Parables

[Ziggy]

Mat 13:31
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Mat 13:32
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

 

[Ziggy]

The mustard seed: sinapi
Perhaps from sinomai (to hurt, i.e. sting)
thought to be of Egyptian origin;
mustard, the name of a plant which in oriental countries grows from a very small seed and attains to the height of 'a tree' — ten feet and more; hence, a very small quantity of a thing is likened to a grain of mustard seed

least of all seeds
greatest among herbs

Is mustard sour or bitter?
this usually yellow condiment, used for the dressing of meats and sandwiches; is traditionally of a strong, bitter flavor; not unlike horseradish or wasabi

The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed.

Mat 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat 17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat 17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Proverbs 1:20-33
Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

 

[Ziggy]

Mat 13:31
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Mat 13:32
Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

This Parable reminds me of when Moses was sent to Egypt to demand of Pharoah to free his people.
God told Moses to do miracles and when Moses did them, then the magicians who followed Pharoah were able to perform the same miracles Moses did.
Exo 8:5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch forth thine hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt.

Exo 8:6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:17 And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
Exo 8:18 And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.

In this parable Jesus is using a mustard seed which is widely known to come from Egypt.
The lesson they are about to learn could be very bitter.
And if one does not listen carefully it could be like a sting.
Some people like to make a name for themselves so they can get the glory. And if your walking after your own understanding you may just get stung. Sometimes if one person believes it and they tell another and another..It's like making a mountain out of a mole hill. But in this case it is a big tree and all of the birds of the air come and flock to it and eat off it's branches.. that is, they will all eat the same bitter herb.
Jesus uses this parable to explain to the man why the disciples that tried to cast out the devil and couldn't do it.
Whatever it was they was thinking it wasn't working so they gave up.
Jesus came and told the man the only thing that could remove the devil was praying and fasting.
That is to say in the name of the Lord.

But some will say Jesus said with God all things are possible, and this is true.
However if you read the whole sentence it says:
Mar 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.

When the disciples asked him why they couldn't do it He said, because of their unbelief. They didn't believe in him.
And then he said, Truly I told you, I warned you.. if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, that is to say, if you believe like the magicians in Egypt did, then anything you put your mind to do you can do it, but it won't be with God's blessing.
Only with Prayer and Fasting and by the Will of God is all things possible.

Moral of the parable. Unless God tells you to move a mountain don't try it on your own. You might get hurt.

The mustard seed: sinapi
Perhaps from sinomai (to hurt, i.e. sting)
thought to be of Egyptian origin;
mustard, the name of a plant which in oriental countries grows from a very small seed and attains to the height of 'a tree' — ten feet and more; hence, a very small quantity of a thing is likened to a grain of mustard seed

HUGS

 

[Ziggy]

Luk 13:20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?
Luk 13:21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.

Leaven: zymē
metaph. of inveterate mental and moral corruption, viewed in its tendency to infect others
Meal: aleuron
wheat flour, meal

This Parable makes me sad. Jesus had just healed a woman who had a sickness for eighteen years.
And the rulers of the synagogue that is to say, God's place of worship on earth, His Kingdom, have just come to accuse
the one who is Master of the synagogue, that he just broke the sabbath. And he, God, aught to only perform work on six days and not on the seventh.
They thought they was the rulers of the Kingdom. They had forgotten who had the keys and who was the door.
And they thought they was so righteous laying down the law and ruling over man.

In this place he explained exactly who was Lord of the Sabbath and who had been given it as a gift.
Mar 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mar 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

In another place he had told his disciples:
Mat 16:5 And when his disciples were come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
Mat 16:6 Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Mat 16:7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread.
Mat 16:8 Which when Jesus perceived, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?
Mat 16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Mat 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
Mat 16:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.

Paul says it like this:

1Co 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Another time Paul is speaking to the Galatians. And they are having a dispute over circumsision. And apparently there are some misconceptions or misunderstandings that are being spread through the church:

Gal 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
Gal 5:8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Gal 5:10 I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.

Moral of the Parable: We aught to obey God rather than man.

HUGS

 

[Ziggy]

Luk 10:30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
Luk 10:31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
Luk 10:32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
Luk 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
Luk 10:34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Luk 10:35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Luk 10:36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

a certain priest, a Levite, a certain Samaritan.

these are 4 current people in this parable.

I remember when I was younger my dad would get the sunday paper and it had a crossword and the two lookalike pictures, you had to find the differences. There was also a riddle problem, like so and so walked so many miles this way and so and so walked so many miles that way, along the road A did this and B did that, how many miles did they walk?... remember?

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho....

who is this certain man?
who is the certain priest?
who is the Levite?
and who is the certain Samaritan?

The only one not certain is the Levite.

From Jerusalem to Jericho:

Mar 10:46 And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
Mar 10:47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Mar 10:48 And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
Mar 10:49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
Mar 10:50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
Mar 10:51 And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
Mar 10:52 And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Now I have Levites trolling me.. ok..

Timaeus = "highly prized"
the father of the blind man, Bartimaeus
from the root word:
tame'
unclean, impure
ethically and religiously
ritually
foul in a religious sense:—defiled, infamous, polluted(-tion), unclean.
impure, unclean, in a Levitical sense

Bartimaeus = "son of Timaeus"
a certain blind man
from:
bar (Aramaic)
son
tame'
see above.

All of the answers are in the same chapter.
Can you find the certain priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan?
The certain man is already given.