We will meet on Tuesdays from Noon to 1:00 pm or so for conversations about the Bible and about the Biblical readings for the upcoming Sunday. People are invited to bring a bag lunch and eat during our discussion time together.

Bible Conversations

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Noon, Student Lounge

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

            The text for this Sunday is the “Parable of the Sower.”  Jesus describes the process of planting crops by throwing seeds by hand on to various types of soil.  Some seeds fall on rocky soil and do not take root, some seeds are eaten by birds, some seeds start to grow but then wither and die.  Some seeds fall on good ground and produce abundantly.  To modern hearers this is a confusing parable and not made any easier by the explanation in Matthew 13:18-23.  But here are some questions we might discuss to help us find some more light breaking forth:

• What is the setting?
• Who is the sower?
• What are the seeds?
• What are the soils?
• Where do we see ourselves in this story?
• Why does Jesus teach in parables?
• Why is the story told twice?
• Why does this parable need an explanation?