My child Listen! My Son Jesus sat on the beach and a huge crowd began to gather around him so He got in a boat – he began teaching them and He taught them by telling stories. A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up – the weeds strangled it. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. Are you really listening to the story He’s telling? The disciples stopped him, and privately asked him why He was telling them stories? He told them, ‘you’ve been given insight into the Kingdom, you know how it works – not everyone has the gift, or this insight; they don’t have the insight. When someone has an open heart to receive then they will have a revelation of the Word of God. However, if they are not open and ready to receive even a trace it will disappear. In their present state they can stare at you till doomsday and not see or understand what you are saying. I don’t want Isaiah’s word repeated all over again – you have ears to hear but you don’t hear a thing and you have eyes to see but you don’t see a thing! People will stick their fingers in their ears so they don’t have to hear a thing! You have blessed eyes to see and blessed ears to hear. Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When someone hears the Good News of the Kingdom and they do not take it in, it remains on the surface and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it up out of the person heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on a road. The seed sown in gravel – this person hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm but there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and difficulty comes, there is nothing to show for it. The seed sown in the weeds is likened to the person who hears the Good News of the Kingdom but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangles what was heard, and nothing comes up! The seed sown in good fertile soil is the person who hears and takes in the Good News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams! Now which are you?
At about that same time Jesus left the house and sat on the beach. In no time at all a crowd gathered along the shoreline, forcing him to get into a boat. Using the boat as a pulpit, he addressed his congregation, telling stories. “What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road, and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn’t put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled by the weeds. Some fell on good earth, and produced a harvest beyond his wildest dreams. “Are you listening to this? Really listening?” (Matthew 13:1-9 Message)
The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?” He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again: Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing. Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing. The people are blockheads! They stick their fingers in their ears so they won’t have to listen; They screw their eyes shut so they won’t have to look, so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face and let me heal them. “But you have God-blessed eyes-eyes that see! And God-blessed ears-ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.
(Matthew 13:10-17 Message)
“Study this story of the farmer planting seed. When anyone hears news of the kingdom and doesn’t take it in, it just remains on the surface, and so the Evil One comes along and plucks it right out of that person’s heart. This is the seed the farmer scatters on the road. “The seed cast in the gravel-this is the person who hears and instantly responds with enthusiasm. But there is no soil of character, and so when the emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it. “The seed cast in the weeds is the person who hears the kingdom news, but weeds of worry and illusions about getting more and wanting everything under the sun strangle what was heard, and nothing comes of it. “The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.” (Matthew 13:18-23 Message)
