Jesus taught by telling stories. We call them parables—earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. Jesus told many stories that pointed people to the deeper realities of God’s Kingdom. The Good Samaritan, the lost sheep, the lost son, the lost coin, and on and on. These are simple stories, and people like simple stories. But they are also deep stories. The story of the sower pries deep into the heart of the matter. And the matter is, what do we do with the word? Both the Word breathed by the Spirit and the Word made flesh. The stories that Jesus tells brings our thoughts to the heart of the matter. And this is where we will go for the next few weeks, the heart of the matter.