In Mark 3: 20-22 Mark wrote that when Jesus returned to Capernaum such a large crowd gathered that Jesus and His disciples had not time to eat. When His family heard about it, they set out to take charge of Him because people were saying, "He’s gone mad." In Mark 3:22 some teachers of the Law, who had come from Jerusalem, were saying, "He has Beelzebub in Him! It is the chief of the demons who gives Him the power to drive them out!"

While He was still talking to the multitude, behold His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to Him.

The "Feeding of the five thousand" in last Sunday’s lesson is the only parable found in all four of the Gospels. The parable today appears in the three synoptic Gospels (Matt. 13:3-23; Mark 4:3-25; Luke 8:5-18.) This is usually called the "Parable of the Sower"; but since the same sower and the same kind of seed are used, it is often called the "Parable of the Soils", of which there were four different kinds. The seed is the Word of God and those who are called children of God should sow the seed.

Two basic interpretations of the parable are possible. One interpretation assumes that it was addressed primarily to those who preach or teach the Gospel. If so, the basic application is to encourage those who sow the seed of the word not to give up when some hearers reject the message, others seem to hear but prove faithless, and still others never bear positive fruit. The word of encouragement is that some hearers will become true followers and bear fruit for the Lord.

The other basic interpretation is addressed to hearers. It challenges hearers to evaluate which of four kinds of hearers they are and to be sure they are bearing fruit for Christ. This lesson will focus on the second basic interpretation.

In the first Galilean campaign of our Lord, the emphasis was on His identity as Israel’s King. Now in his latter Galilean campaign His teaching has shifted to the more intimate or secret aspects of His kingdom. As He continued to minister to the crowd of people, He did something He had not done before. For the first time in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus told parables. He will tell seven or eight parables in Matt.13. This one today is the first complete parable that He told.

The disciples immediately noticed a change in Jesus’ method of teaching. They came in vs. 10 and asked Him directly why He was speaking in parables. The Lord gave three reasons. First, He was communicating through parables in order to continue to reveal truth to His disciples. He was making known to them the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. Second, Jesus spoke in parable to hide the truth from unbelievers. Yet He taught them all they could handle Third, He spoke in parables in order to fulfill Isaiah 6: 9-20. As Isaiah began his ministry, God told him that people would not comprehend his message. Jesus experienced the same kind of response. They saw but did not perceive; they heard but did not understand.

The disciples saw and believed; the religious leaders saw and rejected. Since the leaders turned form the light they had been given, God gave them no additional light. The mystery concerning the Kingdom Jesus presented here was the truth that the Good News was rejected by the majority. This had not been revealed in the Old Testament.

In Matt. 8: 14 Jesus had come to Peter’s house where Jesus usually stayed when in Capernaum. Matt. 13: 1 tells us that Jesus went out of the house. There was a strong resistance to Jesus by the Pharisees. By this point in time they had already decided in Matt. 12: 14, and Mark 3:6 to put to Jesus to death. It was only a question of finding the right time and place. Luke’s account informs us that teaching by parables began with our Lord’s second Galilean campaign in the fall and spring of AD 28-29.

Parables often are defined as earthly stories with a heavenly meaning. It may be called a vocal cartoon. Jesus’ parables were taken from life. In many of His parables, He told of a normal life situation but resolved it in an unexpected way. His parables were like sermon illustrations in story form. Notice that when the crowd came looking for Jesus for healing he had an emergency escape exit planned. He asked His disciples to have a boat ready, which He would enter and push out from shore, so He could teach the people.

Using the boat as His platform from which He spake many things unto them in parables. Chapter 13 includes eight parables, all related to the kingdom of heaven. The parable in Vs.3-9 was spoken to the multitude and was later explained to His disciples in Vs. 18-23. Vs. 10-17 explain why Jesus so often used parables. Since theirs was basically a rural society, Jesus began this group of parables with a familiar sight—a sower went forth to sow. The word behold shows that this was to be more than just a story about a farmer sowing his crop.

1. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 13: 1-4, 18-19.

 

Many parables have only one point; the rest was only the setting for the story. Other parables have multiple parts, each of which has a meaning. The "Parable of the Sower or Soils" is such a parable. In one sense, it had one main point; people responded differently to the Gospel; then four kinds of responses are illustrated---each of which has different results. Throughout the story the sower and the seed remain the same, but the varying soils into which the seed is cast respond differently. Often Jesus had met with all four types of hearers.

Mark 4: 33-34 says "And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples." The disciples, to whom our Lord explained everything was the larger group of His followers, including those previously mentioned in Luke 8: 1-2. Mark especially makes this clear in Mark 4: 10-11a.

A farmer went out to sow his seed provokes the image of a man spreading seed over his land. This was most often done by gathering up the ends of a long apron, holding the seed in the gathered material, and scattering it by hand while walking up and down the path that divided the portions of land.

Like most farmers, their goal was to use the maximum amount of the precious land for growing crops. So they tried to plow most of it. However, they had to have a path along which they walked. They tried to avoid tramping down too much of the field, but some of it became hard. As the sower threw out his seeds, some fell by the wayside or path.

The paths ran right through the plots of land and were hard and trampled. Obviously, the seed would not take root on such hard ground, and it lay there until the birds ate it up. It is still common in that part of the world to see large flocks of birds following farmers as they sow their wheat, ready to pick up every stray grain.

Jesus’ intent was simply to warn that a hard heart is sorry soil for the gospel. The Bible speaks often about the danger of a hard heart. Heb. 3:7-11 warns that the voice of God can fall on a hard heart. The writer further described this heart as an evil, unbelieving heart. The seed is the message about the kingdom. The sower, though not identified in this parable, is the Son of Man. Jesus taught the principles and requirements for the Kingdom of God and called for a response of faith. The seed fell on hard ground because many do not understand it. They say, "That just doesn’t make any sense to me at all."

The Christian gospel is so simple, but people will not understand it until they really want to. One thing is sure: truth does not leave people on neutral ground. Either they embrace it or they reject it. That rejection may come in the form of indifference, rejection, or malicious opposition, but the gospel calls for a response.

Throughout the story the sower and the seed remain the same, but the varying soils into which the seed is cast respond differently. Of ten Jesus had met with all four types of hearers. It is significant that Jesus never gave His disciples lessons on how to speak, only on how to hear.

The Word of God is likened to a seed, which is a thing of life, inward and invisible life, and self-propagating life. Every saying that Christ let drop had life in itself and the power to produce life. But seed does not produce life of itself alone. It needs soils. Jesus spoke first of hardened soil, then rocky soil, a thorny soil and finally fruitful soil.

When people do not surrender to the gospel, the evil one can snatch it away. The evil one is identified by Mark 4: 15 as Satan, and by Luke 8:12 as the devil. Satan can snatch the gospel form people’s hearts through distraction, worldly concerns, fleshly desires, false teaching, or a multitude of other ways. He is a crafty, deceitful liar who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

2. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 13: 5-7, 20-21.

The second inadequate response about which Jesus warned is the superficial commitment. Rocky places do not mean soil with rocks strewn all in it. Such soil would have been better prepared by earlier removal of rocks. Rather, this refers to a thin layer of soil spread over a stratum of rock just two or three inches beneath the ground. At first a promising sign of life appears, but because the soil is shallow, the sun quickly scorches the plants and they wither. The shallowness of the soil did not permit the plant to develop its roots.

Jesus said in Vs. 20 that this is the kind of person who initially receives the word with joy. Joy suggests more a response of mere emotionalism or curiosity than true faith. This is not to say that true regeneration does not produce joy in the heart, but Jesus was pointing to a joy without understanding and commitment. The hearer does not persevere.

Such professions last for a short time, but trouble and persecution cause these people to fall away. Trouble is a general term for suffering that comes from the outside, and persecution speaks more specifically of suffering for righteousness’ sake. Falls away literally means, "tripped up." These people collapse under the pressure when they understand the demands of a true, saving commitment to the Lord and His kingdom.

Many groups have understood Jesus’ description of this soil and the next as teaching that a person can be saved and then lost again. This misses the very focus of the parable. Only one result of sowing is desirable—a crop that can be harvested. Tares and weeds are of no use to the farmer. They may look genuine and may offer much promise. But in the end only the wheat matters. This kind of soil describes a person who initially responds to the gospel with excitement and joy but sooner or later it becomes obvious that there was never a change in that person’s life. This kind of person can be seen in the large crowds of people that were follow Jesus.

Some followed for political reasons, hoping that He would deliver them from Roman tyranny. Others were drawn for more selfish reasons, hoping to be healed or fed. But in Vs. 66, when Jesus made it clear that His primary mission was neither of those pursuits, John stated that "many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed him." Temporary, emotional responses wither when faced with the trouble and persecution that inevitably come. Only when grain is produced does seed amount to anything. Permanent faith is the only genuine faith. "Faith that fizzles at the finish was faulty at the first."

3. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 13: 7, 22.

In Vs. 7 Jesus described yet a third kind of inade0quate response when He spoke of the seed that fell among thorns. Again there is the promise of life, but briers and thistles choked the plants. Jesus explained in Vs. 22 that two factors lead to this danger. This time the soil is good, but the worries of this life destroy the fruitfulness of the seed. Jesus elaborated on some of those worries in 6:25-34. Transitory concerns can distract a person from focusing on things that matter in eternity.

Another factor that often chokes out the gospel and prevents a person from making a life commitment to it is the deceitfulness of wealth. Jesus warned in Matt. 6: 24 that no one can worship God and mammon. We don’t need much elaboration here. Later in this unit we will study about a man whose wealth was more important to him than eternal life. Wealth and the pursuit of it are deceitful indeed. Many think wealth will bring happiness, but it won’t. Once wealth is obtained, it always lusts for more. The landowner said, "All I want is the land that joins mine." Wealth is not inherently evil, but how tragic it is for people to lose their souls to gain it! (Elvis Presley.)

4. PLEASE READ MATTHEW 13: 8-9, 23.

Good ground is soil that is not too hard to receive the seed, not too shallow for the seed to have roots, and not so choked by thorns that it cannot bear fruit. It is the plowed part of the field that receives the seed, which sinks its roots into it, and grows to maturity bearing fruit in its season. Such seed brought forth fruit. Some had fruit that was an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. The differences probably represent differences in gifts and in capacity for bearing fruit. There is no point in spiritualizing the hundred, sixty, and thirty times what was sown. Jesus meant that the fruit of grace in our lives is of the same quality, but not the same quantity. Not everyone will bear the same amount of fruit, but we should all strive to be Christians who bear fruit abundantly.

Vs. 9 is a summary verse that applies to all who hear the word of the kingdom---Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. In the Bible, to truly hear is to obey. In vs. 23 Jesus provided an important insight about the proper response to the gospel. Someone who responds in faith not only hears but also understand the gospel of the kingdom. Vs. 19 showed us a person who heard but did not understand, but in this instance, hearing is met with understanding. To understand is more than a mere intellectual grasp of the truth—it manifests itself by a life commitment.

It is important that we realize Jesus’ emphasis on a harvest that endures. The Bible repeatedly teaches that bearing fruit is evidence of spiritual life. The burden of the Book of Hebrews in 10: 36, 39 is that the readers endure in righteousness, for this is the only way to measure whether they are saved. Simply praying a prayer does not guarantee that a person is saved. Neither does joining a church or being baptized. The Bible teaches that those who are saved will manifest that salvation through bearing the fruit of a changed life. Both kinds of fruit—winning others to Christ and living a Christian life—are expected of those who truly hear the word of God. This is teaching and preaching that is sadly missed in so many of our churches today.

We noted that throughout the story the sower and the seed remain the same, but the varying soils into which the seed is cast respond differently. There were four kinds of responses to the word of the kingdom, each of which represents a different kind of hearer. The seed on the hard path represents those who never allow the word to sprout. The seed on shallow soil represents those who hear the word, seem to make a genuine profession of faith, but soon turn away from the Lord because of troubles. The seed among thorns represents people who never bear fruit for the Lord. The seed on good ground represents those who hear and heed the word, thus bearing fruit for the Lord. By means of the parable of the sower and soils, Jesus taught His disciples to allow the gospel to be productive in their lives. He is teaching us to do the same. The seed is good. The key is the condition of the soil of the hearts into which the seed is sown. When the heart is good soil, the potential for productivity is great. When the heart is resistant and allows other interests to take priority, the gospel has no chance to become fruitful.

In the context of Matthew 11-12, this parable takes on even more clarity. Jesus had met with everything from enthusiastic acceptance to outright rejection. He wanted to make clear that the fault lies not in the message but in the hearers. Some people have become hardened to the gospel, others are curious but not committed, and still others are more than curious but they still fall short due to other concerns. Thankfully, though, many will hear, respond, and bear the fruit of righteousness. Not all will be saved, but some will. It was that way in Jesus’ time, and it remains that way today.

Jesus teaching which was simultaneously concealing and revealing concerned the secrets of the kingdom. The nine parables we will be studying this series all belong to this group of Kingdom parables.

The mysteries of the Kingdom of God are sacred secrets, which the Lord delights to reveal to honest souls. In Matthew’s Gospel the term "Kingdom of Heaven" is used, and there only. It is never mentioned by that name in any other part of the Bible.

God’s message is the same to all people:

1. God loves us.
2. He wants us to spend eternity with Him in heaven but our sin stands between Him and us.
3. God’s good news is, that His Son Jesus Christ paid for our sins upon the cross.
4. If we will turn away from our sins to God, and invite Jesus Christ into our hearts, God will forgive and prepare us a place in heaven.
5. God’s message is "make Jesus Christ Savior and Lord of our lives."
6. Today’s parable shows how people respond to God’s Word and it should cause us to

question how we have responded. Those who hear and accept the life changing

message are the true disciples and will bring forth fruit

NEXT SUNDAY YOU WILL WANT TO HAVE READ MATT. 13:31-52 AS WE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL SPEAKER REPLACING OUR S.S. LESSON.

A.V. DAUGHERTY 4-01-01