Parables of the Kingdom - Matthew 13:1-23

DO YOU HAVE TROUBLE HEARING?

 

I always thought that I had good hearing, but recently I noticed that I am having trouble picking up words. I struggle with crowd-noise, people mumbling, and my own attention to what people are saying. 

            A few weeks ago, I was speaking at the Heritage Center about this Parable of the Sower, and I asked the group why Jesus spoke from a boat. One resident responded, but I couldn’t hear what he said, so I said, “What was that?” (I say that a lot). He repeated his answer, “So that the people could hear him better.” Ironic answer, isn’t it? Jesus got into a boat to speak knowing that the natural amplification of the water would help carry his voice. If I ask the audience a question, it will help me if you all sat in a boat on a lake.

            Do you have trouble hearing? 

            The parable of Jesus we are studying today is well-known and it’s thrust is about hearing the message of the kingdom. Are we “hearing” the Word of God?

            Jesus spoke in parables often. What exactly is a parable? The Greek word literally means throwing or placing things along side of each other for the purpose of comparison. Jesus would preface his parables saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like…” So, a parable is a story or illustration placed alongside of a truth for the purpose of explaining one with the other. 

            But why did Jesus speak in parables? Why not just shoot straight and directly spell out the teaching? This is where we return to the theme of hearing. Different people hear the same message in different ways and react in a variety of ways. When Jesus did speak plainly, the scribes and Pharisees accused him of misrepresenting God. When Jesus spoke in parables, it challenged the hearer to engage with the story and process its meaning. Some got it and lots didn’t. 

            Do you have trouble hearing? The Parable of the Sower is a story about how people respond to the gospel.

The Parable in a Nutshell

 

The parable is about the ground more than the sower. The traditional German title is: Gleichnis vom viererlei Acker (the Parable of the Four Types of Ground). I have often referred to it as the Parable of the Four Soils. As Jesus sat in the boat speaking to the crowd, he likely saw a farmer on the hillside planting a crop (and used it to make a point). The sower goes out to the field to sow seed, and it falls on different kinds of ground. The fields in Jesus’ day were long, narrow strips with pathways between the strips where the sower would walk scattering seed. The ground was so hardened by people walking on it that it became like cement. Birds came and ate the seeds. Other ground was rocky – a thin layer of soil sat on top of a shelf of limestone and the seed could not take root. Seeds started germinating but they had no access to water below the surface and withered in the Palestinian heat. Some seeds fell into the thorny hedgerows where moisture was greedily sucked up by those weeds and thorn bushes. Finally, a good amount of seed falls on good soil and produces a variety of yields. Jesus concludes, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

            Jesus tells us later in v. 19 that the seed is the message (“word”) of the kingdom or the Word of God. The seed is good; the seed is not the problem. Where the seed falls is the problem, the ground. And that’s what we want to look at now using four questions to interpret and apply the soils.

 

1. Are you hardened by life’s troubles? (13:4, 19)

 

Failure of the seed to penetrate the hard ground of the pathways represents a lack of understanding. Jesus says, “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart,” (19). What Jesus doesn’t tell us is WHY the soil is so tough, or why there is no understanding. But this is the beauty of telling parables, it makes you think.

            What hardens the heart to the message of the gospel? Life has been unkind; trials and troubles have been more than you can handle; a feeling that God has abandoned you. Even believers in Jesus find it hard to listen to sermons and read devotionals – you’ve heard it all before. “Love your neighbor” and “trust in God” all sound like platitudes and cliches tossed around too easily. It doesn’t go deep. It just bounces off you. Soon you are questioning what you really believe. 

            “Jesus is the answer,” we often hear, but in our post-modern age we are not sure what the question is. Just as in the first century, there is today a resistance to the person of Jesus. Is he who he says he is? How can I know he is truly God? When troubles arise, Jesus is not who people turn to for answers.

 

2. Are you a fan or a follower? (13:5-6, 20-21)

 

Seeds fall upon the thin soil with the rocky underlay. Jesus says, “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy…” There is an immediate enthusiasm for Jesus and this person gets very excited at the possibilities. But Jesus goes on, “…yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a little while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away,” (20-21). 

            These people receive the gospel with enthusiasm. My guess is that they are attracted by the experience of Christianity. They are looking for the experiential highs, the positive vibes, the good times. When conflict hits the church, they are disillusioned and huff, “If that’s the church, you can have it.” 

            Jesus experienced this with his followers. In the heady days of his ministry when he healed the lepers, cripples, the deaf and blind, people were enthusiastic. He gave them bread and challenged the status quo of religion. Jesus was exciting. Then he started talking about picking up your cross and following him. He said he was going to Jerusalem to be rejected, scourged, beaten, and crucified (they didn’t hear the “rise again” part). In the last days of Jesus’ ministry, the “fans” disappeared. 

            Our life groups finished a series this Spring that asked this question: Are you a fan or a follower of Jesus? Is our enthusiasm for Jesus based on external stimulus, what Jesus can do for us, or on inner conviction that no matter what comes as a result of the gospel, we will follow Jesus? 

 

3. Are you distracted by the worries of life? (13:7, 22)

 

Anyone would find it difficult to focus on a conversation when you are worried about some matter. How then can you concentrate on the message of the good news when worry has you in its grip? The thing about worry is that 99% of the time you can’t do anything about what worries you. But it keeps you off balance and unable to grasp the Word. 

            Jesus said, “As for what was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful,” (22). 

            What chokes out the effectiveness of Jesus’ message? Two things: the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth. A brief evaluation of our culture tells us that we have more free time than previous generations due to technology and efficiency in our work. We do things better and faster than our grandparents did. However, that free time is quickly filled with so many activities and demands. We are so scheduled that we are always thinking about the next thing. Worry is not just anxiety then, it also includes the mountain of responsibilities we take on, because “If I am busy, I am not wasting time,” or “If I am busy, I am important.” 

            The more I focus on “extra” things, the less time I am focusing on God. Jesus is talking about priorities when he talks about the cares of this world and the trap of wealth. The more we do and the more we have, the less space there is for the sacred in our lives. As Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matt. 6:21).

 

4. Are you hearing AND understanding? (13:8, 23)

 

With the fourth soil, the good soil, Jesus teaches his listeners what it means to truly hear the word. He said, “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty,” (23). 

            Here, Jesus is making a distinction between the crowds and the disciples. Did the disciples understand the parables where the crowds did not? No, because we read that the disciples’ asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” The emphasis is not on the disciples’ ability to understand but on the fact that Jesus revealed the meaning to them. The crowds didn’t get what Jesus was saying. Neither did the disciples. But here’s the difference: the disciples trusted Jesus and they knew they could ask him for clarification. They had faith where the crowds were just looking for signs and wonders. 

            They hear and understand! To understand Jesus and his message is not merely an intellectual grasp of truth; it is rather a lifestyle commitment to the message of the kingdom. Understanding is a willingness to practice the good news in life even if it doesn’t always make sense. It is living by faith in Jesus and not being hardened by life or distracted by worries.

            Are you hearing AND understanding? I read about a great, articulate preacher who wonderfully expounded the Word. But it was discovered he was a terror to his wife, verbally wounding her and making her life miserable. It was hard for people to hear the message of the gospel from such a man. Then there was a so-so, mediocre, preacher, who loved his wife and embedded himself in the community. He demonstrated great care for his flock. From such a person, the congregation easily heard the Word of God. Here was a man who heard and understood Jesus so that his people could hear and understand Jesus. 

 

Do you have trouble hearing?

I performed a search on how to listen better to what people are saying and adapted it for the purpose of hearing God’s Word. Here’s what I discovered about hearing and understanding:

1) Repeat people’s last few words. This can get annoying real fast, but it works. Here’s how I would apply it to this text: memorize scripture. How do you bury the seeds deep in the soil of your heart? Memorize scripture. Repeat Jesus’ words. Take one verse from today’s message and memorize it.

2) Don’t put it in your own words. If you try to rephrase what your friend is saying and you get it wrong, it increases tension. It may seem unnatural but repeat it verbatim. One fellow at coffee a few weeks ago commented that Mark Hughes (Church of the Rock) makes fun of Mennonites and runs them down. So, I went to the Rock website and watched the sermon. He didn’t say that. In our context, if you hear a message or read a devotional, go back to the Bible to see if you hear what you think you heard.

3) Ask more questions than you think you need to. While you are hearing a message from some preacher, listen for things that make you go “hmmmm.” 

4) Minimize distractions. Avoid noise, interruptions, and other externals while you are reading the Bible. Minimize internal distractions as well. Shut out the things that steal your attention. Give space to hearing God speak in his Word.

5) Acknowledge your shortcomings. Are you tired Sunday mornings? Go to bed earlier on Saturday. Do you have trouble reading your Bible in the evening? Try the morning. Get up earlier.            

            These are just a few of the things that may make us better hearers of the Word. But one question you may have wanted to ask remains: What kind of soil is my heart? Can I change the soil of my heart? Or am I doomed to be hard, shallow, or thorny soil? I believe that Jesus wants to plow the soil of your heart and change your receptivity to his Word. In other words, you CAN change. 

            One of the first things Jesus said in his ministry was this: “Repent and believe the good news,” (Mark 1:15). What you need is not the ability to understand but the desire to understand. This will greatly improve your hearing.

 

                                                AMEN