Jesus’ Parables
We come to our first parable this morning, so we ought to consider before we get into it, what is a parable? I’ll give you a starting definition. A parable is a picture with a point. The picture may be a story such as the tale of the good Samaritan. It may be an extended imagery such as the one in our text. There we have an imagery of seed growing. It is extended in that it is a fairly involved description of the process of planting and the results. A parable may also be a short imagery as we will have later on keeping a lamp hidden.
Now, these pictures have a point, or a moral. To put it simply, Jesus has a reason for telling each of them. Our task for each parable is to understand the point that he intends to make. That is not always easy for a couple of reasons. For one, contrary to popular belief, Jesus did not always tell parables to make his teachings easier to understand. A common complaint made against us preachers is that we don’t tell stories the way Jesus did. He knew how to tell a story that made sense; why can’t we? Undoubtedly Jesus was a masterful storyteller and no preacher would compare himself to Jesus as a preacher, but again, Jesus’ parables are not so obviously clear as they sometimes seem. Jesus uses common pictures of daily life in his parables that his listeners can easily identify with. A farmer sowing seeds, a fisherman catching fish, a shepherd looking for a lost sheep – these are images that people can readily picture in their minds. They, or we, think then that the point of the parable will be as readily made clear. But that is precisely where we get tripped up. Jesus tells a parable of common images not so much to make his teachings clearer, as to stimulate his listeners to think more deeply. The parable is intended to entice thinking, not resolve it. Thus, as Jesus concludes his parable in verse 9: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let him think through the story to arrive at the profound meaning.
The second reason why Jesus’ parables may not be easy to interpret is that the parables by themselves are open to different interpretations. It is the context in which the parable is given that usually determines its main message. A good example is the parable of the prodigal son. When listening to that parable, most of us tend to identify with the prodigal son, the one who strayed from his father and yet was welcomed back. But if we were to consider the context of the story, we would know that the person Jesus intends for most of us as Christians to identify with is the older son. Luke 5:2 reveals that Jesus told the parable in response to the Pharisees’ self-righteousness. It is okay to identify with the prodigal son, but only after we first examine if we are more like the older son. Only the context would have given us such a focus.
The Hard Saying
All this sounds great if it were not for the hard saying of Jesus that Mark tosses in following the first parable:
10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,
”‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”
If Mark followed verse 10 with verse 13, everything would be fine; but no, we’ve got this strange saying to cross over first. Verse 11 is somewhat confusing; verse 12 is downright offensive. Why would Jesus not give clearer teaching to those on the outside – those not in his inner circle – but instead reserve explanation for those closer to him? Don’t those on the outside need it more? And more unsettling, why would he prevent them from understanding and thus receiving salvation? Doesn’t he want them to turn and be forgiven?
First of all, Jesus is explaining what is happening, not what he is attempting to do. The secret of the kingdom of God (which is the gospel) has been given. That is an odd way of speaking. Why doesn’t Jesus just say, “I have given you the secret”? It is because he is speaking of the counsel of God which has determined to whom the secret will be given. Verse 12 substantiates this. Jesus quotes from Isaiah 6:9,10 to show how prophecy is being fulfilled. Jesus is doing God’s will.
But doesn’t God want his people to turn and be forgiven? Yes, and his people will turn and be forgiven – his chosen people. Those who are not will never perceive or understand, not that Jesus speaks mysteriously, but that they never take the step to reach understanding.
All you school teachers know what I am talking about. Students learn what they want to learn. The primary difference between the “good” student and the “poor” student is the eagerness to learn. The students who seek extra help are usually the students who already understand more. Indeed, it is because they realize that there is more to the subject matter than the teacher has told the class, that they ask for further help. The worse student is not the one who says, “I don’t understand,” but the one who quickly dismisses the teacher, saying, “I’ve got it; that’s easy.”
And what will the teacher do? Usually he will let the overconfident student continue in his blissful ignorance and reap the result at the next test; but he will gladly give time to the perceptive student who wants further explanation. You see, those on “the outside” are not those kept on the outside by Jesus. Anyone could have come and asked the same questions as the followers. Jesus never refuses to answer anyone who truly wants to know truth. On the other hand, he will not take extra steps to teach those who really are not interested. I learned as an inexperienced schoolteacher the futility of giving extra credit opportunities to students who did not care. No, those who want to perceive and understand will turn and be forgiven.
The Parable
Now, let’s try to understand our parable. We have the wonderful fortune of Jesus explaining his own parable. He interprets the meaning of the seed and the four circumstances of the sowed seed.
The seed is the word. It is the message of the kingdom as Matthew records in 13:19. It is the good news as Mark refers to it in 1:14. The gospel is then spread to different types of people characterized by soil conditions. You gardeners and farmers, try not to cringe at the description of the sowing method. I know it seems wasteful and inefficient, but Jesus’ hearers would have not considered it strange, and his focus anyhow is on the soil conditions, not how to sow seed.
The seed that falls on the path illustrates what happens when the word is given to people with hard hearts. It does not penetrate the heart but remains on the surface. Just as birds will eat seed lying on top of the surface so that the seed has no effect, so Satan takes away the good effect of the word from the person who keeps it from entering his mind and heart.
This condition covers all kinds of people, from the religious to the irreligious, from the moral to the immoral. What is common among them all is that they have heard the gospel and have never embraced it.
I’ve no doubt that Jesus was thinking of the Pharisees and teachers of the law who had early on rejected him. Here were men who espoused devotion to God, and, yet, when the Son of God appears and teaches God’s good news, they are hardened against him. They simply will not listen. There are others, such as his own brothers, who for whatever reason cannot accept his message about himself. Maybe it’s due to “family reasons.” Whatever it is, they are more willing to turn to psychology to explain Jesus’ behavior than actually consider the truth.
Then there would be those who think they understand but they don’t. They think Jesus is merely a prophet, but he is more. Some think he is the Messiah, but don’t realize the deeper significance of what that means. Some think Jesus is simply teaching them to be good people or godly people, not catching on to the real message of salvation. Many like him and follow him for the healings and food he later on will provide. When it finally does sink in that Jesus is about something far different, they will abandon him like they do in John 6 after he refers to his body as real meat.
We have the same people today. Some say, “I don’t want to hear.” “As an educated person I cannot take such teaching seriously.” Or, “I like the way I live which I would have to give up,” or “That kind of teaching is too intolerant,” or simply, “I’m too busy.”
Others say, “I hear,” when they really don’t. There are people who attend church, become good church members, and who never hear with understanding the gospel. I was that way for 17 years. Who knows how many times I heard the gospel proclaimed, and if you had asked me what the gospel is, I could have confidently replied that it had to do with living a good life for Jesus. I was the kind of hearer that made the sower want to pelt me with the seed in hope that one might penetrate through my hardened heart. And yet for all outward appearance, I had as nice a heart as anyone.
The next two soil conditions differ from the first in that the seed of the word does penetrate the soil and for a time seems to be in good condition, though after awhile fails. In the first instance the problem is that the seed is in shallow ground overlying rock. That is what is meant by rocky places. As Jesus explains: It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. The very shallowness of the soil caused quick reaction, creating greater interest and expectation in the plants, but also setting them up for failure.
Who does Jesus have in mind? I think he is looking at the very people he is preaching to. The crowds love Jesus. He has healed many of them. The very size of the crowd is due in large part to the excited people who tell what Jesus has done for them. Undoubtedly, many believe that the Messiah has come and great times are at hand for the Jews. Life is only going to get better with such a man of God as Jesus.
These are people who have sort of caught on to the gospel. They recognize that it is the good news of the Messiah who has come to redeem his people. They recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, and they want to follow him. The problem is they have not thought through what Jesus being the Messiah really means and what following him really entails.
There are people like that today in the churches and who have already left the churches. They might have had what seemed like real conversions. Indeed, their conversions might have been among the more dramatic. They were excited to hear the good news. Jesus saved them from terrible sin behaviors and troubles. It could have been that they simply found the “right” church that was happening. There was a church that had lots of great family and youth activities. Or maybe a single person found a church with a dynamic singles fellowship. Whatever the case, they were attracted to a Jesus who either himself or his church made a difference in their lives.
But…but soon the tough times come. And the unexpected part of it all is that the trials seem to come precisely because they are following Jesus. The employee who used to slack off on the job now becomes the most conscientious. As a result his fellow workers become resentful and get him fired. The wife who used to fight with her husband now seeks to with him over to the gospel with purity and reverence as the Bible says. Instead, he grows more hostile and abuses her. Or even more surprising, the excited believer joins a church that doesn’t like his excitement and turns a cold shoulder to him. Whatever the situation, the new believer’s joy is not focused on his redemption from his own sin condition, but on how Jesus has made life better. He is happy; what more is there to know?
Well, for one thing, the cost of following Jesus. Another is where true joy is to be found. Another is the deeper truth of who Jesus is and the precious worth of his redemption. There are other lessons I could add, but the question for us all is how worthwhile it is to us to learn. These are not shallow subjects and a few minutes of our time here and there is not good enough for such seeds to root deeply in our minds and hearts. It is good to be happy, but being happy about shallow things does not prepare us for the tough times that will come and that are necessary to make us deep-rooted Christians.
The second of the two soil conditions is the thorn-infested ground. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. In telling the parable Jesus describes the thorns as growing up. The picture that we have is of ground that appears to be good, but in reality it has the roots of thorn bushes that eventually grow up and slowly choke the plants of the seed.
Undoubtedly, Jesus is again thinking of people among the crowd who are listening to him and seemingly becoming true followers. Such people are still common today. They hear the gospel and they do seem to give it real thought, and yet in the end their faith dies out. For example, a college student comes to faith. He is excited about his faith and plunges in to Bible study and Christian activities. While in college he faithfully follows the path of the gospel. He then graduates and starts work. Life now isn’t quite so smooth. He has to move from his Christian friends and spend most of his time among nonChristians, all the while adapting to a life in which he provides for himself. There is not much time now for Bible study, and he just can’t seem to find the same level of Christian fellowship he had before. Eventually he gets married and soon has children. This is great, but now he is learning the common worry of providing for a family. Work is becoming less fulfilling; marriage relations are not always smooth. And…oh yes, the gospel. He still believes, he supposes, but he just doesn’t have time.
Such Christians do not so much reject the faith, as they forget about it. The worries of the world, the desire to “make it” in life, and the cheap thrills that can be crammed in a busy schedule just don’t leave room for a gospel that demands full commitment.
There are others who outright abandon the faith usually for what Jesus called the desires for other things. In the cases I’ve known it is the desire for human relationship. There is the deacon who left his wife of twenty years to run off with another woman. He and his wife had been models of committed Christians who ministered to the needy. Another is the single woman, an active servant in the church, who moved away to marry a nonChristian man.
The common element in all of these cases is that the gospel was not deeply enough embedded to become the true source of life for these people. So long as other people could provide enough nurture, the gospel seemed sufficient, but other worries and other desires eventually proved to be stronger.
But, lest we grow despondent over these dismal consequences, Jesus also speaks of the fruitful seed that falls in good soil. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”
Jesus doesn’t toss this scenario in last as a consolation remark. “I know things look bad for the gospel, but every case is not a failure.” Instead his approach is more of the following: “See how powerful the gospel is to make the kingdom grow. It seems that wherever it falls it fails, but in reality it is producing a harvest far beyond expectation. More people enter the kingdom than one would expect, and those people become more fruitful in their lives than expected.”
The moral of the parable is both a warning and a promise. Review the parable for a moment. What remains the same in the act of sowing? The same sower sows the same seed in each circumstance. What is different? The soil conditions and the results differ. The problem of unfruitfulness does not lie with the sower. One cannot say, “If only someone else who could have explained things better to me had sowed the gospel in my life, then things would have been different.” The problem of unfruitfulness does not lie in the quality of the seed. Again, one cannot say, “If only I had been given an enriched gospel seed – maybe seed that included miracles or a good mate – then I could have born fruit.”
Here is the warning. The failure to live by the gospel is found in people’s hearts. People don’t want the real gospel. People are too hard-hearted or hard-minded to yield to it. They are too shallow to handle its piercing roots. They are too crowded with the things of this world’s kingdom to store up the riches of God’s kingdom.
Here is the promise. Where there are those who hunger for the righteousness of God, who thirst for his life-giving word, there is rich fertile soil that will yield the glorious harvest of salvation.
