Matthew 13

Another lengthy chapter today, mostly filled with parables this time. Each of them is a way Jesus related a truth about His kingdom - which is spiritual, and not (yet at least) a physical empire on this earth. Some of the stories He explained in more detail to His disciples, but the meanings of most of them aren't too hard to decipher... though I suppose we an advantage in that area that those originally hearing Jesus preach did not, in the form of the written books of the Bible (especially the New Testament) which we can study.

Jesus' use of parables here fulfills a couple more prophecies about Him, from Isaiah 6:9-10 and Psalm 78:2. It is cool to see how aware of those scriptures the author, Matthew, was: even though he wasn't a priest or anything like that (he was, in fact, a tax collector - before Jesus called him as a disciple) he had read enough of the prophets to be able to cite Isaiah as well as others. I wonder if that came from his time studying under Jesus, or if he was already familiar with those prophecies beforehand.

Finally, the chapter ends with Jesus returning to his hometown of Nazareth. Because the people who lived there knew Him, though, they had trouble believing that this 'local boy' was truly able to speak with authority and knowledge. Their disbelief led to Jesus performing fewer miracles there than in other places he visited, which is a pity... and a good reminder that we should put out faith and trust in Him, even if things don't seem believable from a human standpoint.