλαντος[10] εκαυματισθη[11] και δια το μη εχειν ‘ριζαν εξηρανθη[12]
13:7 Now others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns shot up and choked them.
αλλα δε επεσεν επι τας ακανθας[13] και ανεβησαν ‘αι ακανθαι και [απ[14]]επνιξαν αυτα
13:8 Still others fell upon the good earth and started yielding fruit, in one case 100, in another case 60, and in another case 30.
αλλα δε επεσεν επι την γην την καλην και εδιδου καρπον ‘ὸ μεν ‘εκατον ‘ὸ[15] δε ‘εξηκοντα ‘ὸ δε τριακοντα
13:9 He who has ears to hear had better be listening!”
‘ο εχων ωτα [ακουειν-אB] ακουετω
· The infinitive “to hear” is in all the hundreds of handwritten Greek manuscripts except for two early ones and in all the printed Greek editions of the Textus Receptus, Majority text, and Patristic text, so I think it’s likely authentic even if it is omitted by the ESV, NAS, and NIV English translations. It still doesn’t make a difference in meaning.
13:10 Well, the disciples came up and said to Him, “Why are you speaking to them in parables?”
Και προσελθοντες ‘οι μαθηται ειπον αυτω Δια τί́ εν παραβολαις λαλεις αυτοις;
· Now we get to the meat of the question that I want to address in this sermon. “Why parables?” Why no catchy slogans to get people believing that You are the Messiah, Jesus?” Just when the crowds are really swelling to really big numbers, why tell a random story, the meaning of which is unclear?
· The word “parable” is a transliteration of the Greek word παραβολα, which is a compound of the verb for “throw” and the preposition for “alongside.” It is a story with a deeper meaning thrown alongside it. This is the first time in the New Testament that the word shows up, but it is found throughout the Old Testament to denote:
o The cryptic sayings of prophets, from Baalam (Num. 23-24) to Ezekiel.
o Sampson’s riddle about the honey in the lion’s carcass (1 Sam 24:13)
o The pithy sayings of wise men – applied to the proverbs of Solomon (1 Ki. 4:32)
o and stories of bad examples – people who became a “byword” (Deut 28:37)
· The disciples at least caught the fact that Jesus was telling a parable, but they apparently didn’t understand the meaning of it themselves, because Jesus had to explain it to them later.
· Maybe this was their indirect way of saying, “Jesus, that was really over the heads of this crowd, and, well, it kinda went over our heads too. Hint, hint, maybe you could explain?”
· This plays right into Jesus’ hand as He teaches them a lesson about God’s ways of revealing Himself to mankind.
13:11 And He, by way of answer, said to them that, “To y’all it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
‘Ο δε αποκριθεις ειπεν [αυτοις-אC] ‘οτι Υμιν δεδοται γνωναι τα μυστηρια της βασιλειας των ουρανων εκεινοις δε ου δεδοται
o A mystery is a whole storyline which is gradually revealed to the hearer or reader until you figure out the end from the beginning. That’s the essence of any mystery novel. It’s a story, the beginning of which leaves you with unanswered questions that keep you trying to figure out the whole story until the end when the author or storyteller explains it all to you.
§ When I was a boy, I used to love reading Hardy Boys mysteries. Now, as an adult, I wonder what it was that held my attention because they are so unreal, and the plot on every one of them is almost exactly the same, but there was always some mysterious criminal activity which the boys eventually figured out about the same time that their Dad did.
o This is a way of stating how God reveals His truth:
§ In Genesis, there’s only so much revealed, and the rest is shrouded in mystery. Who is the seed of the woman? How will He bruise the serpent’s head? When will this be? How will that undo the sin and curse of Adam and Eve?
§ Like a camera lens coming into focus, as you read through the Old Testament, the picture starts taking on distinct images, and in some of the prophets like Isaiah, it’s starting to get pretty clear,
§ and then the prophet Daniel explicitly speaks of the God in heaven who reveals mysteries (Dan 2:27-28 - Brenton “And Daniel answered before the king, and said, ‘The mystery which the king asks the explanation of is not in the power of the wise men, magicians, enchanters, or soothsayers to declare to the king. But there is a God in heaven revealing mysteries, and He has made known to king Nebuchadnezzar what things must come to pass in the last days…’”),
§ and then Jesus bursts on the scene in the Gospels explaining everything, even though there’s some details in the background yet to come into focus.
o In the New Testament writings of Paul, we see the word “mystery” particularly referring to the Gospel of Jesus which is to be proclaimed to all the world:
§ Romans 16:25 Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past,
§ 1 Corinthians 2:7 but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory;
§ Ephesians 6:19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
§ Colossians 1:26-27 that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
§ 1 Timothy 3:16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.
o This verb is Passive – in other words, Jesus is saying that no one figures out what Christianity is really all about on their own. It is “given” to them by God.
§ In Greek, the word “grace” has to do with a gift given freely and unearned.
§ Even our faith in Jesus is a gift, as it says in Ephesians 2 – “for by grace you are saved by faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, so that nobody can boast.”
§ “To you it has been given [as a free and gracious gift], but to them it has not been given [not everyone will get that gift].”
§ There will always be a tension between those given the gift of being in the know about this mystery and those who are left outside.
§ Outsiders (non-Christians) will misunderstand.
§ Insiders (Christians) will try to explain to outsiders, and, as a result some non-Christians will become Christians,
§ but those conversions will in themselves be a result of God giving those new believers the new heart and the faith to become insiders to the mystery of the Gospel.
§ it is a freeing thing to realize that ultimately God is in control, not me, and
§ it is overwhelming to realize that I am saved, because Jesus’ love was personally expressed to me individually. Yes God loved the world, but He also loves me in particular, and that’s why He gave me to know His mystery.
o Notice also that this verb is in the Perfect tense “is givenKJV/has been grantedNAS.”
§ This means that at some point in the past, the gift of being an insider to God’s good news from heaven was designated for the disciples, and they are now cashing in on the benefits of it.
§ When was that point in the past? I submit to you that it was given before God created the world: “…[T]he God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… chose us in Him[When?] before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will…” (Ephesians 1:3-9)
§ That should be enough to put goosebumps down your spine. If you are a believer in Jesus, that means God has loved you since before He created the world; He has operated with kind intentions toward you, redeemed you from sin with the death of His own son, let you in on the mystery of His will, and drawn you to Himself as an adopted son or daughter.
13:12 For whoever has, it will be given to him and it will
be surpassed,
but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
‘οστις γαρ εχει δοθησεται αυτω και περισσευθησεται ‘οστις δε ουκ εχει και ‘ὸ εχει αρθησεται απ’ αυτου
o but it means “to exceed a fixed number of measure” (according to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon).
o And this verb is perfectly parallel to the previous one “it will be given” – the word “more” is added in all the modern versions, but it is not there in the Greek – the subject is “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.” “The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven will be given to him.” And this verb “it will be given” is perfectly parallel to the verb “it will be exceeded” – both are Future Passive Indicatives in the 3rd person singular. What will be exceeded? Your level of knowledge of God’s mysteries that you started with will be exceeded as He reveals more and more of Himself to you just as any relationship grows.
o This is astounding! What would it be like if Tom Clancy or Frank Peretti, or your favorite mystery author decided to start texting you every day with his story ideas? Wouldn’t that be awesome? I’d spend the rest of the day telling my friends about the new twists and turns of the plot! That’s exactly what Jesus is promising to do with those He loves!
o This is consistent with the writings of the Apostle Paul: “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God… We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ… that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Col. 1:9-10 & 28, 2:2-3, NAS)
13:13 It is on account of this that I am speaking to them in parables, so that while they are seeing they are not seeing, and while they are hearing, they are not hearing nor are they understanding.
δια τουτο εν παραβολαις αυτοις λαλω ‘οτι βλεποντες ου βλεπουσιν* και ακουοντες ουκ ακουουσιν* ουδε συνιουσιν*[16]
13:14 So, in their [case], the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, the one that says, ‘While there is something to hear, you will not hear, and you shall never understand, and while you are seeing you will not see, and you shall never perceive.
Και αναπληρουται [17] αυτοις ‘η προφητεια ‘Ησαιου ‘η λεγουσα ακοη ακουσετε και ου μη συνητε και βλεποντες βλεψετε και ου μη ιδητε
13:15 For the heart of this people was made calloused, and their ears hardly heard, and their eyes were shut, otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart, and they might return, and I will cure them.’
επαχυνθη γαρ ‘η καρδια του λαου τουτου και τοις ωσιν βαρεως ηκουσαν και τους οφθαλμους αυτων[18] εκαμμυσαν μηποτε ιδωσιν τοις οφθαλμοις και τοις ωσιν ακουσωσιν και τη καρδια συνωσιν και επιστρεψωσιν και ιασομαι[19] αυτους
13:16 But the eyes of y’all are blessed because they see – your ears also because they hear.
‘υμων δε μακαριοι ‘οι οφθαλμοι ‘οτι βλεπουσιν και τα ωτα ‘υμων ‘οτι ακουουσιν[20]
13:17 For truly I’m telling you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what y’all are seeing and to hear what y’all are hearing yet did not hear.
αμην γαρ λεγω ‘υμιν ‘οτι πολλοι προφηται και δικαιοι επεθυμησαν ιδειν ‘ὰ βλεπετε και ουκ ειδαν και ακουσαι ‘ὰ ακουετε και ουκ ηκουσαν
[1] This is the reading of the Textus Receptus and the Majority text, as it is in C, L, and W (א has synonym εκ), but it’s not in the Patristic or UBS text. The genitive case of the phrase “the house,” however, already communicates ablativeness so that the preposition “out” or “from” is not necessary.
[2] “το” is found here in the TR and Maj. (following D and f13), but is not found in Patristic or UBS editions. Authenticity is doubtful, but whether it was “the” boat or “a” boat makes little difference.
[3] The aigialon here was different from the kremnas down which the swine made their suicidal rush in Mt. 8:32, in that it was flat enough to stand and have a meeting (as here, John 21:4, Acts 21:5), or to beach a boat and sort the day’s catch of fish (Mt. 13:48, cf. Acts 27:39).
[4] Several significant Greek manuscripts (אDLWθf1f13) have an alpha where the final epsilon is, rendering this verb Aorist, but the difference between the meaning of a Greek Infinitive in Aorist vs. Present tense is so slight that it usually makes no difference in an English translation.
[5] This Indicative is the reading of the TR and the Majority (following א,C,D,L,W,Z,f1). The UBS and Byz reading is the participle ελθοντα (following B,θ,f13). Curiously, all of the well-known English translations follow the TR/Maj reading.
[6] These are the same birds that we are supposed to learn not to worry from in 6:26 because God feeds them.
[7] The Indicative form of “came” requires an “and” to couple with the indicative verb “ate up,” whereas the participle “coming” can parallel the indicative “ate up” without an “and.” Thus the TR/Maj which uses elthe has a kai here, but the Byz/UBS which uses elthonta does not have a kai here. The kai is missing in only B, θ, and f13, according to Nestle-Aland, so I included it.
[8] This word does not occur in the Bible outside of this parable. Thayer says it is a compound of petrw (rock) and eidon (view). KJV translates “stony places.”
[9] Lit. “rose out” Nowhere else in the NT, but used in Gen 2:9 of the first trees growing, and of grass growing in Psalm 104:14 and 147:8.
[10] Used in the OT for plants growing, hair growing, stars and people arising, and the sun rising. The only other two uses of this word in Mt. refer to sunrise (4:16 & 5:45).
[11] Other places in the Bible this word occurs: Genesis 31:40; 2 Samuel 4:5; Job 24:24; Jeremiah 36:30; and Rev. 16:8-9
[12] Literally “dried up” – plants are oriented around an amazing capillary system which draws water up out of the ground, but if there is no water to draw up, the whole system fails.
[13] See notes from 7:16 (briars/brambles)
[14] On the basis of א,D,θ, and f13, the UBS does not include the apo- prefix to this verb. It doesn’t significantly change the meaning though. The verb without the prefix occurs in only 3 other Bible passages: to describe what the evil spirit from the Lord did to King Saul (1 Sam 16:14-15), what the unforgiving servant did to his fellow slave who owed him a petty debt (Mt 18:28), and what the demons did to the pigs that rushed into the lake (Mk 5:13). Luke’s use of the verb with the apo-prefix is clearly synonymous with Matthew and Mark’s use of the verb without the prefix, since in Luke 8:33 he uses the verb with the prefix to describe the drowning of the pigs in the lake, and in 8:7 to describe the weeds choking out the seed in the parable of the sower. Nahum 2:12 is the only other instance of ἀποπνίγω, describing what a lion does to its prey. Asphyxiation is certainly the common theme.
[15] Although most English translations render this relative pronoun as “some” it is actually singular. The men… de… de grammar construction indicates observation a certain condition on the one hand and two other conditions on the other hand.
[16] D,θ,f1, and f13 render the asterisked verbs as subjunctives rather than indicatives and append the phrase “μηποτε επιστρεψωσιν” This appears to me to be grace-oriented people a few hundred years after Christ who copied the words over from verse 15 onto here.
[17] Textus Receptus inexplicably has an epi here (“fulfilled upon them”), but it’s not in the Byz, UBS or Maj text, so it appears to be spurious.
[18] The placement of this word later instead of earlier in this sentence is the only departure in Jesus’ quote from the Septuagint.
[19] The Textus Receptus, again without significant textual warrant deviates from the Majority and Byzantine texts (which the UBS follows) by making this verb Present Subjunctive rather than Future Indicative.
[20] Following KLWΓΔ and the Majority of medieval Greek manuscripts, the TR renders this singular. The plural reading is in the Patriarchal and Nestle-Aland and matches with the plural “ears,” but in Greek, since “ears” is neuter, it can take either a singular or a plural verb, so either way is fine.