Day 287 (Matthew 13, Luke 8) - Year 8

Tara-Leigh Cobble (0:01)

Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

Jesus loves a good parable. It's one of his favorite teaching tools. A parable is a short story that usually has one main point or idea, though occasionally more, and it's often generalized, meaning there are no specific people or places listed, just broad facts. Today when we meet up with Jesus by the Sea of Galilee, he's got a lot of parables for us. We'll only cover the main one today, and tomorrow we'll talk about the others. This is a parable about the gospel. Jesus compares it to a seed. The seed of the gospel is spread all around, and it falls on lots of different types of soil, four to be exact. So this is often called the parable of the sower or the parable of the four soils. The soils represent four different ways the gospel can be received.

The bad news is three out of the four soils don't receive the gospel very well. We'll look at why in a second. But the good news is the one soil that does produces lots of fruit from the seed. In fact, it's up to a 100-fold increase.

The first soil is the path, but the birds come and devour the seed. Jesus compares this to anyone who hears the gospel but doesn't really understand it. Then the enemy comes and snatches it away. Jesus says it's not important for people to just hear the gospel but for people to understand it. Otherwise, the enemy will come along like a bird and snatch it up before it takes root. The second soil is the rocky ground. There's not a lot of soil there and what exists isn't very deep. Jesus compares this to the people who respond to the gospel quickly and with joy, but as soon as tough times come, that plant can't take the heat and it withers. Those who follow Christ are promised trials. And if someone claims to have faith but isn't rooted deeply, persecution will wilt them.

Persecution is one of the ways our hearts are revealed. Are we after only the blessings God promises his kids? Or are we truly after God himself?

The third soil is the thorny soil. The seed takes root, but the thorn grows up around it, choking it and crowding it out. Jesus compares the thorn to the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.

I find it interesting that both trials and abundance can overtake the seed. Things we view as curses and things we view as blessings can both serve to reveal our hearts. Finally, there's the good soil. The one who hears the gospel, understands it, and bears fruit. If I were a Baptist preacher, I would give these four soils names that all start with the same letter. Like maybe the simple, the shallow, the selfish, and the solid. But I'm not, so I won't. You heard nothing. Moving on. We just talked about the parable and the explanation. But when Jesus first tells the parable, he doesn't give the explanation. He just talks about the seeds and soil. He's talking to a big group of people from a lot of different towns, and he's all, seeds this and soils that. Then his disciples pull him aside and say, hey, no one knows what you're talking about. And he says, exactly, I'm doing that on purpose. For you guys, you'll get it. For the people with hard hearts, they won't. Be grateful for the blessing of your soft hearts and open ears, because you're getting to see and hear and know something that very few people have ever experienced. Then he goes on to explain the nuances of the parable of the soils to his disciples, but not to the whole crowd.

I'll be honest, on my first trip through scripture, this was the single most challenging passage for me. I almost gave up on this day. I didn't like it at all. It felt like Jesus was being mean.

One of my mentors encouraged me to zoom out on everything I had learned about God from reading the Old Testament as well as the purpose and timing of the ministry of Jesus. It was hard not to bring my own ideas of what was right and best to this passage. If you're like, what's the big deal Tara-Leigh? Then great, you're miles ahead of where I was on my first trip through the Bible. I really had to work to remind myself of what Jesus has proven so far in his ministry. Performing signs and speaking truth doesn't change hearts. Only the spirit changes hearts. This shook up my theology in the best way possible. So if this hits you sideways too, hang in there. The good stuff is always on the other side of your question. Press in, don't give up on him. Keep seeing what he says about himself and his word. Keep seeing what those who know him best testify to be true of him.