Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.And again he began to teach by the sea side. And there is gathered unto him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by the sea on the land.
6 sermons cite this verse
… But do you mind, can we begin in verse 1 to get the whole context? And again, he began to teach by the sea, and a great multitude was gathered to him. So that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. Then he taught them many things by parables and said to them, in his teaching, listen, behold, or check it out, a sower went out to sow, and it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside, and the birds of the air came and devoured it. Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth. But when the sun was up, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. But other seed fell on good ground, and it yielded a crop that sprang up, increased, and produced some thirtyfold, some sixty, some a hundred. And he said to them, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. But when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parable. …
… this is evident in the life of Jesus if you look at verse 1 and 2 notice what it says and again he began to teach them by the sea and a great multitude was gathered to him so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea and the whole multitude was on the land facing the sea. You can picture it, right? It's like an amphitheater. He launches out a little bit in the water. The crowd is there on the shore. They can't get any further. The amplification of the water would help. Verse 2, then he taught them many things by parables and said to them in his teaching. Stop there. There's a few words I'd like you to notice. First is the word again. And then notice the threefold repetition of the same word in different conjugal forms, the word teach. Teach, taught, and teaching. He's doing it again. What is he doing again? Teaching them. He taught them. He's all about teaching. …
… It starts like this. Again, Jesus went out and began to teach beside the Sea of Galilee. And a giant crowd began to gather around him so that he got into a boat and stationed himself out on the sea. And the whole crowd was on the shore facing the sea. And he began to teach them many things in parables. And in his teaching, he was saying, listen, look. the farmer went out to sow his seed. And it happened, as he was sowing, some of the seed fell along the path. And the birds came and gobbled it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much earth. And straightway it sprang up, because the earth was shallow. And when the sun came up, it was scorched. And since it had no root, it withered. Other seed fell into the weeds, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no grain. And other seeds fell into the good earth, the rich earth, and they proceeded to produce grain, growing and increasing and bearing, in one case, 30 times more, in another case, 60, and in another case, 100 times more than what was sown. …
… On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down. and spoke. A couple things the church fathers loved is Jesus coming out of his house. They saw that as emblematic of the Logos leaving his heavenly place now to come into the world. And then Jesus sitting in the boat, so he's floating on the water, calls to mind the spirit at the beginning of creation hovering over the surface of the water. So it's references to divinity coming into the world, divinity drawing order from chaos. Also, the attitude of Jesus sitting. Same thing in the Sermon on the Mount. He sits down, his disciples at his feet, and the people arrayed before him. Well, the seated attitude was the position of the teacher in the ancient world. You'd sit down, and people would arrange themselves at your feet. Same thing here. He sits in the boat, so he's the attitude of the teacher. And then he delivers this famous parable of the sower sows on the path, on rocky ground, on thorny ground, and some falls on good soil, and so on. …
… such large crowds large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it while all the people stood on the shore and then he told them many things and parables saying and he begins to teach them this whole chapter you get to the end look at verse 53 Matthew gives the closure very intentionally. It says in verse 53 when Jesus had finished these parables same phrase underlined there he moved on from there. So he finishes his teaching and moved on. Let me show you two more. Look at Matthew 18. Matthew chapter 18 verse 1. Now in between all of these Jesus is healing he's doing all kinds of different things but there's a focus here on his teaching these blocks. Look in 18 verse 1. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And so he begins to teach them all the way through the end of this chapter. You get to chapter 19, verse 1, and you see the phrase, another time. …
… Saints, let's go to work. Again, Jesus began to teach beside the sea. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the sea and sat there while the crowd was beside the sea on the land. He began to teach them many things in parables. And in his teaching, he said to them, listen. A sower went out to sow and as he sowed some seed fell on the path and and birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it did not have much soil and it sprang up quickly since it had no depth of soil and when the sun rose it was scorched and since it had no root withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain growing up and increasing and yielding 30 and 60 and a hundredfold. And he said, let anyone with ears to hear listen. When he was alone, those who were around him, along with the twelve, asked him about the parables. And he said to them, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God. But for those outside, everything comes in parables in order that they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen but not understand, so that they may not turn again and be forgiven. …