Parables as a Teaching Tool

Parables were a method of teaching people that Jesus used several times throughout His 3+ year ministry while living in this world.  Most of His teaching was NOT in the form of parables, but He did use a lot of parables.  Some of them are easier to understand than others.  And some are easy to understand on a surface-level, but also have some deeper points that Jesus is making.

Parables and Context

Before looking at any parables, it is always helpful to remember that context, quite often, helps us to better understand the point Jesus was making.  Context will not always help, but it usually will help.  And sometimes the context is imperative to understanding the meaning behind the parable.  Ignoring the context can lead to a misunderstanding of just what Jesus was trying to teach people(and us).

Why Use Parables?

Some people have asked the question, “Why did Jesus even teach in parables?”  It’s a valid question.  Jesus was asked by His disciples on at least one occasion why He taught in parables(Matt. 13:10), and Jesus’ response was that He was revealing the mysteries of the kingdom(i.e. His kingdom).  By providing information through parables, those who really wanted to understand, the spiritually-minded people, would understand.   By contrast, the worldly-minded people would not understand.  For example, the worldly-minded person would listen to the Parable of the Sower(Matt. 13:3-9) and walk away with gardening advice.

Parables are also a great teaching tool because they are memorable.  People who have never even read a Bible have heard of some of the parables and can remember, at least part, if not the entire, parable.  And the fact that a parable has to be pondered helps us as listeners, because the more we think about it, the better we will be able to remember it.  So let’s look at the Parable of the Sower.

Parable of the Sower

The facts:

A sower(of seed) goes out into a field and sows some seed.  Some seed fell on the wayside, which was a hard surface, so it just sat there.  The birds came along and ate it.  Other seed fell in a second area that had some dirt, but the dirt covered stoney ground.  The seed did grow plants, but they died quickly, rendering the seeds useless.  Some seed fell in soil that had thorns.  The seed produced plants, but the thorns also grew and choked out the plants, rendering them useless.  The last of the seed was sown into good soil.  The seed grew into plants, and those plants yielded a crop of 30, 60 or 100 fold.

What Does It Mean?

Jesus rarely explains the meaning of any of His parables, but He does give an explanation of this one(Matt. 13:18-23), so we don’t have to worry about figuring it out ourselves.  His focus is almost exclusively on the four soils, so let’s listen to what He says about each.

The Wayside

The first soil is the wayside.  The wayside represents a person who hears the word of God, but does not understand it.  The wicked one(i.e. Satan) takes it away.  One of the interesting aspects about this soil is that Jesus said that the seed/word was sown into the heart of this person . . . who did not believe.  So the word of God entered the person’s heart, but it did no good.  We all know people like this.  They hear the gospel message, or at least part of it, and it has no impact.  They might be quickly dismissive, or they might have interest, but ultimately never believe the message.  They could be atheists, Agnostics or people who just are not interested in spiritual matters . . . or they might say they are interested in spiritual matters, but not in the gospel.

The Stoney Ground

The second soil is the stoney ground.  The stoney ground represents a person who hears the word of God and accepts it.  Jesus says they accept it with joy, so it makes them happy, which is a good thing.  Unfortunately, they faith does not last for very long.  When tribulation or persecution occurs(i.e. difficult times, typically caused because of their faith), they stumble.  In other words, the person’s faith dies.   We know this because in the parable, the plant dies.  It never produces a crop.

This person did better than the wayside people.  They never received the word, but the stoney ground person DID receive the word . . . and with joy!  But they could not withstand the negative things that happened because of their belief.  Many people think that once a person has faith, they are saved and that salvation can never go away.  But Jesus tells us that someone can accept the gospel, but still turn away from Jesus later.  Some might think that they never had faith, but Jesus says otherwise.  Jesus is trying to teach us that just believing in Him is not enough.  We need to weather the storms that come into our lives and still remain faithful to Him.

The Thorny Ground

The third soil is the thorny ground.  The thorny ground represents a person who hears the word of God and accepts it.  This person does not appear to be negatively affected by the bad things that happen in their life because of their faith.  Instead, they are distracted by the care of this world AND the deceitfulness of riches.  This person’s faith is destroyed by other things that take their attention away from Jesus.  They may also be drawn away from Jesus by the belief that riches(i.e. material things) can solve their problems.  This belief is quite prevalent in the world today.  People think that if they just had enough money, everything would be okay(i.e. money will solve all my problems).  However, Jesus wants people to understand that money will NOT solve all our problems, and it definitely will not solve our most important problem . . . sin.  Only Jesus can solve that problem.  And since the sin problem is a problem with eternal ramifications, and all other problems are temporary, it should be obvious where our focus and attention should be.  It should be on Jesus, but the people represented by the thorny ground allow other things to take their focus off Jesus.  That is why they become unfaithful.

Like the stoney ground, the people who are the thorny ground were faithful at one point.  They did receive the gospel.  But they were distracted and turned away from Jesus.  They did not produce any crop, either.

The Good Soil

The fourth soil is the good ground.  The good ground represents a person who hears the word of God and accepts it.  This person does not fall away from his faith due to bad things that happen in his life as a result of his faith.  This person is also not distracted by what appear to be good things(i.e. the cares of this word or the deceitfulness of riches).  Instead, this person remains faithful to Jesus.  And as a result of his faithfulness, he does produce a crop.  The fact that some produce 30, some 60 and some 100 lets us know that different people who are faithful to Jesus will produce differently.  It can be a temptation to look at some and think that they are more faithful or less faithful due to what they produce, but this can be dangerous.  Yes, we should all strive to do more, but we need to be careful not to judge those who we think are producing less.

Takeaways

Here are some basic things that we can learn from this parable.

Not everyone who hears the gospel will accept/obey it(wayside).  The fault is not the seed(i.e. gospel).  The fault is not ours(hopefully).  It can be disheartening when we share the gospel with someone, but they reject it.  We feel like they rejected us, but they didn’t.  They rejected Jesus, which is even worse.

Some people accept the gospel, but then turn away from it.  A lot of people think that once a person believes in Jesus(i.e. accepts the gospel), they are saved and they can never be lost.  But Jesus says that both the stoney and thorny grounds people were faithful, but then they were not.  So we have to remain faithful.

Different things can drive us away from Jesus.  It can be persecution(i.e. bad things) or it can be physical things(i.e. stuff) that take our attention away from Jesus. 

Many things in life are neither good nor bad.  They are just things.  We need to make sure they do not take our focus away from Jesus.  We need to keep our focus on Jesus. Let me way that again.  We need to keep our focus on Jesus.

Not every person who is faithful to Jesus produces the same “crop.”  And that is okay.  It’s okay with Jesus, or He would have told us.  And if it’s okay with Jesus, it has to be okay with us.

There are “good soil” people out there.  For whatever reason, the sower did not seem to know which soil he was sowing in. He just sowed seed everywhere.  That’s what we need to do . . . sow seed . . . everywhere(i.e. to everyone).

The Wrap

People likely had a variety of reactions to this parable.  Some asked Jesus what it meant.  Some probably thought that Jesus was just giving them some gardening advice as to where to plant seed.  Some probably didn’t get it, but never asked for an explanation.  It wasn’t worth the effort.  Jesus wasn’t worth the effort.

The parables had a “sifting” effect on people then, and they still do now.  If you wanted something easy, like a short list of rules to follow, Jesus was not going to appeal to you.  Jesus demanded your attention.  And considering the fact that Jesus is God, His demand for our attention seems more than reasonable.  He demands our hearts(Matt. 13:15). So let’s give Him our attention. Let’s give Him our hearts.  He has given us so much.  And He asks for so little(by comparison).  I can’t understand how we could possibly deny Him.  So don’t.