SEEDS, WEEDS AND SECRETS
Matthew 13:1-43
“Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
In the first parable, the focus is on the soil. The seed is good seed, but bad soil can damage the crop and affect the fruit.
The issue is not whether the produce that came out of rocky soil and those full of thorns are acceptable to the sower (as in, are they saved?) It is that the condition of our heart will affect the work of the seed. The wayside heart was indifferent. The rocky heart was not willing to pay the price while the heart with thorns harboured competing interests. None of them acknowledged the true value of the seed.
The most crucial quality in those who hear the Gospel is “understanding”, which Jesus elaborates to mean not just receptivity but also appreciating the import and value of what is behind it all. The ones who understand, who see and who hear, will turn and reach for the life-giving truth that the Gospel speaks of. There are those who never heard—the Gospel was just noise; those who heard selectively, only drawn to the Gospel superficially—perhaps to the nice bits; and those who heard and understood but could not appreciate the import and value of what Jesus offers over and above the many other concerns of life.
It is a central biblical truth that our salvation (the seed) is by grace and not in any way earned. The soil did not do anything to produce the seed. All the different types of ground received the seed. It was freely given by the Sower. But this parable tells us that the ability of the seed to grow and produce fruit does depend on our receptivity. We should not mistake one for the other.
And that is the point of Jesus’ assertion that there are those who have and will have more, and those who do not, and will lose even what they already have. If you do not appreciate and value what Jesus offers you place yourself among those who will lose what they already have. You need to understand who you are, and who God is and realise that this is the nature of the Gospel: you have to turn and take hold of what he offers—he will not force himself on where he is not welcome.
It is the seed that determines the identity of what develops. One is from the Son while the other is from the enemy. When the harvest comes, the fate of the plant is determined by what the plant produces. The angels will gather “everything that causes sin and all who do evil” and throw them into the furnace. Who shapes you and gives you your identity is crucial, because it will determine what you produce.
Perhaps the question you hear is which will you be? Or perhaps you hear the quiet assurance that though the wicked thrive alongside the righteous, their fate at the end couldn’t be more different, for the righteous will “shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
“Whoever has ears, let them hear.”