Day Forty-Four: Matthew 13-16

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable about a farmer who plants seeds on different sorts of soil.  In the parable, something happens to the seeds to keep them from doing what seeds are supposed to do.

Some of the seeds were devoured by birds.  Other seeds fell on the ground, but because they did not have roots, were scorched by the sun. Other seeds fell among thorns, and while they put roots down, the thorns choked the life out of them.  Notice that despite the progression in these three categories of seed, that the outcome was the same: no fruit.  

The seed is the gospel. Why didn’t it grow?

In the parable, the gospel isn’t allowed to go in deep enough.  In the first case, it’s devoured by birds, it doesn’t even go in.  Then the seed goes in, but it doesn’t go in deep enough to put down roots.  The sun, rather than causing it to grow, scorches it.  Finally, some of the seeds go in, but it only goes as deep as the thorns.   It’s at the same level as the thorns, it’s just as important as all the other cares of this world, as all the other pursuits, it never goes deeper than that. 

Our culture encourages superficiality. We are satisfied in being shallow in our relationship with Christ, because we are satisfied being shallow in general. We don’t want to do the hard work of going deep, and so we only receive the word at a shallow level – at the level of feelings.  And so it is no surprise that the thorns so often choke the seed of the word.  Because we never take it in deeply.  We have never gotten past using the word as something to make us feel better. 

Jesus seems to be saying, if the message of the gospel is going to bear fruit in your life, and accomplish real change, then the seed must go in deep.  It ultimately has to go in deeper than the thorns: you can’t be shallow in the way that you hear it and respond to it.  This means taking and listening and reflecting and applying and discussing the gospel over and over again.  You have to let it go in deep.  When that happens, explosive growth occurs.

Lord, let the gospel go deep in my life and do what it is supposed to do.  Help me to put down good roots and grow up strong into you. Amen.