Taking a new look at an old parable

In Matthew 13, we find Jesus sitting in a ship instructing multitudes who are standing on the seashore. While it is not unusual to find Jesus teaching people, what is unusual is that he begins speaking to them in parables. This is so unusual that his disciples will lean over to him in the boat and question him about this, and to which he will respond that this is exactly what Isaiah prophesied that, as their Messiah, he would do, and why.

But what is even more unusual than the telling of parables is their subject matter. Here in Matthew’s 13th chapter, Jesus peers out into the future and tells them about the kingdom of heaven. This is not the Davidic kingdom promised in the Old Testament which he will set up when he returns to reign on this earth for 1,000 years. No, this is the kingdom that will occupy the history that separates his first coming from that of his second. Bible scholars often refer to this as the “Church Age,” but here, Jesus calls it the kingdom of heaven.

Seven times in seven parables Jesus reveals the form through which Christianity will pass, and has passed, through the last almost 2,000 years. And interestingly, we will also see him do this again in the last book of the New Testament when he speaks directly to the seven churches of Asia. Thus he will begin the New Testament and end it with distinct revelation as to how Christian history will move forward during his absence from the earth.

Today I would like to prick your conscience, if you call yourself a Christian, with that first parable known as the sower and the seed. For those interested, this parable corresponds to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2, and it is first because it deals with how Christianity is to begin. In fact, Jesus will give direct interpretation of the parable to the disciples because it will be they who will be responsible for its initial thrust. How appropriate, then, it is to see Jesus starting with seed, from which all life begins.

In Mark 4, Matthew’s sister passage for this parable, we find this seed identified as God’s Word, the source of eternal life. By this we are to understand that the dissemination of God’s Word is of primary concern to Christianity, and true to form, the early church took it to the ends of the known world in their day. And don’t be misled into believing that this was just the gospel.

But in Matthew’s gospel, however, it is the receiver rather than the seed that is emphasized by the differing soils upon which the seed fell. It is also by these differing soils that we see opposition to God’s Word.

First we see Satanic opposition to the seed that falls by the wayside as Jesus directly identifies him in verse 19; Satan has always had a problem with God’s Word. Secondly, we see worldly opposition in the form of persecution to that seed which fell on stony ground; persecution still has a way of separating true believers and the false.

The last opposition to the Word are the thorns which Jesus identified as the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches. While you might be inclined to think this was also worldly opposition, this is actually opposition which arises from our own flesh. The truth is that sometimes, you are your own worst enemy. This is being so busy paying for that new snowmachine or four-wheeler that the only time you have left to enjoy it is Sunday, so you choose to miss church. Remember, I’m speaking to those who call themselves Christians.

And as Jesus mentions the deceitfulness of riches, you need to know that there are certain sins that are accentuated in the presence of money. Put bluntly, it is the wealthy who can afford to pamper their bodies. And before you complain of being poor, just compare yourself with those from a third-world country.

But one of the most intriguing things I find about this parable is that Jesus looks down through time and predicts a decreasing response to the Word. Remember, not just to the Gospel, but to the Word. You would think that in the day of the Mega-Church Christianity’s effect on the world would be great. I am sad to say that I cannot see this in our own country, let alone the rest of the world.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.