About one third of all of Jesus’ teachings are in parable form. Parables are illustrations, stories to “throw alongside” of life to make a comparison. In Matthew 13 Jesus uses parables exclusively to show HOW God’s hope for creation will come about. And it’s not what we might expect!

In this episode we look at the first and, in some ways, primary parable of the Sower. 3 Big ideas about this parable are featured:

1. Why is the sower so reckless with his seed? Does it reveal a God who is eager to connect with us? Might it be that God more talkative than we thought? And maybe it shows at that God’s words might show up in places we don’t expect. How would that change our approach to spirituality if we believed God was speaking to us more than we realized

2. Why does God’s Word seem to be hidden? And why does Jesus’ teaching appear to be failing? Jesus answers this question in the parable for his own time but what might this tell us about the effectiveness of Jesus’ words for today? 

3. What’s the payoff for bearing with all this apparent failure? Jesus’ story points us to a surprisingly high rate of return.

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