START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
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OBSERVE:
One of Jesus’ favored methods of teaching is to tell stories — parables, that draw analogies between ordinary things (farming, baking bread, business transactions, fishing) and the things of God. We will focus on Jesus’ parables over the next three weeks, from Matthew 13. The lectionary editors have declined to include Jesus’ own rationale for telling parables, from Matthew 13:10-17, and from Matthew 13:34-35.
In these deleted passages, the disciples ask Jesus why he speaks in parables. His answer is that those who follow him will understand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven; and those who don’t follow will become even more obtuse and more resistant to comprehension. Jesus sees himself fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah 6:9-10 and Psalm 78:2 — and he blesses those who do have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
As Jesus begins to teach, he is sitting on the beach, but as the crowds push toward him he climbs into a fishing boat and speaks from this nautical pulpit to the crowd on the shore.
He tells the story of a farmer who goes out to sow seed. When the farmer sowed seed, he reached into a bag and scattered it widely on the field. This explains why some seed falls on the road, some on the rocks, some among the thorns, and some falls on good, fertile soil. The seed on the road is eaten by birds, the seed on rocky soil can’t put down good roots and dies quickly under withering sun, the seeds in the thorns can’t compete and are choked out, and the seed in good soil has a good yield.
And Jesus then says, somewhat cryptically,
He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
As we’ve seen, those who follow Jesus and seek to understand will be granted understanding — those who are resistant just won’t get it. The benefit of staying close to Jesus means that the disciples hear his interpretation of the parable so they can understand it.
In his interpretation, Jesus does draw some direct parallels that seem allegorical. The seed represents the word of the Kingdom. We are reminded that the central message from the beginning has been the present and soon-to-come Kingdom of God. After his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, he begins his ministry like this:
Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”…. Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people (Matthew 4:17, 23).
However, for those who hear the word of the Kingdom and don’t understand it — the evil one (represented by the birds), snatches it away.
The rocky ground is the heart of one who hears the word and receives it with joy, and even follows — for a while. But this hearer is shallow, and has no root — and when persecution comes, they have no endurance.
The thorny soil is the heart that is too easily distracted by worldly concerns and the deceitfulness of riches. Thick weeds overwhelm the good seed of the word.
The good ground is the person who:
hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.
APPLY:
This is a parable for both the sower of the seed and the receiver of the seed — the evangelist/preacher and the disciple (who are often the same thing).
The evangelist is to spread the seed liberally — preach and teach and share the word of the Kingdom with everyone that we possibly can. It is not up to us to determine who is ‘worthy’ to hear the word. Our job is to share it as widely as possible.
However, soul-care suggests that we must also be aware of the challenges faced by those who hear the word.
- The hard heart of the impenetrable roadside soil is vulnerable to the pecking of the evil one.
- The shallow heart of the rocky soil needs to deepen the roots so that the seed can grow.
- The weedy, thorny heart is distracted by too many other concerns to thrive.
Are these “types” of people who are merely hopeless, or is this a diagnostic tool that Jesus offers so that we identify where people are and help them become receptive? I’d like to think that the latter is true — because in a sense each of these compromised soils describes me at certain points in my own life! At times I have been hard-hearted, and shallow, and distracted by other concerns — and I am grateful that the sower of the seed has been persistent.
And then, there are the fertile soils that produce some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. Here we have a realistic picture of ministry and the church. Some ‘soils’ are simply more productive than others. This should never be a source of envy for those who don’t produce the same results as those who produce one hundred times as much. Rather, we should celebrate the success of others, and rejoice that we are able to participate in this kingdom work with our own measure of effectiveness.
RESPOND:
Gardening and yard work have helped me appreciate this parable more than ever. Weeds and thorns seem to flourish, and the flowers and shrubs I like are compromised. I have a semi-circle of monkey grass that is infested with poison ivy!
What I have learned about yard work is that it is a matter of constant maintenance and attention. Granted, this is not really the point of Jesus’ parable of the seed and the soils. He is explaining why some hearts are receptive and others are not. However, I am reminded of Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John, where he uses another agricultural metaphor:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you (John 15:1-7).
The farmer is very active in soul-care — he prunes the fruitless branch. And we also need to take notice of this — he also prunes the branches that do bear fruit, so that they may bear more fruit. This is a well-known technique among vine keepers. And, as one preacher has said, when the cutting is happening, the vine doesn’t know the difference between being cut off and merely being pruned! Pruning can be painful. Our job is to remain attached to the vine, which is Jesus!
Lord, I confess that there have been times that I have been like the roadside soil, or the rocky ground, or the thorny earth, and I have either not understood, or I have been shallow, or I have been easily distracted by the world. Please forgive me, and plant the seed of your word in the soil of my life that has been cleared, prepared, and weeded so that I can be fruitful. Amen.
PHOTOS: "Four corners" by Scripture Union is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.
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