Last winter I collected bags of leaves as a covering and mulch for our garden. I got the bags from a street corner where someone had raked them off their lawn. I spread them around and was satisfied. Then in the spring when it was time to plant our beans, pumpkins, tomatoes, and cucumbers, a strange crop had already sprung up all over the place—oak trees. It seems I had dutifully spread a bunch of acorns over the garden and they were now sprouting. I spent all spring and into the summer pulling oak trees out of our garden—if I hadn’t we would have had an oak grove instead of a place to grow food!
Even so, our garden didn’t turn out that well—parts were too wet, and the entire thing was too acidic so we ended up with weak plants and a low yield. The condition of the soil is crucial to gardening, and Jesus uses this as an illustration to say the condition of the heart is crucial to the receptivity of the gospel.
It’s interesting that Jesus went out “that same day”—leaving behind the Pharisees who rejected Him as the Messiah, and began to teach the people, who wondered if He could be the “son of David” (Matt 12:23).
Up until this point Jesus has taught pretty clearly. Now he begins to teach in parables—the reason for which he gives in verses 14 and 15. Basically they were designed to bypass people who had already made up their minds, and cause people who hadn’t to think a little.
The first parable is one of Jesus’ most famous: the Parable of the Sower. Now remember, parables are familiar stories with a spiritual or moral truth. They are not designed to “walk on all fours”—in other words you can’t interpret them literally, but must look at the point Jesus is making.
1 – 2
Jesus had had plenty of conflict—with the Pharisees who said He acted by Satan’s power and demanded a sign, and even his own family who thought He’d lost His mind. So He goes down to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, goes out from shore in a fishing boat, sits down, and teaches.
3 – 9
Farmers in Palestine at the time would plant their seeds by carrying a bag over their shoulders and flinging seeds in as many directions as possible so that hopefully enough would take root and produce a crop. All four of the soil types would be common in their fields so everything about the story was totally familiar to people in this agrarian society.
The variable in this story is the soil. The seed is the same. The farmer is the same, and the method of planting is the same. We’ll talk more about what all that means in a bit.
Along the paths—the roads went right through the fields. The hard, compacted soil would not allow the seeds to get any kind of a root and would end up sitting on top as a tempting treat for birds that flew by or small animals.
Rocky Ground – most of the soil in Palestine is filled with rocks. It was a farmer’s job to clear the field of rocks in order to plant, but often those rocks were merely piled to the side. In 2 Kings 3 when Elisha is delivering the word of the Lord to Jehoshaphat about Edom He told them to “… ruin every good piece of land with stones.” Rocky ground has a little soil which tends to collect a lot of moisture but the sun’s warmth dries up that moisture pretty quickly and since the plant can’t root down into anything, it dies.
Thorns – as many of us know, weeds tend to grow very well in a garden and will compete for light, moisture, nutrition, and space with the garden plants. If left untended, weeds often win.
Good Soil – good soil has depth, is free of competition and obstructions, gets light, water, and has qualities that make for growth, like a good ph balance. A farmer would be overjoyed to get a tenfold crop, but getting a hundred fold? That would be marvelous!
So now Jesus’ men come to Him and wonder, why all the veiled stories all of the sudden?
10 – 17
The parables were meant to get people thinking. But those whose hearts were already hardened to the gospel would simply dismiss them as being without meaning. But for those who wanted to dig deeper, the answer waited for them like a gold nugget in a stream. Jesus quotes Isaiah here, who faced a similar situation in his day—mainly that he was sent (“Here am I, send me”) with a message to a people who would reject it. Prophets like Isaiah wrote about the coming of the Messiah, but didn’t fully understand it. And even though the disciples in Jesus’ time didn’t fully get it either, their willingness and openness was all that was needed.
For the religious leaders who had already rejected Jesus, they thought they had it, but in fact had nothing at all because it is, as we’ll see, a heart attitude towards God is all that matters.
It’s interesting in that at the end of the Isaiah 6 passage is this little phrase: “The holy seed (or offspring) is its stump.” (Isaiah 6:13).
So now Jesus explains the parable.
18 – 23
So let’s talk about the various soil types of the heart.
1. Along the Path
Jesus says that a person rejects the message of the gospel when the soil condition of their heart is so hard that the message just bounces right off. They don’t “understand” it, from a word that means “to put it together.” For some people they see no need in their life or are so hardened against God or religion or are so (seemingly) self sufficient that there is simply no room for a message of accountability for sin and the access to forgiveness and new life through a single Savior. The last thing Satan wants is for someone to acknowledge their need and reach out to understand the gospel, so he works over time to keep that from happening. Once he’s lost someone, they are gone! One note here—the gospel is not that complicated and we shouldn’t make it more complicated than it is.
2. In the Rocks
These are people who hear the promises, see the benefits, and at first seem to accept the message. But they do not take it into their hearts. These are the people I think that Hebrews 6:1-8 speak of. Those who have “tasted” but not bitten down. When they realize that Jesus actually means to be THE Lord of their lives, and that they will have to give up their own sovereignty and endure the change of having a holy God live in their hearts—they decide they didn’t really want it. It’s kind of life buyer’s remorse. In Oregon anyway, if someone comes to your door and sells you something, you have a certain number of days for a “right of recession” where you can change your mind. Some people latch onto Christianity as a social club or even as a means of gain. These are like temps on a job—they can disappear anytime and aren’t really permanent members of the workforce. I would call them make-believers.
3. In the Weeds
In some ways this is similar to rocky ground—there isn’t room for the gospel to take root and for the person to really give their life over to another. When someone hears the gospel there becomes a competition for control. Jesus says “…don’t be anxious about your life …seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:25 – 33). At the beginning especially, we have both need and plenty pawing for our allegiance. Both need and plenty can do this—if plenty, we don’t need God, we have everything. If we have needs we want to have them fulfilled—this was in many ways why the children of Israel walked away from God—they (thought they) had their needs fulfilled for crops, intimacy, and security from gods they could see, rather than trusting in a God they couldn’t see. It doesn’t mean we never again struggle with this—but Jesus here describes the heart that ends up choosing the world over Him.
4. The Good Soil
The seed is the same, the farmer is the same—the only thing different is the readiness of a heart to accept the message. Good soil people are those who grasp the gospel message—that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23) and that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ) and that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23). Not only do they acknowledge the truth of the gospel, but its relevance to their lives but go a step further and put their weight down on it—leaving the dock behind and getting into Jesus’ boat for better or for worse. It doesn’t mean they are perfect, only purchased.
Bearing of fruit is the sign that the soil of the heart was right. Does this mean then that if we just make ourselves better we get to heaven? No. That was what the Pharisees thought. But that’s self-made righteousness. It’s like going down to Cost Plus and purchasing plastic corn and bean plants and sticking them into the soil so that it looks healthy but try to get nutrition out of plastic!
The fruit that Jesus is talking about is what the Holy Spirit does as He takes up residence in our lives. As we cooperate more or less the fruit increases or decreases. The fruit, the result of a life given over to Christ, is the ultimate sign, but it is not something we create. When you plant a seed do you tell the seed how to grow into a bean plant and produce beans? No, the seed has everything it needs to do that—all you do is provide good environmental conditions to promote growth and allow it to do what it is naturally going to do. In the same way a person receives the gospel, gives their life to Jesus, lets the Holy Spirit have access to their life and becomes pliable to His adjustments in our lives. The fewer environmental impediments we place in the way, and the more promotional elements we gather around us, the better the fruit.
So how do you create a good garden for growth of the gospel?
Let’s talk about the things that Jesus mentions:
Broken up – do you allow the message access to your mind and heart?
2 Corinthians 7:10-11 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
Free from obstacles – How deep do you let Jesus go into your life?
Ephesians 4:17-24 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Free from competition – are there things more important than Jesus in your life?
Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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