followHIM - Why did Jesus speak in parables? • follow HIM Favorites • Mar. 20 - Mar. 26

Episode Date: March 16, 2023

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from this week's Come, Follow Me study.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. Hello, John, by the way. Hi, how are you? I'm feeling incredible. You are incredible. You know the drill on Follow Him Favorites.

We're going to take just a single question from this week's lesson to analyze. The question this week, John, is what's up with Jesus and parables? Why does Jesus like parables? Why does Jesus like parables so much? It depends on how you define a parable, but I think there's around a total of about 55 parables in the four gospels. So Jesus is always talking in parables. He's always telling stories. Why do you think he did that? Oh, you see, one of the best answers for that is given by Jesus himself in Matthew 13, right after he tells the parable of the sower, the disciples say, why are you speaking in parables? Yeah, what are you doing?

He explains the calling of Isaiah, of all things, that some will see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, be converted and be healed. And then he says, after he kind of explains, the Bible dictionary, I think, says both to reveal and to conceal. But those who come up afterwards and say, why are you doing this? He says, and hear now the parable of the sower. And he gives them more. So I think the key is read it, think about it, ponder about it, and you'll get even more. I suppose that some heard the first parable and went, huh, and walked away. But those who actually thought about it even more. I suppose that some heard the first parable and went, huh, and walked away. But those who actually thought about it got more. And I love them because they're fun. They're

visual. They're stories. You can picture it in your mind and understand it more than just statements of principles or doctrines. So I love the parables. What do you think, Hank? Why would he do that? This to me is something that is miraculous. These stories that Jesus told 2000 years ago, we still talk about them and get so much out of them. The parable of the prodigal son, the parable of the labors in the vineyard, the parable of the good Samaritan, Lazarus and the rich man, the king's feast, all of these stories that aren't that long. They're not page turners. You're not like, Ooh, what happens next? Right? Where does he plant the seeds next? These stories have lasted through millennia and they're going to keep going. So I remember in the Bible dictionary, it says the parable reveals to the

hearer gospel truths exactly in proportion to their faith and intelligence. So you hear a parable or read a parable, you get nothing out of it. What does that say about you? What does that mean? Yeah. So we dive into these parables and we start to look at the details. The fun of the parables I think is in the details. If you just read the story and say, okay, a guy planted some seeds, some of them grew and some of them didn't, that's not the parable. Go in the details. Look at the specific soils, what he says about them and try to analyze what is that? What does he mean? And how do I grow roots so that I can have fruit one day? Yeah. Yeah. I want to be the good ground. There's four different types of ground. I want to be the good

ground. How can I be the good ground? And really after the parable of the sower, you can really analyze your own heart and make some changes in your life and in your personal worship that really can have influence for the rest of your life. In fact, the details there, he even tells us what the weeds are, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and then mark the lust of other things. So we can actually go, Oh, do I have any of those weeds? How do I weed my life? Most people have had the trial of trying to grow something with rocks all the way around and pulling out those rocks and how hard that is. And sometimes the rock is huge and you just got to dig it out and take it out. And how long that takes and how difficult it is can play into how you feel about this story. You can say, I know I've taken rocks out of the ground.

That's hard to do. That's really hard to do. How am I going to get these things out of my own life? How am I going to get these sins or addictions or problems or ideologies? How am I going to get them out of my heart so I can grow deep roots? So I think what you're saying there is just what Jesus said, who hath ears to hear, let him hear. So those who really want to hear something and are willing to think about it and look at the details, like you said, ponder it, even pray about it, they're going to get more out of it. And so I love that he spoke in parables. They're some of my favorite stories. Me too. I could spend all day just reading through the parables and talking about them

with friends like you, John, and saying, what are you seeing here? What does he mean? It's amazing to me that I've read them dozens of times and still people will show me things I've never thought of. Yeah, me too. Absolutely wonderful. So love the parables, learn to love the parables, and you're going to get to know the Lord and the parables of Jesus can really change your life. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast. We're talking about the parables this week with Dr. Daniel Becerra. Come over. It's called Follow Him. You can get it wherever you get your podcast and then come back here next week we'll do another follow him favorites