Before one can be a sower, he must be an eater and a receiver. In those days, seed was scattered first and then it was plowed into the ground. A sower went out to sow: Jesus spoke according to the agricultural customs of His day. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!вЂќДЄ. But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside and the birds came and devoured them. (3b-9) A simple story about a farmer and sowing seeds. We must be very careful not to make allegories of the parables.вЂќ (Barclay) 2. вЂњA parable is not an allegory an allegory is a story in which every possible detail has an inner meaning but an allegory has to be read and studied a parable is heard. We can get into trouble by expecting that they be intricate systems of theology, with the smallest detail revealing hidden truths.

Parables generally teach one main point or principle. Second, upon their minds, to put them upon studying the meaning of what they heard so delivered.вЂќ (Poole) вЂњIt had a double advantage upon their hearers: first, upon their memory, we being very apt to remember stories.

Matthew uses it for instance for JesusвЂ™ cryptic saying about defilement (Matthew 15:10-11, 15), and in Matthew 24:32 (вЂlessonвЂ™) it indicates a comparison.вЂќ (France) вЂњThe Greek parabole is wider than our вЂparableвЂ™ in the LXX it translates masal, which includes proverbs, riddles and wise sayings as well as parables. Parables have been called вЂњearthly stories with a heavenly meaning.вЂќ Then He spoke many things to them in parables: The idea behind the word parable is вЂњto throw alongside of.вЂќ It is a story thrown alongside the truth intended to teach. вЂњThe teacher sat, and the people stood: we should have less sleeping in congregations if this arrangement still prevailed.вЂќ (Spurgeon)Д«. вЂњWhen the doors of the synagogue were closed against him, he took to the temple of the open air, and taught men in the village streets, and on the roads, and by the lake-side, and in their own homes.вЂќ (Barclay) We can imagine some critic saying, вЂњYou canвЂ™t do that! Teaching belongs in the synagogue or in some other appropriate place.вЂќ It would be easy to come up with objections: вЂњThe damp air might make people sickвЂќ or вЂњThere are a lot of mosquitoes down at the shoreвЂќ or вЂњSomeone might drown.вЂќ But Jesus knew that teaching from a boat suited His purposes well enough. When Jesus taught from a boat, surely that was a new thing. It gave Him a place to speak, away from the press of the crowds, provided good acoustics, and probably a nice backdrop. He got into a boat and sat: Jesus sometimes used a boat as His вЂњpulpitвЂќ (Mark 4:1). Then He spoke many things to them in parables,ДЄ. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat and the whole multitude stood on the shore. On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea.

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