Thematic Bible: Sermon


Thematic Bible



On that day Jesus went out of the house and was seated by the seaside. And great numbers of people came together to him, so that he got into a boat; and the people took up their position by the sea. And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth; read more.
And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food: And some of the seed went among the stones, where it had not much earth, and straight away it came up because the earth was not deep: And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root it became dry and dead. And some seeds went among thorns, and the thorns came up and they had no room for growth: And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much. He who has ears, let him give ear. And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories? And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them. And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you: For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well. But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open. For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not. Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth. When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside. And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy; But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts. And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit. And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it; who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much. And he gave them another story, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who put good seed in his field: But while men were sleeping, one who had hate for him came and put evil seeds among the grain, and went away. But when the green stem came up and gave fruit, the evil plants were seen at the same time. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not put good seed in your field? how then has it evil plants? And he said, Someone has done this in hate. And the servants say to him, Is it your pleasure that we go and take them up? But he says, No, for fear that by chance while you take up the evil plants, you may be rooting up the grain with them. Let them come up together till the getting in of the grain; and then I will say to the workers, Take up first the evil plants, and put them together for burning: but put the grain into my store-house. He put another story before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his field: Which is smaller than all seeds; but when it has come up it is greater than the plants, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and make their resting-places in its branches. Another story he gave to them: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and put in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened. All these things Jesus said to the people in the form of stories; and without a story he said nothing to them: That it might come true which was said by the prophet, Opening my mouth, I will give out stories; I will give knowledge of things kept secret from before all time. Then he went away from the people, and went into the house; and his disciples came to him, saying, Make clear to us the story of the evil plants in the field. And he made answer and said, He who puts the good seed in the earth is the Son of man; And the field is the world; and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom; and the evil seeds are the sons of the Evil One; And he who put them in the earth is Satan; and the getting in of the grain is the end of the world; and those who get it in are the angels. As then the evil plants are got together and burned with fire, so will it be in the end of the world. The Son of man will send out his angels, and they will take out of his kingdom everything which is a cause of error, and all those who do wrong, And will put them into the fire; there will be weeping and cries of sorrow. Then will the upright be shining as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him give ear. The kingdom of heaven is like a secret store of wealth in a field, which a man came across and put back again; and in his joy he goes and gives all he has, to get that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader searching for beautiful jewels. And having come across one jewel of great price, he went and gave all he had in exchange for it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net, which was put into the sea and took in every sort of fish: When it was full, they took it up on the sands; and seated there they put the good into vessels, but the bad they put away. So will it be in the end of the world: the angels will come and take out the bad from the good, And will put them into the fire: there will be weeping and cries of sorrow. Are all these things now clear to you? They say to him, Yes. And he said to them, For this reason every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who gives out from his store things new and old.

And he gave them teaching about a number of things in the form of stories, and said to them in his teaching, Give ear: A man went out to put seed in the earth: And while he was doing it, some was dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took it for food. read more.
And some went on the stones, where it had not much earth; and it came up straight away, because the earth was not deep: And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root, it became dry and dead. And some went among the thorns, and the thorns came up, and it had no room for growth and gave no fruit. And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, coming up and increasing, and giving thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much. And he said to them, Whoever has ears, let him give ear. And when he was by himself, those who were round him with the twelve put questions to him about the purpose of the stories. And he said to them, To you is given the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are given in the form of stories; So that seeing they may see, and it will not be clear to them; and hearing it, they will not get the sense; for fear that they may be turned again to me and have forgiveness. And he said to them, If you are not clear about this story, how will you be clear about the others? The seed is the word. And these are they by the wayside, where the word is planted; and when they have given ear, the Evil One comes straight away and takes away the word which has been planted in them. And in the same way, these are they who are planted on the stones, who, when the word has come to their ears, straight away take it with joy; And they have no root in themselves, but go on for a time; then, when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, they quickly become full of doubts. And others are those planted among the thorns; these are they who have given ear to the word, And the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, and the desire for other things coming in, put a stop to the growth of the word, and it gives no fruit. And these are they who were planted on the good earth; such as give ear to the word, and take it into their hearts, and give fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundred times as much. And he said to them, When the light comes in, do people put it under a vessel, or under the bed, and not on its table? There is nothing covered which will not be seen openly, and nothing has been made secret which will not come to light. If any man has ears, let him give ear. And he said to them, Take care what you give ear to: in the same measure as you give you will get, and more will be given to you. He who has, to him will be given: and he who has not, from him will be taken even that which he has. And he said, Such is the kingdom of God, as if a man put seed in the earth, And went to sleep and got up, night and day, and the seed came to growth, though he had no idea how. The earth gives fruit by herself; first the leaf, then the head, then the full grain. But when the grain is ready, he quickly sends men to get it cut, because the time for cutting has come. And he said, What picture may we give of the kingdom of God, or with what story may we make it clear? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is put in the earth, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth, But when it is planted, it comes up, and becomes taller than all the plants, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of heaven are able to take rest in its shade. And with a number of such stories he gave them his teaching, as they were able to take it:



And he came down with them to a level place, and a great band of his disciples, and a very great number of people from all Judaea and Jerusalem and from the parts of Tyre and Sidon by the sea, came to give hearing to him, and to be made well from their diseases; And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were made well. And all the people were desiring to be touched by him, for power came from him and made them all well. read more.
And turning his eyes to his disciples he said, Happy are you who are poor: for the kingdom of God is yours. Happy are you who are in need of food now: for you will be made full. Happy are you who are weeping now; for you will be glad. Happy are you, when men have hate for you, and put you away from among them and say angry words to you, turning away in disgust at your name, because of the Son of man. Be glad in that day, and be lifted up for joy, for your reward in heaven will be great: for their fathers did these same things to the prophets. But unhappy are you who have wealth: for you have been comforted now. Unhappy are you who are full of food now: for you will be in need. Unhappy are you who are laughing now: for you will be crying in sorrow. Unhappy are you when all men give you their approval: for so their fathers did to the false prophets. But I say to you who give ear to me, Have love for those who are against you, do good to those who have hate for you, Give blessing to those who give you curses, say prayers for those who are cruel to you. If a man gives you a blow on one side of your face, then let the other side be turned to him; from him who takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe. Give to everyone who comes with a request, and if a man takes away your property, make no attempt to get it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you have love for those who have love for you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners have love for those who have love for them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is it to you? for even sinners do the same. And if you let those have the use of your money, from whom you are hoping to get it back, what credit is it to you? even sinners do so to sinners, hoping to get back as much as they gave. But be loving to those who are against you and do them good, and give them your money, not giving up hope, and your reward will be great and you will be the sons of the Most High: for he is kind to evil men, and to those who have hard hearts. Be full of pity, even as your Father is full of pity. Be not judges of others, and you will not be judged: do not give punishment to others, and you will not get punishment yourselves: make others free, and you will be made free: Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, crushed down, full and running over, they will give to you. For in the same measure as you give, it will be given to you again. And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, Is it possible for one blind man to be guide to another? will they not go falling together into a hole? The disciple is not greater than his master, but everyone whose learning is complete will be like his master. And why do you take note of the grain of dust in your brother's eye, but take no note of the bit of wood which is in your eye? How will you say to your brother, Brother, let me take the grain of dust out of your eye, when you yourself do not see the bit of wood in your eye? O false one! first take the wood out of your eye and then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your brother's eye. For no good tree gives bad fruit, and no bad tree gives good fruit. For every tree is judged by its fruit. Men do not get figs from thorns, or grapes from blackberry plants. The good man, out of the good store of his heart, gives good things; and the evil man, out of his evil store, gives evil: for out of the full store of the heart come the words of the mouth. Why do you say to me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Everyone who comes to me and gives ear to my words and does them, I will make clear to you what he is like: He is like a man building a house, who went deep and put the base of it on a rock; and when the water came up and the river was driving against that house, it was not moved, because the building was good. But he who gives hearing, without doing, is like a man building a house on the earth without a base for it; and when the force of the river came against it, straight away it came down; and the destruction of that house was great.


Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain