Picture the scene in your mind. Jesus is teaching from a boat on the shore of the Lake of Galilee. There is a breeze blowing as he nods in the direction of a farmer in the distance. He is sowing seed in his field. As they watched the farmer at work, Jesus used the scene to teach a lesson about life. As Jesus taught, the farmer acted out his message. The sower had a bag of seed and, after reaching in and getting a handful, he broadcast it, that is, he threw out the seed onto the ground. As he did so, some of the seed would naturally fall on ground that was not suitable, along with the other seed that fell on good soil.
Fields in biblical times were not like our fields today which have been prepared by modern machinery with the crops planted in neat rows. In those days, the farmer would cast the seed all over the ground and then plow it under. The fields were in long strips with paths between them so that people could pass through. That was important in a culture where everyone walked. Sometimes the Romans built their roads next to a farmer’s field. Sometimes the land next to the field was allowed to grow wild and it was full of thorns and weeds. In the ancient process of sowing it was impossible not to have some of the seed fall, or be blown by the wind, onto these areas.
To begin with we need to understand some of the symbolism of what Jesus is saying. First of all, there is the farmer or sower. Jesus explains: “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man” (Matthew 13:37). Jesus is the one who sows the seed, and the field is the world (Matthew 13:38). The seed is the Word of God, and the various soils represent the diverse responses which people have to the Word which Jesus sows. Their response determines the degree of success of the crop.
There are three things I notice in this wonderful parable of Jesus. The first is this: The seed falls onto every type of soil without discrimination. It is sown on the soil which is nothing but packed, dry earth. It is sown on soil which is full of rocks, and soil which is full of thorns, as well as on good soil. I believe that one of the things that Jesus is saying is that God does not play favorites. Even when God knows that the Word will not take root in a person’s life he still gives an opportunity to hear and respond. The Bible says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Every person alive is given an opportunity to respond to God in some way. We who have the privilege of living in this place, and in this time of the world’s history, certainly have a greater opportunity, and therefore a greater responsibility, but every person is reached out to by God in various ways. He speaks to them in their hearts. He reveals himself to them in nature. The Bible says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
The apostle Peter had a revelation from God about this very issue. When God showed him that he cares about everyone, no matter what their race, nationality, economic or spiritual condition, Peter said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right” (Acts 10:34-35). The King James Version puts it like this: “God is no respecter of persons.” That is why Jesus said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15, KJV). The worst sinner on earth will be given an opportunity to respond to God — even when God knows it will do absolutely no good. The goodness of God is not determined by our response — it is founded upon his character. The seed will be sown on every type of human soil whether the seed will grow or not.
Let’s take a look at the different soils and try to understand what they represent. Which brings us to the second point: The four different soils represent the responses of different types of people. The first type of soil is the path. This could be a nearby road or a foot path through the field. In either case, the seed finds it impossible to take root. It cannot penetrate the ground which is hard and dry. It is totally inhospitable and unreceptive to the seed.
This type of soil represents the cynic and rebel. They have no use for the Christian life, even though they may be familiar with it. They see it as irrelevant and unworthy of their interest. They are unwilling to give the control of their lives to anything, even if it is God. They are belligerent. You cannot tell them anything. There is no place for God in their lives. They are proud and arrogant. “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18). They are stubborn, selfish and willful. When you have that attitude, the Word of God cannot live. It cannot even get started. The Word never sinks in, and after awhile Satan snatches it away. Even what you have been given is removed.
The problem is not a lack of understanding, but an unwillingness to receive. It is the attitude of a Mark Twain who said, “It is not the parts of the Bible I do not understand that bother me, it is the parts I do understand.” It is not that they have never heard with their ears, it is that they have never heard with their hearts. Jesus said that they are, “ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding” (Mark 4:12). The fault is not with the Word, but their response to the Word. The seed is good, but the ground is hard.
The second type of soil is shallow, rocky soil. The people could see this kind of soil all around them as Jesus spoke. It was hard to find soil that was not rocky, and the surface rocks had to be cleared every year. The rock pushed up through the soil everywhere you looked, but in some places there was solid shelf rock covered by a thin layer of soil. In this type of soil the seed would sprout up immediately, but it could not develop an adequate root system so that it died as quickly as it sprang up. Jesus was talking about those who immediately receive the Word of God with enthusiasm, but who do not last. They have genuine joy in the beginning. They are excited about what it means to know God and experience a new life. But something happens. Persecution and trouble come — as they always do. An illness, problem or crisis comes, and they cannot understand why God would allow something like this to happen. They become cynical and offended at God and fall away.
Or perhaps someone makes fun of their faith. A family member does not understand and is critical. Their employer requires them to do something which goes against their new-found faith. They know that to follow their faith will cause tension in their relationships with people, so they decide to please people rather than to please God. When trouble or persecution come they run the other way. They fold. Their faith is shallow. It is all enthusiasm and no discipline. It is all passing interest with no commitment. You have known people like that — they just go from one interest to another without ever landing solidly anywhere.
The third type of soil where the seed fell was full of thorns and weeds, which Jesus described as, “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things.” These are what grow up and choke the Word and make it unfruitful. Notice that this is good soil. Things grow easily here. The plants are prospering. Even the Word begins to grow here. But the soil is crowded with other things. Other things have been allowed to grow that should never have been there. Perhaps this soil was outside the parcel of land the farmer intended to be a part of his field. But it is also possible that Jesus was painting a picture of the absurd — a farmer intentionally sowing seed on land which was full of weeds — a lazy farmer that did not want to properly prepare the soil. He was slothful. He should have pulled the thorns out by the roots. He should have plowed and prepared the ground, but none of this took place. And because there was no effort to remove the weeds, the Word had no chance to grow. It seems crazy, but the farmer was indifferent to the presence of the weeds. He did not see the importance of removing them. He was passive and overly tolerant of what was potentially harmful. But the result was a harvest of thorns and thistles rather than food which would enable him to live. This kind of person is overly tolerant of the weeds in his or her life which makes it impossible for the Word to grow. They don’t take sin seriously.
Some people allow these things to crowd into their lives and choke the Word of Life. You tell yourself that you have special needs. Somehow the rules don’t apply to you. You have allowed some things in your life which you know should not be there, but you are drawn to the forbidden. You are curious. You want to experience new things. You tell yourself that you are a free spirit and you are not like other Christians. Dangerous weeds are growing within and are choking out the Word. You are headed toward spiritual self-destruction. You need to weed these things out of your life, and begin to sow things like godly sorrow, humility, repentance, renewed commitment, obedience and a single-hearted love for God. Don’t allow the weeds to choke out your relationship with God and ruin your life.
But there was also good soil. These are the people who want the Word to grow in their lives. Jesus said that the difference between the good soil and the others was that they “hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop — thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.” They want their lives to be fruitful for God. Their hearts are not hard — they receive the Word into their lives. They work the soil of their hearts, plow it, weed it, fertilize it and are therefore productive. Some produce a harvest which is 30 times what was sown, others 60 times, and still others 100 times the amount of seed they received. The soil of their lives produces an abundant harvest. It is not that these people are more talented, it is simply the result of the effort and time invested by those who received the Word. These are people who desire the Word of God and are eager to grow in him. The soil of their lives is receptive to the Word. They hear it with their hearts, accept it into their lives and they are spiritually productive. They are not sidetracked. They understand that there is effort and commitment involved in the Christian life, and they are willing to pay the price of whatever it takes to grow spiritually. They are not playing at the Christian life — it is their life. They want to know God. Their lives are good, rich, deep soil. And one of the important things we must understand about what this parable is saying is: God expects growth. It is the natural result of good soil and careful preparation.
It wouldn’t be right to conclude this parable without pointing out a final important truth: In spite of all the poor soil and all the trouble the seed had growing, in the end there was an abundant harvest. I believe that in end God will have his way. In spite of all the types of soil that did not take root, the good soil more than made up for them. Here is the good news. At first, the seed may seem small and unimpressive, and you may think that there is hardly any seed growing at all because of the obstacles it faces. But when the world is in the middle of its final day, there will be an overwhelming gathering of the people of God from all over the world. There will be people from every nation, of every tongue and race who will make their way to the City of God. The good seed will have multiplied exponentially and cause the Word to grow in many places.
Don Richardson, in his book Eternity in Their Hearts, tells an amazing story of spiritual harvest. In an area once called Burma, which is now modern Myanmar, lying between China and Thailand, and touching the border of Laos, there lived about a quarter-million tribal people called the Lahu. For many centuries, the Lahu had a tradition which said that the Creator of all things whom they called Gui’Sha — had given their forefathers his law written on rice cakes! But a famine came, and the forefathers ate the rice cakes for their physical survival. The elders defended their actions by saying that Gui’Sha’s law was now inside them! But the Lahu could not know and obey their Creator perfectly until he would again give them his written laws. The Lahu people had prophets of Gui’Sha, whose mission it was to keep the expectation of help from the Creator constantly alive in the hearts of the people. And so the prophets would teach the people with proverbs like the one which said, “If a man had ten armloads of walking sticks and walked until every walking stick was worn to a stub, he would still not find Gui’Sha [the true God], but when the right time comes, Gui’Sha will send to us a white bother with a white book containing his laws — the word lost by our forefathers so long ago. That white brother will bring the lost book to our very homes!”
Some Lahu even wore cords around their wrists symbolizing their need for a divinely appointed deliverer who would one day cut those cords from their wrists! In the 1890s, a young missionary named William Marfus Young, was appointed to take the gospel to the Shan people in the eastern extremity of Burma. He established a base in Keng Tung city, capital of the Shan region. One day Young went to the marketplace and was preaching among the Shan people, most of whom were Buddhists. He read the Ten Commandments from the Bible. Then holding his Bible aloft — with the sun gleaming on its white pages — he began to preach about the laws of the True God. As he preached, he noticed some men coming toward him out of the throng in the market. He could tell by their dress they were not Shan people. Later he discovered that they were Lahu men who had decided that day to come down from the far mountains to trade in the market of Keng Tung. They completely surrounded William Young and stared incredulously at his white face, the white interior of the book in his hand, and listened to his description of the laws of God contained in that Book.
When he had finished they pleaded with the missionary to follow them up into the mountains. They said, “We have been waiting for you for centuries. We even have meeting houses built in some of our villages in readiness for your coming.” They showed him the bracelets of coarse rope hanging like manacles from their wrists that their people had worn for many generations. The ropes symbolized their bondage to evil spirits as a result of not having God’s Word. They said, “You alone, as the messenger of God, may cut these manacles from our wrists — but only after you have brought the book of the true God to our very homes.” Young could not believe what was happening, but he went and many of the Lahu people became Christians. In 1904, Young and others baptized 2,200 Lahu converts who had learned the basics of the Christian faith. From then until 1936, when he died, still working among the Lahu, he saw at least 2,000 Lahu give their lives to Christ every year.
God is sowing the seed. The seed will continue to grow. All it takes is a simple and humble heart that is willing to hear and receive it.
Rodney J. Buchanan
Amity United Methodist Church
June 2, 2013
rodbuchanan2000@yahoo.com
