TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
Luke 8:1-15.
When we first come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing and turning away from our sins, and worshipping God only through Him, we become members of a new family. It was so for the twelve Apostles, and for the women who provided for Jesus out of their substance: among whom was Mary Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons (Luke 8:1-3).
There were great crowds pressing to see Jesus, straining to hear His words, or perhaps hoping for a healing touch. We can imagine Jesus spotting a farmer sowing seed somewhere nearby, and using this to illustrate His own ministry. This parable (Luke 8:4-8), along with Jesus’ interpretation of it (Luke 8:11-15), is the most well-known of all His parables. Even while talking about it, Jesus was sowing the seed of the Word of God!
The Word of God is good seed (Luke 8:11): of that there is no doubt. So why is it that it does not have a good result in the lives of all those who hear it? The fault is in the soil.
No matter how well the farmer prepared the ground, there would always be some part of that rocky terrain that would not yield any fruit. On any account, seed scattered would not always land in the good soil, the prepared soil. No matter how ‘good’ the preaching, the Word of God only takes root in hearts prepared by the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 17:32-34).
Jesus speaks of four types of hearers, with four results:
1. There are those who hear and do not understand (Luke 8:5; Luke 8:12). The Word is snatched away immediately upon their hearing it.
2. There are those who seem to receive the Word in an emotional moment, and with much celebration (Luke 8:6a; Luke 8:13a).
Not everybody will be enthusiastic when you are converted. Some will mock and scold, questioning your sanity; others will bully and apply psychological pressure upon you to conform to the world; others will persecute and murder. Then there is questioning in the heart when it seems that God’s providence is against us.
There is no root in them, and they fall away at the first sign of trouble (Luke 8:6b; Luke 8:13b).
3. For some, the seed falls among thorns (Luke 8:7; Luke 8:14).
The cares of this world soon smother the good work that God would do in their lives. And they “bring no fruit to perfection.” Those who lack, covet; and those who have riches must needs build bigger barns (cf. Luke 12:18). There are dangers in both extremes (cf. Proverbs 30:8-9).
4. Finally, there are those who hear and understand, and trust and obey (Luke 8:8; Luke 8:15).
How do I know that they trust? Because they bring forth fruit in their lives (cf. John 15:16). A fruitless life is a rootless life: ‘faith without works is dead’ (cf. James 2:17).
“What might this parable be?” asked Jesus’ disciples (Luke 8:9). Jesus’ answer is surely a surprise: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God; but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). It is a gift, “given to you” (disciples), but not given to the others.
Now Jesus makes it perfectly clear that the natural man is totally incapable of receiving the mysteries of the kingdom thus revealed. He speaks to them in parables “BECAUSE seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Luke 8:10).
So Christianity is not a matter of laying hold upon some wonderful teaching, and following it as best we can. Nor is it about our striving to imitate Jesus - as if we could ever do that in our own strength. Christianity is about the unfolding of a mystery (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7) - not to the knowledgeable, but to those to whom “it is given” (Luke 8:10), otherwise described as “they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15).
And when He had said these things, He cried, “He that hat ears to hear, let him hear” (Luke 8:8).
Amen.
