Do you like solving riddles and puzzles? Do you do the Cross-Words from Saturdays Paper? Is Soduku more than just some random numbers on a page? Have you got the patience to solve the rubix cube? Have you given hours to a Jig Saw Puzzle? Do you know Where’s Wally on every page. Do you have the patience to look at a 3D Magic book until you can see the 3D image?
I must admit I don’t enjoy puzzles. They are too much like hard work for no good outcome. I don’t have the time or the brain space to work them out. Most of the time they are too hard to solve and I simply walk away.
To solve puzzles you need patience and time and application. And I observe that the people who do puzzles are often hooked on them. They really want to get out the solution to the puzzle, they are hooked and driven to find the solution.
Luke tells us that this parable is told when a great crowd has gathered. Jesus is at the height of his popularity. For Jesus is like a magnet. He sucks people out from the cities and towns all over Israel. So there is a great crowd. There are also the believing women, patrons and financial backers. They support Jesus financially as well as following him. And of course, there are the 12 with the rest of the disciples. And so we read that Jesus speaks to the crowd in parables. Second last paragraph on page 28.
A great crowd gathered, coming to him from every town. So he told a parable.
And this raises the question, Why? What is the function of the parables? Are they a good story that illustrate the point? Are they a home spun yarn that will teach a nice moral and keep the people interested? A bit like Aesop’s fable?
Well there are elements of truth in this, but that is not the core of the parable’s function?
Are they meant to make the point Jesus is making clearer? Like a text book sermon: Make the point. Explain the point. Illustrate it. Make the point again? No, in fact the opposite.
So here we see another of Jesus’ responses to his popularity. Jesus commands people not to talk about a miracle. Jesus withdraws by himself, or with his disciples. And Jesus speaks in parables.
The parables are a crowd control device. Jesus throws out a riddle, a puzzle, and see who is left standing.
The parable itself, the story, is quite simple. The circumstances would have been familiar to all Jesus’ hearers. A sower went out to sow his seed. He scatters his seed, and the seed finds 4 types of soil.
Soil type 1 is the hard soil on the path. It is soil like a cricket pitch. It has been walked on so its hard as concrete. Nothing goes into that soil, so the seed sits on the surface. You might as well be scattering seed on the footpath for the pigeons at Martin Place.
Soil type 2 looks good from up top. But it’s shallow soil. It’s got rock just below the surface. And because of the shallow soil, the seed springs up quickly. But the sun also springs up quickly. And burns the plant so it dies. Because the plant had no moisture below the surface, and no space for roots to grow down deep, just rock. Like when you mow the grass too short. The next sunny day, it all dies.
Soil type 3 is where the thorns also grow. And the thorns grew up alongside the seed and choked it. The seed grows, but the thorns grow also. So that the plant grows, but don’t give fruit.
And the soil type 4 is the good soil. It’s that rich, dark soil with lots of chook poo and cow manure in it. That lovely potent smell. And it actually works. The crop is fruitful. Luke tells us that this good soil produces a massive crop, literally a hundredfold.
Well, that’s the story. Earthy, homespun. It’s probably not rocket science trying to work it out. But then at the end of the parable Jesus gives this cryptic statement to the crowd: After saying this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!” In other words, some of you have ears. Some of you don’t. Notice, he doesn’t say, look, I’m saying this for all of you to understand. He is saying, ‘Look, for those of you who understand this, who get it, you hear it, you take it to heart. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. So the parable is scattered to all who hear, but it is intended only for those who get it.
So with this parable Jesus actually divides his hearers. There are those who understand. And there are those who don’t. For those who get it, you hear and you make sure you conform to it. For those who don’t, well... that’s what the parable is designed for. All you get is an unsolved riddle.
And so, from the way Jesus gives the parable, the implicit question is: 'Which Soil am I? Am I the good soil. With all that chook poo. Or am I something else. Something less than fruitful.
So that really begs the question, why parables? Why does Jesus speak in this veiled way?
Well, lets talk about this parable, and then lets talk about parables in general.
Why this parable? Well, we can hear this as hearers. Which soil am I? Am I a hearer that hears. Or we can hear this as preachers. Which soil are they? Either way, the parable of the soils gives a warning.
See, the parable is also a warning to preachers. At the beginning of chapter 9, Jesus will soon send out the 12 apostles to multiply his ministry, to do what he has been doing, and to preach the good news of the kingdom. At the beginning of chapter 10, sending out the 12 is not enough. So he commissions the 70 disciples to do the work of preaching and it’s ancillaries of healing and driving out demons.
And so he speaks this parable to his disciples and the apostles. For they need to know what response to expect. Will everyone respond by faith and repentance? Or will anyone respond by faith and repentance? It is a word for both the extreme optimist or the pessimist.
The extreme optimist thinks, Shouldn’t everyone come down the front, pray the prayer, say what must I do to be saved! And then get into bible study, prayer triplets, do Moore College Courses, Two Ways to Live training. Go into full time ministry. And so on.
The extreme pessimist thinks, We’ve tried this before and it didn’t work. I’ve told them the gospel before. No-one wants to know. They’re too hard. It’s all too hard. I hope Jesus comes back soon.
The parable speaks to both extremes.
Can you see how the question is relevant for our job of evangelism. When I invite people to church, or preach a sermon, or do two ways to live with them, or hand out a bible or a gospel, or speak the gospel to my neighbour, or share my testimony, will all of them repent and believe? will any of them repent and believe? What can I expect?
So Jesus’ parable is a warning for preachers. What should I expect when I preach the word.
So that’s why this parable. It is a warning for the preacher. It is a warning for the hearer.
But why any parables? Why does Jesus use these figures of speech?
Well it’s because he wants to divide his hearers, and drive his hearers. Top of page 29, second paragraph:
His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said to them, “You have been granted to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for the rest it is all in parables, so that even though they are ‘seeing’ they may not see, and even though they are ‘hearing’ they may not understand.
Firstly, the parables divide Jesus hearers There are different kinds of hearers. And the parables are a bit like a seive. They let through all the casual enquirers, all the people just checking out the flavour of the month. It repels these people. A bit like the cryptic crossword or soduku repels me. The investment in time and brain power is too great for too little return. I just couldn’t be bothered. It’s all a bit too hard.
But then, it drives people to find the answer. And just like serious Rubix Cube players get the manual. And serious chess players study the game. So serious enquirers into the secrets of the Kingdom of God don’t leave the kingdom of God as a secret. They get Jesus to tell them the secret, to tell them what the parable means, if they don’t understand it! So the parable drives Jesus’ disciples to ask him what the parable means. The parable herds people to Jesus, so that they might find out what the secret of the Kingdom of heaven is.
So the purpose of parables is not fundamentally to conceal, it is to reveal. Parables do not cover up the Kingdom of God. But they uncover the kingdom, for those who have ears to hear.
This I believe is the meaning of the parable of the lamp on the stand for Luke. Third last paragraph, on page 29:
No-one after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or puts it under the bed, but places it on a lampstand, so that those who come in might see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not become plain, and nothing concealed that will not become known and come to light. Be careful, then, how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him: but whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away from him.
Jesus is explaining the purpose of the parables by this parable of the lamp on a stand. Jesus has lit a lamp. He is revealing the secrets of the Kingdom of God. And he wants his disciples to understand it. He hasn’t said the parable to be obscure or to not reveal things. Rather, it is said for those who have ears to hear. Jesus tells them the parable so that it’s meaning will come to light.
Notice that Jesus is not intending the parables to be un-understandable. Any lack of understanding does not stem from the form of teaching, the parable It stems from the type of soil the person is.
As in many things, It’s not what you know but who you know. And because the disciples know Jesus, they have the key to unlocking any parable.
But the parables do also conceal. Not because of their nature as parables. But because the rest do not hear right. So for some, indeed, for the majority of the crowd, the parables have a hardening effect.
For whoever has, more will be given to him: but whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away from him.
In understanding the secrets of the kingdom of God, Jesus says, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. If some do understand the parable, if they do have ears to hear, they will be given more understanding. But if the rest don’t understand, don’t get it, and don’t really care, then they get nothing. Even the thing that they think they have, they lose.
But hey, this is not fair! Doesn’t God want all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth? It is all a bit exclusivist ‘The spiritually rich getting richer, and the poor get the picture’.
Well it is true. It is a bit exclusive. But the process allows for self-selection. For Jesus casts out no one who comes to him. But the problem was this. Most people didn’t come to him for the Kingdom of God. Most came to be healed, to be relieved, to be amazed, to wonder. But only a small circle came to understand the secrets of the kingdom of God.
Now, we could understand the parable without Jesus’ interpretation. In fact, most parables don’t have Jesus’ interpretation tacked on the end. And we can understand them! We could work hard, ask God to show us, talk about, and come to understand the parable. Because it is not the nature of parables as parables that conceals, the interpretation is not strictly necessary.
But it is always nice to have Jesus interpretation. In fact, all three gospels give Jesus’ interpretation of this parable. On page 29, second paragraph about half way through.
This is what the parable means: The seed is the message of God. The seed that fell along the path represents those who hear, but then the devil comes and takes the message from their heart, so that they may not believe and be rescued.
The first type is concrete soil. And we have met this. For there are those we share the good news of Jesus with, that have no understanding. They look blankly back at us. They might nod, smile, and walk away. Or they might say, ‘look, I’m not interested in that stuff, and shuffle off’.
And Jesus is telling us that there is more than meets the eye here. Satan is the god of this age, and he has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So people rejected the message of Jesus crucified and risen as foolishness.
But you guys are in church on Sunday, so you are less likely to be this type. You haven’t been made to come for a wedding or a funeral or a baptism. You’ve actually given up time and intended to be hear. What about the soil covering a shallow bedrock?
The seed that fell on the rocky ground stands for those who, when they hear, receive the message with joy. But they do not have any root. They believe for a while, but when the time of testing comes, they leave.
This type of soil are the fair-weather friends. They are happy to accept the good news of forgiveness and heaven. Not so happy about repentance and hell. They like the benefits of fellowship and love that came by Jesus’ cross. But not the costs like persecution and suffering for Jesus’ cross.
Like even the small costs.
The first person I led to Christ no longer goes to church, As far as I know, he no longer wants to be associated with Christians. He received it with joy. But in time fell.
The first person who took me to a local protestant church I don’t think goes to church anymore.
It is the time of testing that brings them undone. What are the tests? It might be wanting to pursue a romantic relationship with a non-Christian. It might be wanting to pursue a sexual relationship outside marriage, or outside the bounds of God’s word It might be the ridicule of family or friends.
And of course, we know in some cultures and countries, the threats that hang over someone who becomes a Christian are grave. If someone lives in a muslim country or communist country, responding to the good news of Jesus might cost them their life.
Friends, could this be us? Well, we don’t suffer as in some countries. We have freedoms. But many of us are young. We haven’t lived all that long. We might be those who run well for a time, but lose heart because of the costs. And it is at this point that we need to remember, that God is faithful. He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear, but when we are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that we can stand up under it. (1 Cor 10:13)
What about soil number 3? Top of the third paragraph.
Now the seed that fell into the thorns represents those who hear, but as they go along, they are choked by the worries and riches and pleasures of life; and they never mature to produce fruit.
This is the slow death. Notice that at the beginning these worries, these other things, weren’t tall plants. They thorns grew up with the seed. And notice that it was only over time that the fruit was choked out.
Well, I think that here lies our biggest danger. There is a warning here for us in the seed that fell among the thorns.
Do we not have many worries? How will I provide for my children? Will I be able to pay the mortgage or the rent? Will I keep my job? Will I find a job? Will I ever find a marriage partner? Will the marriage partner I have actually come good? Will my superannuation be adequate to retire on? How will I look after my elderly relative? What will happen to my needy child? Will I get the right accommodation? Will I never get over this sickness, this disease, this affliction?
Many of us have these worries. And some have a greater cause for worry in these things than others. But unfortunately, for some who claim the name Christ, these worries choke out the message of the kingdom. So instead of life being about Jesus as the King, who is sovereign over all of life, and sends both good and bad things to test us, life then focuses on these problems, these worries. And then their lives do not bear the fruit that Christ expects and promises.
We are told, friend, to cast our cares on the Lord, because he cares for us. We are told, dear brothers and sisters, to not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer, to thankfully bring our requests to God, so that the peace of God will guard our hears and minds in Christ Jesus. We are told by Jesus himself, not to worry about what we shall eat, and drink and wear, for the pagans run after these things and our heavenly father knows that we need them. Nor are we told to worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worries of its own.
But it is not just worries and cares that make these people unfruitful. It is also the good things, the riches and pleasures of life.
We live in a wealthy country. We have wonderful infrastructure, fantastic social security, all manner of food and drink, wonderful education for our children, we have cars, and trains, and air travel. And increasingly our culture is becoming more and more hedonistic. How can I maximize my pleasure and minimize my discomfort? How can I live the comfortable, stress free, pleasure filled, fulfilling life?
I think of a man who became a Christian with a bang, used to read the bible on the train, memorise it, did his testimony, but became less regular. He started talking more about Amway and less about the one who said ‘I am the Way’. He was last seen not with the bible but a get rich book in his hands.
I think of another man, smart, involved in beach mission and bible study, on the board of a mission organization and a key leader in his church. But he decided to leave his wife and kids and take up with the pretty young co-worker.
Or the young youth group leader who announced he was leaving church to become a homosexual.
Or the man in bible study who stole the bible study hosts’ wife, leaving his own in the process.
It is very hard to come back from there. It is possible, as King David shows. But very difficult. Father, preserve us and protect us from this and all sins like it.
There is another soil, however. This is the good one, full of dynamic lifter. This is what I hope each of us are. Page 29, third paragraph, half way through
And the seed that fell in good soil – these are the people who hear the message, and hold onto it in their good and noble hearts, and in persevering, produce fruit.
These hear the word. And they cleave to it. They hold on to it. They have good and noble hearts, hearts regenerated by the Holy Spirit, they are new creatures, and sincerely take hold of the word. And they persevere. They keep going. They don’t give up, but through thick and thin, through sickness and health, through riches or poverty, for better or for worse, they continue to live with Jesus as their King and boss and cast themselves on his death and resurrection for forgiveness. They might stumble, but their fall is not final. They get up and keep going. Friends, the saints persevere. That’s how you know they are saints. They keep going. And whether God takes them to be with him after few years or many, they are fruitful, and produce a massive crop, and leave after them a harvest of good works as evidence of their good and noble heart.
Friends, isn’t this the sort of soil we want to be? May it be found so with us.
Let’s pray.
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