Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-08

In our lesson this week we find Jesus
preaching to great crowds at the sea-
shore, using fishermans boat as a
puls.it. This unique pulpit gave him an
opportunity to increase His effective
ness as preacher. The great crowd
| could be seen by Him more easily than
| II he had tried to preach to them from
temporary platform on the shore. The
water aided His delivery, for 1t carried
His message with greater power.
Although the use of parallels was
| popular rabbinical method of preach
ing, Jesus, who has given to the world
| its greatest parallels, had not used them
| in His ministry preceding the lesson
| assigned for our consideration for this
| week. The positive. pointed and prac-
teal messages, with their incidental
illustrations, that had marked the
| preaching of the Master In His public
discourses are supplanted by His use Of
parallels. In His explanation of His
reasons for making the change of meth
DDS that Jesus gave to His apostles in
! the inquiry room, we find that Christ
was prompted by sound pedagogical
| principles, prophecy and practicability.
He was past master in the art of
| imaginative expression and He used
/ illustration that always gripped His
1
! force. The choicest parallels to be
found in all literature were given to His
hearers by the Lord Jesus, who, without
! doubt, was influenced by the growing
numbers of His enemies who were al
ways present in any large assembly that
| gathered to hear His words, eager to
catch some phrase or word that they
could use in entrapping Him.
Matthew shows us that 1t was In ac-
cordance with prophecy that Jesus used
parallels that protected the truth, like
germs, that later it may aid in the de-
velopment of the hidden life by the sac
rif1ce of itself. The parable protected
the truth that it enshrined from the
mockery of the scoffers by withdrawing
its light from the lovers of darkness, as
punishment, while it revealed its mes
sage to the thoughtful seekers of truth
In this parable Of the sower, that really
is one of the soils, we have hint OF
from human hearts. The mysteries OF
the kingdom of God contains truths
that are beyond the comprehension OF
mere intellect. There must be spir-
itual approach to the truth of the Lord
Jesus if it is to be understood. Its Sc
cret can only be understood by revela-
ton of the Lord Jesus or the Holy
Spirit.
The Parable Of the Soil.
Probably while Jesus was speaking, he
! could see a farmer sowing seed upon his
hillside farm Everything had a spiritual
message for the Christ. Watching the
sewer scatter his seed gave the Master
an illustration of the receptivity OF the
human hearts for the message of the
gospel. In His Interpretation OF this
parable of the sower, the Lord Jesus
| taught that the four different kinds OF
soil represented four different attitudes
OF the heart toward the gospel-the
hardened, superficial, preoccupied and
reverent.
The wayside soil represented the
| hardened hearts attitude toward the
truth. The pathway had been hardened
| by the feet of the multitude, that had
crossed through the farm, which was
unfenced and had several paths through
1t. Many apparently religious persons
have hearts that have been beaten hard
by worldliness They may attend church
services, yet not be interested in spirit
ual life and work. Their sin, selflShness
and sensuality prevent them from APP
preciating spiritual values "Habitual
| indifference has withered the spiritual
| nerve and truth does not issue In noble
conduct. Those to whom beauty and
truth make no appeal, and injustice
causes no indignant sensation are hard
| ened hearts, past feeling"