I'd quit the ministry were it not for what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 13! Here Jesus is brutally honest in telling his ministers both then and now what to expect. In the best of times ministry is difficult. In the worst of times it is downright intolerable. But there is hope! For in Jesus Christ, nothing is wasted!

Matthew 13 is a unique Bible chapter. It is all but the first time in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus used parables to teach. And, clearly, these parables comprise a single sermon, at that! The first four parables were taught to the disciples, as well as the world, using the prow of a small boat as a pulpit! (Matthew 13:1-3). Then Jesus left the crowd, went into a house with his apostles (13:36), and finished out his message with three more parables.

In the Greek, the word para…