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Teaching Text: Matthew 13: 1-13
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heavenhas been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
Themes
Consider these themes and ask your group what else they see in the passage:
The Parables of Jesus
Wise & Foolish Builders
Formation
Thoughts and notes you can use for discussion:
There is a place, a quick line you could miss if you weren’t looking for it in the book of Acts that says in the 40 days after the resurrection Jesus spoke with the disciples about the Kingdom of God.
Think about that. Hadn’t Jesus been talking with them about the Kingdom of God the whole time?
The disciples had seen partially. But now, His death and resurrection put His life in a new clarity, a new understanding.
This Eastertide we are also going to take these 40 days after Easter and listen to the teachings of Jesus on the Kingdom of God.
Parables lay two things beside one another so that in understanding one, you can better understand the other.
So they reveal the Kingdom of God, especially if you carry the story with you and let it work on you. But they also cloak the meaning to some degree and provide a way to say some very provocative things in public without being able to be immediately arrested.
No one parable shows us everything of the Kingdom of God but as we hear them and reflect on them, more and more of the reality of God in our midst becomes clear.
Jesus didn’t invent parables. It was a popular rabbinic teaching tool in a culture that valued a learner coming to a discovery from considering a teaching rather than simply having information laid out to them to repeat back.
But His disciples are worried that He may have cloaked too much. They ask why are you teaching like this?
I am teaching this way because this way is a heart revealer. It will show where people are at. Some will listen and listen but not hear. They will look and look and not see.
They many be present but they are not seeking God’s Kingdom. They have too much riding on their own Kingdom.
But for those who follow up, who ask questions, who keep the conversation going, who carry the story away and mediate on it, let it confront them, don’t hide from it, approach with humble and receptive heats it can bear the most precious fruit in all the world.
4 Categories of Responses to the seed that is sown:
(HOW IS YOUR HEART TODAY?)
Is it hardened?
Is it shallow?
Is it crowded?
Is it tender and open?
Jesus tells us ... The seed is the message of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is where God’s heart is being expressed and known and experienced.
“When we speak of the kingdom of God, we are speaking of a kingdom which works more like a family or a well-functioning neighborhood, where people really do love one another and care for each other. This kingdom is the range of God’s effective will—or simply God acting in this world—where what He wants done is done. Jesus’ teaching showed us that the kingdom of God is not a thing of times and places; it is a thing of the heart. It is a life that is lived in vital connection with God himself. Unlike the kingdom of God, human government functions on principles of force, deception, brutality, and the power of death. All human governments have the power of death, but what they lack is the power of life. This is what the kingdom of God has: the power of life. Human governments can kill. God’s government gives life. This life is based upon the new birth that is an entry into the kingdom of God.”
– Dallas Willard
HARD HEART:
Our hearts can become hardened when we become certain that our understanding of the evens of our life is all there is.
But also our hearts can be hardened simply by too much traffic there. We indiscriminately let too many things into the deep places of our life.
Our heart can also be hardened by the many messages of the world that enthrone the self, glorify selfishness, and keep us isolated in the pursuit of project self.
This parable is reminding us that we aren’t just hearing the message of the Kingdom of God in a neutral space.
How do you measure the hardness of your heart in light of these three descriptions of hardness?
SHALLOW HEARTS:
In this condition, it is received with joy, but there is no root, and the initial fast-growth withers when trouble hits.
I often see people mistake agreement for participation or mistaking on the spot resonance or actual obedience
We receive with joy but we are so used to only led by our feelings that the response lasts as long as the feeling.
“In the stony ground, the people hear the Word and say, “[T]his is wonderful!” But they don’t receive the Word at the deep level of their soul where it can penetrate the depths of their personality. The seeds don’t take root because there is nothing within the person’s character to take hold of. A person’s character is the internal, overall structure of the self that is revealed by long-running patterns of behavior and from which actions more or less automatically arise. It’s what runs our life. It shows itself in our thinking and choices and in our habitual ways of behavior that are built into our bodies and become obvious in our relationships. What we will seriously think about is one of the strongest indications of how our character has grown. The way our thoughts are directed affects our feelings before and apart from the point where they settle into the habits of our body and our social relationships. Receiving good news can make our bodies jump up and down with joy because our feelings are largely determined by our thoughts. That’s why people jump up and down when they win the lottery. But then very often their winnings ruin their life because their feelings were one thing and their character was something else.”
– Dallas Willard
How difficult do you find it to follow an emotional moment with obedience?
CROWDED HEARTS:
Received the word but the worries of this life and deceitfulness of wealth chokes out the world
There is an initial growth, but life is so full of other things.
Our old ways of meeting the deep needs of our life out of our own resources do not just vanish in a flash.
We keep making our way through life by worry as our functional guide instead of faith.
Fear leads our life more than love.
We begin to take the security of things like wealth as if that is the true abundant life.
“Western culture today is so powerful and alluring that it often swallows us whole. Its beauty, power, and promise generally take away both our breath and our perspective. The lure of present salvation—money, sex, creativity, the good life—has, for the most part, entertained, amused, distracted, and numbed us into a state where we no longer have a perspective beyond that of our culture and its short-range [salvation story].”
– Ronald Rolheiser
This is the first era in human history, you can reach in your pocket, check the stocks, check the news, see if someone liked your photo. You see your aunt dyed her hair a new color, right along the side of a tragic explosion, and then a filtered photo of your friends vacation.
What habits and patterns of life crowd your heart’s openness and receptivity to the kingdom of Jesus?
UNDERSTANDING HEARTS:
To understand here is beyond simply grasping the information. Understanding the implications of the Kingdom and surrendering to its reality in friendship with God.
I can change!
If you can be honest about where you are, you are ready to have your heart changed from there
“If you won’t hear the bad news about yourself, you can’t know yourself. You condemn yourself to the maintenance of an exhausting illusion, a false front to your self which keeps out doubt and with it hope, change, nourishment, breath, life. If you won’t hear the bad news, you can’t begin to hear the good news about yourself either.”
– Francis Spufford
Name where your heart is
Offer it to God - The Gardener
Obey what you do understand
Allow the miracle of growth - 30 - 60 - 100
PARENTS:
Read the parable of the sower to your kids
Talk, ask your kids what they think the difference is between hearing/understanding and doing something?
Ask them what it means for Jesus to be the Seed (the Word) of God
Pray with them for God to prepare their hearts to receive Him openly
