That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” 

Matthew 13:1 – 3

In a flurry of healings, Jesus pauses, so to speak, and teaches some fundamental truths of the Kingdom of God.  He employed simple stories or observations that everyone shared.  We call them parables.

It appears that the crowds were first drawn by the miracles of Jesus, one amazing healing after the other.  They were drawn to this amazing “miracle worker,” who did unbelievable things.

The time has come for Jesus to reveal who he is, in fact, and what is the nature of the Kingdom he has come to establish.  So, Jesus turns the attention of his followers from miraculous deeds to the most fundamental, life-changing teaching that is basic to all his ministries.

The crowds that were excited by his abilities to heal rushed to Jesus.  Then, Jesus changed the setting dramatically.  He moved away from the people who followed him to the lakeside by getting on to a boat that was there and taught from a common boat.

He must have realized that people need to understand, not how miracles work, but how the Kingdom of God is built on the earth.  It appears to me that Jesus used healings, etc., to attract people to the Kingdom, but the Kingdom was not only a healing place.  It is where we human beings peer into the heart of God to understand what He is about on the earth.

Dramatic healings opened the minds of people to consider Jesus.  That was a good thing.  But how was Jesus going to reveal who he is?  And the nature of the Kingdom that he came to establish?

He did not take the approach of the Jewish rabbis who were caught up by obedience to laws that they formulated. That is what they taught.  Contrast that to Jesus’ little story that opened this way – “A farmer went out to sow his seed.”  There is nothing very dramatic in that.  It is what the people knew very well, quite ordinary behavior, and at first glance, was not necessarily miraculous.  No Jewish rabbi would teach like this.  Jesus did.

As I think about it, Jesus did not announce the coming of his Kingdom in ways the people were accustomed to, by pressing the Law.  This must have confused the hearers on the lake-side.  Jesus described a familiar sight – a person sowing seed.  Who is this, Jesus?  What is he saying?