Jesus Christ was born many hundreds of years after the prophet Isaiah foretold of His coming, and He often referred to the prophet’s words when sharing important concepts about the kingdom of heaven with His disciples.
Great multitudes often gathered by the shore of the Sea of Galilee to hear Jesus speak. On one occasion, there were so many people there that Jesus got into a boat and spoke to them away from shore. His words carried out over the water as a sort of natural projection system so that all in the large crowd were able to hear Him teach.
But Jesus had the one of the same challenges that Isaiah did – although the crowd physically heard His words, many did not truly “hear” or follow them in their hearts. They either did not comprehend His message or, if they did, they did not choose to pursue what He was saying by turning to God.
Jesus later explained this situation to His disciples:
13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled… Matthew 13:13 (NKJV)
Many of those who came to see Jesus would, for one reason or another, reject His words. He would later weep over Jerusalem because of the consequence of their rejection – their defeat and the destruction of the temple by the Romans, four decades later, in 70 AD.
But many other people would believe on Him as the Christ, or Messiah. In order to provide spiritual seekers with the best opportunity to receive the good news in their hearts, and not to reject it outright, Jesus often taught in the form of parables. A parable is a short story that contains a deeper spiritual concept or principle that is revealed in the heart through the action of the Holy Spirit. By receiving spiritual concepts in this gentle, story-telling form, people were better able to grasp and assimilate radical principles of the kingdom of God. These smaller, “bite-size” helpings of holy truth would be less likely to provoke a hardening of wary hearts against Jesus’ divine teachings.
Many of Jesus’ parables used examples from the agrarian lifestyle of the time that most people in the crowd were well familiar with, and could relate to. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, the Parable of the Sower describes how some in the listening crowd might respond to His message.
3 … “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Matthew 13:3-9 (NKJV)
Jesus later explained to His disciples that, in the story, Jesus Himself was the Sower, giving out the seed, the word of God. The four types of soil represent the four different conditions of the hearts of those who were hearing His words.
- The seed scattered on the wayside, the hardened paths where people would walk through the fields, represented words that fell upon hardened hearts. The works of the devil would come along and steal the word away before it can take root and form spiritual growth.
- The stony places represent areas of thin soil over a shallow bedrock. This represents the hearts of those who hear the word and, at first, have some capacity to understand it and even receive it with joy. But as soon as any negative consequences of being a believer in Jesus show up, they are quick to abandon the word and to go about their own way, without seeking or worshipping Him.
- The thorns represent the cares of this natural world and the deceitfulness of riches. They grow around us to consume our thoughts and imaginations, choking out our pursuit of Jesus, so that any benefits of receiving His words are lost.
- The good soil represents hearts that receive His words with joy and stick with it, despite the difficulties it can present or the lures and temptations of the world. God then uses these faithful hearts to share His word with other hearts, producing a great harvest of disciples. Jesus’ word continues to spread throughout the world and the kingdom of God grows by leaps and bounds.
This parable of Jesus clearly has as much application for us today as it did to His disciples two thousand years ago. We all get to choose whether or not we will receive the good news of God in our hearts, and if we do, what steps we will take to seek to continually seek to follow God. If we do so, the Lord will abundantly bless us and use us to encourage other believers and to grow His kingdom, bringing forth a robust eternal harvest all around the globe. In this way, many will finally hear and receive these heavenly words of both Jesus and Isaiah, and they will not return void .
Reflection
Jesus’ parables give us the opportunity to hear, receive, and comprehend God’s word in a way that won’t overwhelm our mind and spirit. The stories leave us with much to contemplate. We can ask God to help us fully understand and apply them to our lives today.
Father God, speak to our hearts all of Jesus words of the kingdom. Teach us Your truth in a way that we may receive them, grow in the Holy Spirit, and stay faithful to You. Grant us life from above so that we may plant seeds for and nurture others for Your heavenly kingdom. Grant us strength to turn away from temptation and bad habits, and to produce a great harvest for You. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Have a beautiful, blessed day as you follow Jesus on His kingdom journey today.
Daily Meditations from the Genealogy of Jesus 