Jesus taught the crowds by the lake using parables — stories that work like puzzles. He expected people to sit with these stories and slowly work out their meaning, much like readers once memorised scripture through repeated listening rather than quick reading. With the parable of the sower, Jesus does something unusual: he explains the story privately to his disciples afterward.
This explanation matters. It shows us that parables aren’t just puzzles for us to solve alone — they point us toward Christ. Theologians call the study of Jesus’ person and work “Christology.” When we ask who Jesus is and what he does, we gain the key to understanding all of scripture, including difficult Old Testament passages, like the violent conquest stories in Joshua. Jewish tradition offers rich ways of wrestling with such hard texts, something Western Christians have largely lost through relying too heavily on printed Bibles.
Ultimately, every question we bring to scripture leads back to Christ. It’s not enough to treat Jesus as just a source of personal spiritual comfort. We’re called to think seriously about who he is — God made flesh — and what his life, death, and resurrection mean for us. Guided by the Holy Spirit, we ask how Christ challenges us to live differently in the world, individually and as a church. That journey is both difficult and deeply rewarding.