Kingdom Parables | You’re Not Missing It

Written by Joel Davis 

This week, we are beginning an all-new series in the devotional arm of our podcast. This one is on Jesus’ Kingdom Parables in Matthew 13. You may already know this, but Jesus talked a LOT about the Kingdom of God in his earthly teaching. And these seven parables in Matthew 13 represent His most comprehensive teaching on the Kingdom of God in the Gospels. As parables, they are very tightly packed analogies and imagery about what the Kingdom of God is and each one is like turning a diamond in the sunlight, where the more we turn it, the more facets and angles of light refraction are going to be revealed to us. So, these are passages to soak in, not blow through and think we have it figured out because we read one blog or listened to a 10-minute podcast. The first one is one of the more famous ones, called The Parables of the Sower. 

But before we get to the sower, I want to begin with a word of encouragement. I think the Kingdom parables can be very concerning for some of us. After sharing the parable, Jesus tells the disciples that some who were in the crowd will listen to these teachings and not understand, look and not perceive what they are seeing. That is a scary thought, that someone’s eyes could be blinded to the truth of Jesus’ teaching! And I have experienced no small amount of anxiety over the years that I was missing something in these parables, too, or maybe even that my eyes were the ones being blinded.  

So, what do we do with the fear that WE’RE not understanding the message(s) of the parables? Well, I think sometimes we get so hyper-focused on the warning verses in a passage, that we miss the love of Jesus as He gives us powerful promises in the very next verse! Consider His words immediately following the sower parable: 

“The secrets of the kingdom of heaven have been given for you to know…” (13:11) 

Jesus assures His disciples after teaching the parable that a proper understanding of the nature of the Kingdom, how it works, what its priorities are, is readily available to them. In a theology of Overflow, we would say that God goes first in giving us understanding of these parables. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study or ask questions. It simply means that our Father is not withholding something from us; that He hasn’t created mental stumbling blocks that we won’t be able to clear. His first move is always toward us in love.  

And just in case we were still nervous about our comprehension, Jesus is going to start us off with a parable He includes an explanation for! So, let’s take a look at the parable of the sower and ask the Holy Spirit to give us clarity on how we should respond to this in love and obedience:  

On that day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying, “Consider the sower who went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seed fell on rocky ground where it didn’t have much soil, and it grew up quickly since the soil wasn’t deep. But when the sun came up, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it. Still other seed fell on good ground and produced fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times what was sown. Let anyone who has ears listen.” (Matthew 13:1-9) 

I want you notice three things about this passage: 

First, the sower generously, abundantly, recklessly sows seed all around—some even ends up in the road! The sower is Jesus and the seed is the preaching of the coming Kingdom, and Jesus eagerly desires that we would listen and be saved. In studying for this passage, I saw people critiquing this practice, asking “What kind of farming method is this?” This is like saying Jesus should have been working on His degree in agricultural sciences alongside His ministry work! But these people are completely missing the point. Jesus is not writing a manual for seed distribution. He is showing us His generosity and love in scattering seed even where He knows He will not find a receptive audience, that is, good soil. He does not have a scarcity of resources problem that this would be a concern for Him.

Second, if there is nothing wrong with the seed and nothing wrong with the sower, it is the soil that we need to question the quality of. Jesus goes on later to explain the implications of hard soil, shallow soil, and thorny soil people. Hard soil people lack understanding and forget what they hear. Shallow soil people receive it but have no root or community to help sustain it. And thorny soil people receive it but are too consumed with worry or possessions to change.  

Right now, you might be saying, “Joel, that is EXACTLY what I’m worried about. Thank you for confirming my deepest fear!  

I don’t feel like I understand the Bible. 

I feel lonely more often than I’d like to admit. 

And I do feel like I get bogged down in the cares of this world and how much I make. 

But Jesus knew this about you, and He knew this about the disciples too. My gosh, if you know anything about the disciples, you know He is not addressing a group with a perfect track record!

Which means that third and finally, being a Fourth Soil person is not an exercise of our willpower and excellence. It is a willingness to yield to the Father’s loving care and allow Him to make us the good ground that hears and understands the Word and yields a harvest.  

Fourth Soil are not the ones who always get it right. They are the ones who pause to reflect on the Word and its impact on their lives, who work to release the worries and cares of this world back to the Father, and who root themselves in a family of brothers and sisters in Christ who care for one another through every step of that journey. 

Maybe you’ve heard us say this before, but “Jesus didn’t die so that you could do your best.” He died to restore you to intimacy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So today, if you want to be good soil, you do have a responsibility. But the responsibility is not to get a seminary degree or get it right all the time. It’s to relax back into the love of God, or as verse 15 says, “to turn back” to Him, and find that His healing love has been there all along.

Our Father’s kingdom is one where our fears are stilled and our strivings cease. It is an upside-down sort of Kingdom. Every other Kingdom PRODUCES my fear and REQUIRES my striving. But His Kingdom restores me to health and to good soil. That Kingdom is also available to us right now. If you’ve been listening to our Conversations series on the Kingdom, you know the Kingdom is anywhere where the will of our Heavenly Father is being done. So that Kingdom is alive and well today in the city of Houston for anyone who is willing to slow down and have the eyes to see it.

May you do that this very day!