Hi everyone. Welcome back once again to Logical Bible Study, where we take a look at the literal sense of

scripture. We do a really solid exegesis of the text of the gospel from today's Mass. And for today, we're looking at the literal sense of scripture, we do a really solid exegesis of the text of the gospel

from today's Mass. And for today, we're looking at Matthew chapter 13, verses 31 to 35. So here's

today's text. Jesus put a parable before the crowds. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.

It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all,

and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.

He told them another parable.

The kingdom of heaven is like the yeast, a woman took and mixed in with three measures

of flour till it was leavened all through.

In all this, Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables.

Indeed, he would never speak to them except in parables.

This was to fulfill the prophecy.

I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.

So we're in Matthew chapter 13, which is often considered the kingdom parables chapter.

So here Matthew brings together about seven parables that Jesus speaks throughout his ministry

and Matthew has brought them all together, or it's possible that Jesus spoke them on the same

occasion, it's not entirely clear, but they're all about the kingdom.

And as you've probably heard me say,

if you've been listening for the last few days, this is where the science of exegesis is really

important. You've probably heard people mishandle parables a lot, and it's really important when we're

studying parables. We want to find out what was the meaning Jesus intended. Before we jump to any possible spiritual applications, we always want to think about what was the meaning Jesus intended,

because he usually intended to make one basic point.

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