As the rift between Jesus and the Pharisees has now grown into full-blown animosity, Jesus begins to teach differently. Until this passage, Jesus has taught in a direct manner. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus described the kingdom and what the citizens of the Kingdom are to be like in specific detail. Since then, Jesus has displayed His miracles to validate that He is the Messiah. The Pharisees don’t believe so they begin to conspire against Him and are trying to figure out how to get rid of Jesus. Now that Jesus has had a couple of direct conflicts with the Pharisees and the people of His hometown of Capernaum and Bethsaida have rejected Him, his form of teaching changes.
TEACHING IN PARABLES
Jesus goes out to sit by the sea and large crowds begin to gather. So Jesus gets into a boat and pushes off the beach so more can see and hear Him and He began to teach:
Matthew13:3a- And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying………
Parables are defined as simple stories used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson. Up until this point, Jesus hasn’t taught in parables. But in this chapter, all His teachings to the crowd are in parables. What changed? The disciples wanted to know the answer to that as well. (Matthew 13:10)
Matthew 13:11-13- Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Jesus very directly tells the disciples that these parables have a dual purpose. To those who believe, understanding has been given in abundance. The parables give an extra measure of understanding to the teaching. The meaning reveals the truth!
But to those who don’t believe, it raises more questions, it conceals the meaning of the teaching.
PROPHECY FULFILLED
It’s important to remember that Matthew’s original audience with this gospel was his Jewish kinsmen. He was writing to convince them that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, as foretold in the Old Testament. So, Matthew refers to prophecies fulfilled often. In this case, Jesus refers to the prophecy regarding the people He’s encountering from the Old Testament.
Matthew 13:14-15- You will keep on hearing but will not understand; you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of the people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal them.
Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:10 to show them that this prophecy is referring to those He’s been preaching to that are rejecting Him. They have become dull, they’re incapable of perceiving what Jesus is saying through these parables. At this point, the crowd is following to see what benefits they can get from Jesus or what kind of show they’ll get to see. But His message of the kingdom is falling on deaf ears.
The shift in how Jesus is approaching His ministry couldn’t be clearer in this chapter and going forward. Jesus stands in a boat teaching in parables. He then explains each parable to His disciples. After this time, He withdraws and goes back to His hometown. There He goes to the synagogue and astonishes those who listen with His wisdom and miraculous powers but ultimately, they reject Jesus because He doesn’t have the correct pedigree.
Matthew 13:55-58- “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
In the first part of Matthew 13, Jesus begins to teach in parables. At the end of the chapter, Jesus refuses to do miracles after He is rejected in unbelief. After all, the purpose of the miracles was to prove He is the Messiah and that He had the authority to claim His message of the kingdom. He’s now been rejected by both the Jewish leadership and His hometown.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER
Throughout Matthew chapter 13, Jesus tells four parables. Matthew writes this chapter by giving Jesus an explanation for each parable to His disciples after He gives the parable. The first parable He taught was the parable of the Sower.
Matthew 13:3-8- And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.
In the parable of the Sower Jesus describes four scenarios. The first scenario was a seed that fell beside the road and was eaten by the birds. As a farmer, I love this parable. Mostly because it’s an illustration I’ve seen clearly in our own fields. Anytime we are tilling ground, planting, or harvesting birds come see what they can get. In this case, he describes a road. It seems odd to us that he’d be planting along a road, but it wasn’t odd to them at this time. In the countryside, in Israel, the roads were just compacted dirt roads through fields. Soil with a lot of compaction doesn’t let seeds get down into the soil, so the seed would just sit on top of the ground, making it easy food for the birds to snatch up. In Matthew 13:19 Jesus explains that this picture is referring to “anyone who 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”.
The second example was a seed sown in rocky soil. Perhaps you’ve seen this in a gravel driveway? Usually, if a gravel driveway isn’t too frequently used, or maybe the middle of the driveway doesn’t get tire traffic, some weeds or grass can begin to grow. But it never amounts to much. It can come up, but then it can’t do much else because the roots don’t find nutrients. Jesus says that this describes “the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with Joy, yet has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away”. (Matt. 13:20-21)
The third example is a seed that falls in better soil but among the weeds and thorns. Weeds are the most frustrating part of farming. A perfectly good plant, with great potential to bear fruit, can be overcome and choked out by weeds very quickly. Jesus says “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 deceitfulness of wealth chokes the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Matt. 13:22)
The fourth and final person illustrated in this parable is the seed that falls on good soil and yields a wonderful crop! Jesus says “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”. (Matt. 13:23)
CONCLUSION
Jesus’ message of the kingdom is the seed being planted in each case. The soil receiving the message is the hearts of the hearer. The circumstances in each case are the outside influences that can creep in and steal the Lord’s kind offer of the His kingdom. Jesus and His disciples were certainly encountering examples of each of these types of people. And even today, as the gospel of Jesus Christ goes forth, these same results still apply.
May we have soft, humble hearts that are good soil to receive the seed of the message of the kingdom of God! And may we be aware of the evil and even the distractions that can snatch it away.