RE:JESUS - Homework: December 3-4:  Matthew 13

RE: You
What’s your favorite story? Why?

RE: God’s Word
The Bible is writing at its finest. The Bible is also communication at its finest. It may seem odd to us, but the people of Jesus’ day didn’t have paper-bound copies of the Bible lying around. Communities and local synagogues committed scripture to memory and shared it verbally. It was an art; and it was Jesus’ pattern, too.

RE: Context
Matthew 13 opens a window onto the kind of teacher Jesus was. He was the most adept person ever to deliver truth via story. (The best runner up might have been Abraham Lincoln). Jesus spoke in parables—witty and insightful discourses that tapped into everyday realities. Farmers, seeds, wheat and weeds were all communication fodder for Jesus, reflecting the agrarian society Jesus lived in (we speak in much more techno-related terms today). Jesus’ parables let us into the truths of the Kingdom of God. When we live in these parables we find how beautiful the depictions are and how easy they are to rehearse and remember.

RE: Response
Do you have ears to hear and a heart to receive and understand what Jesus teaches? If not, why not? If so, what are you doing with what Jesus is saying? How does faith interact with receiving and living out the teachings of Jesus?

RE: Application
Take one of the parables in Matthew 13 and commit it to memory. Chew on it throughout the week and see what you come up with by week’s end in terms of insights and new behaviors in your life.