More on the Kingdom parables

I overstepped my "gift of knowledge"! :-(

I failed to look ahead in the text of Matthew 13 to see that Jesus indeed did offer another interpretation to the befuddled disciples. I can emphasise with the twelve after my posting what was admittedly a contrarian interpretation to the series of "seed" parables.

Jesus had given these parables in what appeared from the record to be "at the same sitting." Though thismay have been the case, it didn't mean they were connected strictly by the order they were presented. Jesus makes it plain that the seed in the second case was the believer and not the Word.

That leaves open to discussion as to whether the uninterpreted parables of the mustard seed and the leaven (both demonstrating growth from small beginnings) are to be taken as allegory or as simple illustrations of a singe point. It is a simple fact that the kingdom of God (church) did eventually grow to fill the whole earth. But that is the same point made by Isaiah and Micah when speaking of a mountain growing to fill the earth (Isa. 2:2-4; Mic. 4:1-3). They started with a larger article, but the picture is the same!

My point of the three seeds is still valid, I suppose, but I certainly cannot draw it from the "logic" of Jesus' first interpretation if His subsequent interpretation contradicts me!

I learned my lesson. It is unwise to take a passage out of context just for an interesting interpretation. Remember, we see farther today because we stand on the shoulders of the "giants" that went before us!