Such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore.Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.And there were gathered unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a boat, and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach.
3 sermons cite this verse
… grateful for the gospel today. I'm so grateful for the gospel because Jesus makes it very clear, this parable in Matthew chapter 13, that here's the seed that's sown. And immediately what happens, immediately the seed is challenged. This is the great news for us. Here's the sower, right? Who's the Lord himself, who sows his grace on the world. Immediately as that seed is sown, it is challenged. Number one, the enemy comes along, steals it. Number two, you have this rocky ground. There's a persecution that happens. There's tribulation that happens and it just withers it. Number three, there's thorns that choke it. Worldly anxiety, lure of riches. Basically, Jesus is letting us know, like, okay, you have to get ready for this. You have to get ready for this. It's Sirach chapter two, verse one, which is one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. My son, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for trial. …
… 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. …