The Sower and the Seed
I’m not sure what it is about summer, but I tend to read more during the summer than the winter. Maybe it’s the vacations I take which gives some added down time to read, or maybe it’s the fact that there’s not much on TV during the summer and the college football and basketball seasons are over, I don’t know, but I do tend to read more during the summer and this summer I picked up a series of books that I have probably read at least 5 times. It’s not that they are such great classis of literature, they aren’t, they are just good stories with likable characters who embark on a journey of good verses evil with good always winning in the end. I’m not sure what your summer reading list has on it, but I hope that during the next month you will take some time to read some of the greatest stories ever told, not the classics of literature, but the parables of Jesus. Jesus was a master storyteller. He didn’t just gather huge crowds because he could perform miracles and provided food for free; people flocked to Jesus to hear what he had to say. Jesus told stories that not only engaged people hearts, minds and imaginations, but he told stories of such deep spiritual truths that the hearing and reflecting on those stories changed people’s lives. For the next few weeks are going to look at some of these great stories and reflect ourselves on the parables found in Matthew 13. While the stories might be familiar, they still speak spiritual truths that can shape our hearts and lives if we allow them to.
Read Matthew 13:1-16. Before we look a the parable itself, let’s first ask the question why did Jesus speak in parables? Why did Jesus use these stories to convey deep spiritual truths? That was the question the disciples asked Jesus in Matthew 13:10 and here is Jesus response (13:11-16). I have to say, this response really does not clear things up very well and it can be easy to misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not saying that he speaks in parables so that people can’t understand him, he actually is saying the opposite. Jesus speaks in parables to help people understand.
I believe there are two reasons Jesus used parables to help people understand the truth about God. The first is that parables used ordinary everyday language that people understood. In Jesus day most of the teaching and preaching sounded more like lawyers talking about the finer details of the law. The Scribes and Pharisees were actually called the teachers of the law and what they did was gather together to dissect the law found in the Old Testament. They taught people how to apply the law to every part of their lives and they looked for all the loopholes there might be to try and plug them up. For the crowds of people who were not educated, this kind of teaching and preaching left them on the outside unable to understand anything about God. The parables Jesus told, however, used stories and images that everyone could understood. People knew about farming so they understood what happened when a sower went out to sow seeds. They had seen seed fall on hard ground and rocky ground and good ground. They knew the size of mustard seeds and how to cast nets into the sea so when Jesus used that language, people could understand and begin to comprehend the truth of God.
There is a second reason Jesus taught in parables and that is what he is getting at in Matthew 13:11-16. What Jesus is saying here is that when a heart is open to God, the parables open up the floodgates of understanding in the heart and mind of those who are listening. Look at verse12 (read), now the Message translates that this way, Whenever someone has a ready heart, the insights and understandings will flow freely but if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. In other words, if people are open to hearing what God has to say the parables reveal deep spiritual truths that change people’s lives, but if people are not open to what God has to say, then the parables make no sense and the truth is hidden from them. It’s not that Jesus is hiding any truth from the people, it’s not that he doesn’t want them to understand, but he says that for them to understand they need to have open hearts. Jesus not only says that here, but isn’t that the first image in Jesus parable of the sower? Look at Matthew 13:4.
In his explanation of the parable, Jesus tells us that the seed being sowed is the word of God, you could even say that the seed is the truth of God contained in the parables and the different types of soil are the different types of hearts and lives that hear this word. If a heart is not open to God’s word, then the truth and the meaning of the parable is lost, it’s like a seed that falls upon a hard path and is taken away. But if the heart is open, the seed is able to sink in and take root. Now what is so encouraging about this is that the truth of God does not require us to have a mind that understands everything, we simply need a heart open to God. Reading the word of God does not require us to have a PhD, or even a Master of Divinity; to understand the life changing truth of God simply requires a heart that is open to what God has to say.
I have heard so many people say that they don’t read the bible because they can’t understand all that they are reading, trust me I know what you mean. I don’t understand all that I read either, but what Jesus is saying here is that grabbing hold of God’s truth doesn’t require a brilliant mind - it just requires a hungry heart. Are we open to hearing the word of God? Do we want to know God’s truth? Are we ready for the life changing power of God’s word to shape our lives? Do we just want to know more about God and more of God? If we do, then when we read the Bible, the insights and understandings will flow freely.
Being open to God may be the first step in allowing God’s word to change us, but it is not the last, Jesus goes on in his parables and talks about the seed that falls on rocky soil (13:5-6). The problem here is that the seed was never able to take root so when the sun came out the plant died. For the word of God to take root in our lives we can’t just listen to God’s word with our ears, we have to listen with our hearts; we have to apply what God says to our lives. We have to let God’s word take root in us, we have to let it sink deep within us and allow God’s word to give direction to our lives. For example, it’s not enough for us to hear about the grace and love of God, we have to make that grace and love our own.
Have we accepted the love of God for ourselves, do we know that God has forgiven us and that God loves us more than we can possibly imagine? I have a friend who serves a church and in the course of the past year he has talked to several of his parishioners who have shared with him that they just can’t believe that God has forgiven them of everything. These are people who have been in church their entire lives, they have heard the word of God weekly, maybe read it daily for years but they have not allowed that word to take root. They have not allowed the truth of God’s love and grace to sink in and take hold of them so when problems have sprung up their faith has not helped hem. They have had nothing to hold on to during tough times because they never really accepted and acted on God’s word, so when the sun came out, their faith was scorched and died.
It’s not enough to just hear God’s word with an open heart, we have to take God’s word and apply it to our lives and I believe it all starts with accepting God’s love and grace for ourselves. Allowing God’s word to shape our lives means understanding that first and foremost we are forgiven for our sin and that forgiveness means being set free from the guilt of sin and the hold that sin has on us. Accepting God’s love and grace also means stepping out into life with the confident assurance that God goes with us and more than that, that God has a plan and purpose for us. It means that like Paul we can face any problem or storm in life with confidence because we trust the promise that God is not only with us but that God is with us to save us. When we allow God’s word to truly live with in us and when we live it out in our lives, we find the strength to overcome.
As we seek to apply God’s word to our lives we also need to make sure that we keep God’s word a priority. It is only the consistent reading, reflection and application of God’s word that will help us keep all of our priorities right and that is what Jesus is talking about in the third seed and soil he mentions in Matthew 13:7. When we allow something else to become a priority in life over God what we are doing is giving room for it to grow, and the more room we give it to grow, the less room there is for God. It’s like weeds and thorns growing up in a field. The more room they take, the more they choke out the good plants. So we need to keep the word of God a priority in our life. We need consistent time reading God’s word and every day we need to apply that word to our lives. The more we keep God’s word as a priority, the more our priorities will be straight. Let me repeat that, the more we keep God’s word a priority in our lives, the more our life’s priorities will remain straight. It just happens, the way a healthy lawn keeps out the weeds.
So what is God’s truth we hear in this parable? Jesus first says that all we need to understand the word of God is an open heart eager to understand God’s truth. Then we need to apply God’s truth to our lives so that our faith can help us during difficult times in life, and then if we will consistently read and reflect on the word of God - our priorities in life will remain straight and our faith will remain strong. If we will do all of this, then life will be good and that is the message of the last seed Jesus talks about, Matthew 13:8.
The good soil produced a crop and God’s word can produce in us a strong and faithful life if we will read it, accept it and live it out in our lives. Does this good crop mean everything in life will go well for us and that we will not face any problems or obstacles? No, the sun will beat down and the weeds will grow up, but the word of God can help us overcome the problems and find the strength and the peace to endure them. I have been struck recently by a study I read that said that the reading and reflection of Scripture is the number one catalyst for spiritual growth for all people. Being new to the faith or a life time follower of Jesus didn’t matter, the #1 catalyst for spiritual growth was the reading and reflection of scripture. We all need to make the reading and reflection on God’s word a daily part of our lives, so we need to make God’s word part of our summer reading, if we will, our faith will grow and our lives will change.
