The start of the parables...Matthew 13:1-23...The Granddaddy of them all

 

I found this moose shed on an unmaintained trail in the RMNP last week.  It made me think of what I need to shed.  I snowshoe in the winter but not as much as I hike in the summer so I need to shed a few pounds I also found through the colder months!  It has been great to be back on the trails and also explore some that I didn't last year.  I am trying to fill in my new trail map for 2025.  But it also made me think about other things I need to shed that deal with my spiritual life.

Our Sunday passage took us into chapter 13 of the Gospel according to Matthew.  The disciples notice right off that Rabbi Jesus is using a different teaching technique.  He is telling stories called parables to communicate spiritual truths.  To some they will just hear the common story with a "wow" factor in it while others will connect it to a spiritual truth.  The "wow" factor of the parable of the sower or the soils is the outcome of the seed that feel on the good ground.  It was well above the normal great yield that they would have experienced.  This could have been a clue that there was more to this story than understanding basic agricultural principles.

This parable helps us to "shed" where we share the gospel, the seed.  We don't just share it where we think it is good ground but we share it everywhere.  We share it on the hard path and the shallow soil and the thorny soil also.  We tend to say "quality over the quantity" but this parable says to focus on the "quantity over the quality."

This parable also helps us to "shed" a surprise or shock to the response to the gospel.  Jesus says that some will reject it swiftly as if it was snatched away.  Some will hear it quickly but then quickly discard it.  Some will hear it but as an "add on" to their lives without crucifying the sin within them and those sins choke out what they have heard.  Some will hear and understand, truly repent and rise up in obedience, with Spirit filled fruitful lives.  I think we may be shocked more when the good ground presents itself than the rest.

I love it when the Scriptures give us a picture of this parable happening in real time.  Paul is in Athens and sees all the statues (idols) to different gods and finds one that says to the "unknown god".  He capitalizes on this moment and shares with them that he knows of this God.  He shares the gospel of Jesus on a place called Mars Hill and when he gets to the resurrection from the dead this happens found in Acts 17:32-34, CSB and the parenthesis are mine.

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, (wayside, hard path) but others said, "We'd like to hear from you again about this" (shallow or rocky soil and thorny or seedy soul).  So Paul left their presence.  However, some people joined him and believed, (good ground) including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Paul was sowing the seed and he experienced all the soils of the parable of the sower or soils.  He was not shocked but rather went on from there to Corinth.  He was not deterred but rather determined to continue to share or to sow the seed all over the region no matter the soil composition.  May we not be deterred or so concentrated on finding good soil that we don't take advantage of every Spirit led opportunity to share about our Jesus with others no matter the possible response.

Adam