Now that opposition has grown against Jesus, He begins speaking in parables. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Parables compel listeners to discover truth while concealing truth from anyone who is too lazy or stubborn to listen.
Jesus taught in parables for three reasons:
- The kingdom secrets were given to the disciples, not the crowds. The secrets were for the people in the kingdom.
- The people were slow to respond to Him. They were not willing to listen to God’s truth.
- To fulfill prophecy.
Jesus blesses the disciples. While the Old Testament prophets longed to see the Messiah, Jesus says His disciples are blessed because they see Jesus perform miracles and hear His teachings. Christians today also are blessed because we have the complete Bible and the Holy Spirit in us to teach us the truth, among many other benefits to living after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Jesus teaches two parables during this section in Matthew: the parable of the sower and the parable of the weeds.
In the parable of the sower, Jesus explains different responses to His Word. The seed represents the Word of God. The different soils represent our hearts and our responses to God’s Word. The seed was the same in all four instances, but the responses were different. The seed was snatched away, was scorched, was choked out by weeds or produced a harvest.
- The hard ground is a hard heart. The path was trampled on and was most traveled. Here the devil snatches away the seed.
- The rocky ground is a shallow heart. These people hear the Word but fall away during trials and testing.
- The thorny ground is a distracted heart. It is distracted by the world and its pursuits.
- The good soil is a receptive heart. These people are willing to change and respond to what they hear.
Then Jesus tells the parable of the weeds. In this parable, an evil farmer sows weeds among his enemy farmer’s good seeds. The weeds are sons of the devil, and the seeds are sons of God. The weeds look similar to the wheat just like counterfeit Christians look similar to true Christians.
The devil plants counterfeit Christians in the church today. These counterfeit Christians believe a counterfeit gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), encourage counterfeit righteousness (Romans 10:1-3), develop a counterfeit church (Revelation 2:9) and produce a counterfeit Christ (II Thessalonians 2:1-12).
The counterfeit Christians will be revealed on the judgment day when Jesus will separate true believers from people who have rejected Him. The judgment day is real, and it is coming.
Things to Think About
- Which truths has God revealed to me in the book of Matthew? How have I responded?
- Which of the four soils represents my heart? If my heart is hard, ask God to soften it. If my heart is shallow, ask God to dig up the rocks and give me good soil. If my heart is distracted, ask God to narrow my focus. If my heart is receptive, ask God to continue to nourish and cultivate my heart to produce more fruit.
- Am I an authentic Christian? Can others see this in the way I live my life?
That concludes the first part of this BSF year! I’ll be back with more weekly lessons after the Christmas break.