Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. 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. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
“God’s Word In Us”
A parable is a story you can’t get unless it first gets you. It is a story designed to “pull another story out of the listener”. The end result is that “more happens in the mind of the listener then in the mouth of the teller.”
The seed is good; it is the soil which has the problem. We are the soil - all 4 kinds of soil!
We are not always receptive to what God’s Word has to say. We run hot and cold when we listen to God’s Word. We have goodness choked out by our indifference. And we do hear and respond - doing that which pleases God. And God takes what comes from the good soil of our hearts and makes more of it then we ever could have dreamed possible.
The Word of God will not fail. It will do what it is meant to do - create faith in our hearts, stir us up in hope and challenge us to live in love. Our words fail. God’s Word will not fail!
Some times it sounds harsh; sometimes it sounds gentle; but it always seeks to make a promise and keep it - no matter what!
A good discipline for reading or listening to God's Word is to listen carefully for what you don’t want to hear and then listen carefully to what you don’t want to hear; then risk acting on it. It just may be where God is trying to plant a seed and change - soften up - your life.
It is God’s intent that His Word live in us , with us, through us; so we can be a part of God’s Word living in our day and age.
Judgment Is God’s Not Ours
Judgment is not in our hands. We are not to separate the wheat from the weeds, the sacred from the secular, the holy from the unholy. This is God’s doing - God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”.
Our task is to live faithfully, as those who are both wheat and weeds - we are not as pure as we would like to be. As Wm. Saloan Coffin has said, “Remember what history teaches, never do people so cheerfully do evil as when they do it from religious conviction.”
I tried to laugh off being a Pastor. I couldn’t do it. So I said yes, no matter how inadequate I felt and how inappropriate it seemed. God uses all of us in ways we don’t understand to spread his word of Love. We are to tell of God’s love not try judge our neighbors. Then it will be good - for them and for us.
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