translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MAT

label: NET study note

text: Though parables can contain a variety of figures of speech (cf. the remainder of chapter ), many times they are simply stories that attempt to teach spiritual truth (which is unknown to the hearers) by using a comparison with something known to the hearers. In general, parables usually advance a single idea, though there may be many parts and characters in a single parable and subordinate ideas may expand the main idea further. The beauty of using the parable as a teaching device is that it draws the listener into the story, elicits an evaluation, and demands a response.


text: A sower went out to sow. The background for this well-known parable, drawn from a typical scene in the Palestinian countryside, is a field through which a well-worn path runs. Sowing would occur in late fall or early winter (October to December) in the rainy season, looking for sprouting in April or May and a June harvest. The use of seed as a figure for God’s giving life has OT roots ( Isa 55:10-11 ). The point of the parable of the sower is to illustrate the various responses to the message of the kingdom of God.


text: The rocky ground in Palestine would be a limestone base lying right under the soil.


text: Palestinian weeds like these thorns could grow up to six feet in height and have a major root system.


text: That is, crowded out the good plants.


text: What he has will be taken from him. The meaning is that the one who accepts Jesus’ teaching concerning his person and the kingdom will receive a share in the kingdom now and even more in the future, but for the one who rejects Jesus’ words, the opportunity that that person presently possesses with respect to the kingdom will someday be taken away forever.


text: A quotation from Isa 6:9-10 . Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.


text: This beatitude highlights the great honor bestowed on the disciples to share in this salvation.


text: This is what past prophets and righteous people had wanted very much to see , yet the fulfillment had come to the disciples. This remark is like 1 Pet 1:10-12 or Heb 1:1-2 .


text: Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for Satan here: Mark 4:15 has “Satan,” while Luke 8:12 has “the devil.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.


text: The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.


text: That is, their concern for spiritual things is crowded out by material things.


text: The mustard seed was noted for its tiny size.


text: This is rhetorical hyperbole, since technically a mustard plant is not a tree . This could refer to one of two types of mustard plant popular in Palestine and would be either ten or twenty-five ft (3 or 7.5 m) tall.


text: The point of the parable seems to be that while the kingdom of God may appear to have insignificant and unnoticeable beginnings (i.e., in the ministry of Jesus), it will someday (i.e., at the second advent) be great and quite expansive. The kingdom, however, is not to be equated with the church, but rather the church is an expression of the kingdom. Also, there is important OT background in the image of the mustard seed that grew and became a tree: Ezek 17:22-24 pictures the reemergence of the Davidic house where people can find calm and shelter. Like the mustard seed, it would start out small but grow to significant size.


text: This measure was a saton, the Greek name for the Hebrew term “seah.” Three of these was a very large quantity of flour, since a saton is a little over 16 pounds (7 kg) of dry measure (or 13.13 liters). So this was over 47 lbs (21 kg) of flour total, enough to feed over a hundred people.


text: A quotation from Ps 78:2 .


text: A quotation from Dan 3:6 .


text: An allusion to Dan 12:3 .


text: An allusion to Dan 3:6 .


text: Jesus’ hometown (where he spent his childhood years) was Nazareth, about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Capernaum.


text: See the note on synagogues in 4:23 . Jesus undoubtedly took the opportunity on this occasion to speak about his person and mission, and the relation of both to OT fulfillment.


text: The reference to Jesus as the carpenter’s son is probably derogatory, indicating that they knew Jesus only as a common laborer like themselves. The reference to his mother…Mary (even though Jesus’ father was probably dead by this point) appears to be somewhat derogatory, for a man was not regarded as his mother’s son in Jewish usage unless an insult was intended (cf. Judg 11:1-2 ; John 4:41; 8:41; 9:29 ).