211016 4 – Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23
¹That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. ²And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach. ³And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying,
Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up.
⁵Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
⁷Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out.
⁸And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
⁹He who has ears, let him hear.
Explanation
¹⁸Hear then the parable of the sower.
¹⁹When 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. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road.
²⁰The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.
²²And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
²³And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.
Devotional
Jesus tells a story. Someone could make a movie out of it.
- First see a farmer from ancient Israel sowing his field.
- Then the camera focuses on the road: birds pick up some of the seed. The film skips a bit of time: the sun shines very brightly in a clear blue sky, you see young plants scorched by the heat.
- The camera focuses on a corner of the land, where weeds are full of weeds. The young grain plants there are completely overgrown.
- Finally, we see a shot of harvest time: the end result, a beautiful waving cornfield.
What stands out about this movie?
First of all: a promotional film of a cropland would look very different.
What attention is here paid to what fails!
A promotional film would hide that as much as possible.
Three quarters of the time the Lord Jesus uses to show the failures.
The greatest impression, however, is left behind by the last image of the full harvest.
What a wonderful fruit: a hundred, sixty and thirtyfold! A result that farmers can only dream of. What a rich harvest!
What is this movie, this parable about?
It’s about what happens to the word of the Kingdom of God, which is the seed (Matthew 13:19).
The Lord Jesus preaches that Word, soon the disciples will take over from Him, and later many other preachers will come. What happens to that Word? The first thing you notice is that many seeds do not bear fruit. But there is also seed that bears rich fruit.
This parable is an encouragement to sowers, to preachers of God’s Word.
The preacher has to work, just like the farmer.
The Word of the Kingdom of God must be proclaimed.
The person who does that does not have to look at the result. Something will happen automatically.
That is the secret power of God’s Kingdom (cf. Matthew 13:33).
The Word works.
There is disappointment, because some of the people reject it.
But nevertheless it bears much fruit, against all resistance (How can the latter also apply to your life? Cf. Acts 17:10,11; Psalm 119:9,11,71,72,92,105; 2 Timothy 3:14-17).
Question
- In what can you see the great fruit of the Gospel?
Prayer Suggestion
- Thank God for the wonderful fruit his Word has produced in the world!
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