"The mixed reaction to the King’s message" by Rod Bayley, 21 October 2007, Matthew 13:1 - 23

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Stories are far more memorable and powerful than bare statements of
facts or principles. For example, I could tell you that Australians
avoid talking about death, and so many avoid confronting its
inevitability. Despite around 130,000 Australians dying every year,
death has never been high on the list of dinner-party talk, and when
it is talked about the conversation is often to do with postponing
death, or denying its hold on us.

But it would be far more memorable to express this truth through a
story. Philip Rhoades is a 55 year old biologist and IT consultant
who lives in Sydney - his view of his own approaching death is: “I’m
going to live forever. When I die I’ve made arrangements to have my
body flown to America, and go into cryonic suspension. There are 100
people in cryonic suspension now, including four Australians, and
1,000 others signed up. It costs $70,000. Most of us are involved in
medicine or science, and believe it will one day be possible to revive
and repair us.” Rhoades does admit that lying suspended in liquid
nitrogen at minus 196 degrees celsius is not everyone’s cup of tea
(Good Weekend, April 2003).

Well I guess he is able to talk about death, sort of, although I think
his story is a memorable summary of our society’s denial of death’s
hold on us. He’s going to be revived and repaired and live forever.

Well, as we commence a series on Matthew 13-16 today, we’re
considering the first section of chapter 13, a chapter that is full of
stories. Of course they are not simply people’s stories, but they are
constructed stories or parables which have a deeper meaning. The
classic definition of a parable is “an earthly story with a heavenly
meaning.” It appears that one of the reasons that Jesus uses parables
as his favoured method of teaching people, is because they are so
memorable. However, we will come to another more important reason for
their use in a little while, which Jesus gives in our passage. The
section that we are going to consider today is the famous ‘parable of
the sower’, which is sometimes more helpfully referred to as the
‘parable of the soils,’ because it focuses on the response to the seed
or the message of God’s kingdom. Unlike some of Jesus’ parables, this
one is explained, so we can be clear about it’s meaning. We will look
at this passage in three sections: firstly, Jesus tells the parable;
secondly, Jesus explains to his disciples why he speaks in parables;
and thirdly, Jesus explains the parable to his disciples.

Firstly, Jesus tells the parable of the sower. Notice firstly the
setting of the parable in verses 1 to 3. We learn in these opening
verses that this occurred on the same day as his earlier discussions
in chapter 12 where his mother and brothers had come to speak with him
and take control of him. Jesus had then gone out to Lake Galilee and
because of the large crowds, he sits in a boat just off the shore
where the people stood, presumably so that they could more easily see
and hear him speak, and so that Jesus was not swamped.

From verses 3 to 9 Jesus then gives his opening parable, which of
course is an agricultural analogy which points to a spiritual truth.
His hearers would have been well versed in sowing seed and harvesting
crops as the people basically lived off the land. Jesus emphasises
the four soils into which the seed scattered by the farmer fell. So
we’re told that some seed falls along the path, some on rocky places,
some amongst thorns and some on good soil. The outcome of the seed
sown in each of these places is the key element to the parable - what
is produced from this mixed field. Notice the result that Jesus
describes. Firstly, in verse 4 we’re told that the seed that landed
along the path was eaten by birds. This is hardly surprising - seed
exposed on a hard path was easy pickings for passing birds. Secondly,
in verses 5 and 6 we’re told the result for the seed that fell on
rocky ground. We learn in verse 5 that being on rocky places it
landed in only shallow soil, and so it sprang up quickly. This may
seem slightly less obvious, but it makes perfect sense because seeds
require the sun’s heat to germinate. If they are in shallow soil they
are closer to the surface and the soil is drier, and so they germinate
and sprout quickly. This looks good initially, but the problem in
verse 6 is that they will have shallow roots and so if you get hot
weather, such sprouts will wither quickly because they cannot obtain
enough moisture. Thirdly, in verse 7 we learn that the seeds which
fell among the thorns also sprouted, but were choked out by the thorns
which grew up amongst them. Lastly, there was the seed that fell on
good soil, and finally Jesus describes a crop that resulted - the
harvest varies from a thirty-fold increase to a 100-fold increase on
what was sown, which is an amazing return for a crop.

Jesus was only re-telling them a familiar scenario. But some at least
would have assumed that his purpose was to teach them, so they were
surely to look beyond the farming description. And this is what Jesus
instructs them to do in verse 9 - notice that he states: “He who has
ears, let him hear.” There is more to this parable than its surface
meaning. But of course, without hearing an explanation it is quite
cryptic - it is at least open to various interpretations and
presumably many in the crowd weren’t sure about the deeper meaning
being conveyed. This is confirmed by the disciples’ question in verse
10. Notice what they say: “The disciples came to him and asked, “Why
do you speak to the people in parables?” The question implies an
awareness that many did not have the ears to hear Jesus’ meaning.
Indeed, the disciples themselves don’t understand fully what was said
- why else would Jesus have to explain the parable to them from verse
18. And so it is a natural question, driven out of their own
frustration and that of the crowd. In short, they are asking Jesus,
‘why don’t you just speak in plain language?’

Many of us know this sense of frustration of not understanding
something we’ve heard or seen. At the opening night curtain raiser
for the cultural events associated with the Sydney Olympics, Christine
and I were at the Superdome at Homebush, along with the thousands of
others. We were hearing a combined 900 voice choir accompanied by the
100 piece Sydney Symphony Orchestra. What we were witnessing was the
presentation of Mahler’s 8th Symphony - it was an incredible sound
which filled the whole of the Superdome. However, although we enjoyed
what we were hearing, and were inspired by the sheer power of the
production, we didn’t really understand what we were witnessing. You
see, we are not classical music buffs - the $100 tickets we had, were
given to us by a couple across the street who were unable to go as the
wife was very sick with the flu. As a result, we had no appreciation
from which European country Mahler was from, or when he lived, or
whether his symphony was difficult to play, or whether the
presentation we heard was well performed. And I certainly couldn’t
understand the additional opera singers who joined part way through
and exchanged solos in a foreign language. Its fuller meaning was
lost on us. Well, in the case of Jesus’ teaching, this was the
response of most of the hearers - little understanding.

Jesus has an answer for the disciples’ natural concern in verses 11 to
17 - this is our second point - ‘The purpose of parables.’ The short
answer comes straight away in verses 11 and 12, notice: “He replied,
‘The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given
to you, but not to them. 12Whoever has will be given more, and he
will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will
be taken from him.” That answer must have been more than a little
surprising to the disciples. Jesus is saying that he is deliberately
being cryptic - that the crowds are not meant to understand the
secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Furthermore, in verse 12 it appears
that those who do understand will be given more understanding, while
others will lose the little grasp they have. Jesus is stating that
the privilege of understanding the secrets or ‘mysteries’ of the
kingdom belongs to his followers, but not to those who refuse to
believe. It doesn’t sound right on first hearing - which is why I
think Jesus goes on to explain further what he means in verses 13 to
15, both for the disciples benefit and our own. Look again at what
Jesus says:
“This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not
see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. 14In them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never
understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. 15For
this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their
ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with
their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and
turn, and I would heal them.”

Many people think that the parables spoken by Jesus were just simple
illustrations intended to clarify. But this is the opposite of what
Jesus says here. At this point in his ministry, Jesus deliberately
adopted parables as his method of teaching in order to withhold
information from those who had rejected him as Messiah - to withhold
further truth about himself and the kingdom he was bringing. Parables
were Jesus’ method of teaching believers about the coming of the
kingdom while at the same time veiling the truth from those whose
hearts had already hardened against Him, the king of the kingdom. The
majority of Christ’s generation are the fulfilment of Isaiah’s
prophecy about a people whose spiritual faculties have grown dull.
Isaiah 6:9-10 is cited almost word for word, and the rejection of
Isaiah’s words, just like Jesus’ words, brought judgment. The heart
of the nation had become callous - they refused to turn to God. We
need to grasp that Jesus’ ministry has a two-fold result - it brings
salvation to those who receive him, and judgment upon those who reject
him. It is in this sense that the word of God is always effective.

This is why in verses 16 and 17 Jesus tells the disciples about their
privilege of understanding his teaching - “blessed are your eyes
because they see, and your ears because they hear”(v16). To his
disciples Jesus exclaims, how fortunate they are, because they have
entered into truth that prophets and upright people have long desired
to know (1 Pet.1:10-12).

Well, I think this middle section leads us to a question that we need
to think about: ‘How is it that God can hold all people responsible
for their acceptance or rejection of Christ if not everyone’s eyes are
opened to the truth?’ That is: ‘How do the doctrines of our free will
and God’s election fit together?’ On the one hand, Jesus tells us in
verse 12 that the knowledge that his disciples have of him and his
kingdom is a gift - “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of
heaven has been given to you, but not to them.” Here is election at
work - God opens the minds of some, but not others. It’s not that the
disciples are more intelligent - they get it, but others are too dull.

But what about free will on the other hand? That is, my free choice
of following God, my decision to accept or reject. Well, this comes
out in verse 15, in the quote from Isaiah 6. It seems that it is the
person’s choice to reject God - the hearts of the Israelites had
become calloused, they didn’t hear, “they had closed their eyes.” It
seems that if they weren’t so obstinate they would see, hear,
understand, and turn in repentance. This is why it’s better to talk
about ‘human responsibility,’ rather than ‘free will’ - we are held
responsible for our choices, for our rejection of King Jesus.

Well, what are we to make of all this? How are we to hold this tension
together? Election is an issue that Christians often struggle with.
Although the bible affirms our human responsibility - we are certainly
not robots - it also simultaneously affirms God’s election. Election
is actually a theme throughout the OT, which is seen most starkly in
God choosing the nation of Israel (Deut. 7:7), but also individuals.
The NT bears the same testimony. For example, in Ephesians 1 Paul
informs his Christian readers that they were chosen, in verse 4:
“before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Cf. Jn.
1:12-13, 5:40, 6:44; Acts 13:48; Phil.2:13; Titus 1:1)
Of course, our usual struggle with this is that we think God is unfair
somehow, and people therefore have no real free will and can’t be
blamed. But Paul responds to this very objection of injustice in
Romans 9:14-21. The bible will have nothing of this either/or approach
- rather it is a case of both/and - both are true and held in
tension. We need to see our human responsibility as a subset of God’s
sovereign election - we make choices and are accountable for our sin,
but God knows what choices we will make beforehand, and He opens our
eyes. If our free will could override God’s sovereignty than God
would be constantly surprised by His own creation - in fact He would
not be all-knowing, He would not be God.

The third section of our passage is from verses 18 to 23 - Jesus here
explains the parable of the sower just to his disciples. Here we
learn what the four soil responses to the seed sown mean. Notice
firstly in verse 19 that the seed sown on the path is representative
of the person where the message has no spiritual penetration - though
the message is heard there is no understanding. The bird snatching the
seed away in the parable is representative of the devil who takes away
what was sown. Secondly, in verses 20 and 21, the rocky soil is
representative of the shallow response - the person has initial
interest but the commitment is brief and is ended as soon as trouble
or persecution comes. Thirdly, in verse 22 the thorns which choke out
the seed are the “worries of this life and the deceitfulness of
wealth” - here is someone more committed to earth than heaven.
Finally, the good soil in verse 23 is the man who both “hears the word
and understands it.”

This all appears fairly straight forward, but questions might be
raised about how we understand the second and third person. It’s
obvious in the first case that there is hearing but no understanding,
and that both are present in the last case of the good soil. Here is
a clear rejection and acceptance of God’s word about the kingdom which
centres on Jesus. But what about the second and third examples?
Verse 21 actually uses the phrase “falls away” in describing the rocky
soil response, so are they Christians who fell away? The short answer
is no - they were never genuine disciples, their responses were only
superficial. The words ‘fell away’ are not in the original Greek -
rather ‘he is offended.’ That is, he regards adherence to Christ as a
trap if it means persecution and so he is repelled. This is a fair-
weather friend whose profession of loyalty is exposed for the sham it
is when trials come, as they will.

The third person caught up in the worries of this life and financial
well-being is guaranteeing a spiritual crop failure. All they have is
an initial appearance of commitment - from the human viewpoint we
cannot tell whether a genuine response has been made or not, but God
knows, and in time we will see the fruit, or lack of it. The whole
agricultural analogy shows this to be correct because there was never
any harvest from the first three areas - there was no fruit, no crop.
Only in the last example of the good soil was there a genuine response
which bore fruit. Now that is not to say that genuine Christians
cannot wander for a time or struggle, but those who are genuine
followers will be believers at the end (as we saw last week from John
10), and they will produce a harvest. If you are God’s child you will
produce fruit - the Spirit will produce the fruit of the Spirit, the
fruit of righteousness in you.

Well, what is the application of this for us today? Firstly, I think
Christians need to realise that Jesus himself expected a mixed
response to his message. He preached repent and believe as the way to
enter the kingdom - people had to accept Jesus as King to enter his
kingdom. But we see throughout the gospels that he was often rejected,
and we’ll see this in our short series over the next 7 weeks. There
were varying responses to the casual observer, at least initially, but
in the end there was really only two responses - genuine understanding
and commitment, or rejection of the message. This is informative for
our responsibility to share Jesus’ message today. There will be
different responses as we share the gospel and so we shouldn’t be
disheartened - this is to be expected. Christine and I have had cool
responses by two sets of neighbours since we shared something of our
faith. In one case, just the fact that I was a pastor was enough to
end the friendly introductions and avoid us. They obviously fear that
we’ll make them uncomfortable. The message of the gospel continues to
divide people. The apostle Paul states this in 2 Corinthians 2:14-16:
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in
Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the
knowledge of him. 15For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those
who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16To the one we are
the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.”

We are to share the gospel and call for people to make a response,
realising that it is God who elects and ultimately produces the
response in people. We should be comforted by the fact that the
response does not depend on us - it is not our human methods or
techniques that will convert anyone. We simply need to be faithful in
sharing the gospel and living godly lives which match our profession
of faith. We are to share God’s promises with all, and He will
produce the fruit - He knows the result. God the farmer scatters the
seed of the gospel on all soil types through us his ambassadors.

Secondly, if you are not a Christian here today, let me urge you to
see that Jesus is an all-or-nothing king. We can’t be committed to
this world and its riches and think we can add Jesus to the mix. We
can’t be unwilling to make a stand for our faith and cop whatever
trials will come our way, and also have Jesus as king. We need to
submit our whole lives to Jesus, to entrust them completely to our
king. Please talk with someone today if you know you’ve never really
given control of your life over to Jesus, and you want to make that
step.