“He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” Jesus announces at the end of the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8). He explains to the disciples that it has been given to them to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others the secrets are in parables so that “seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”
The parable begins by describing the results of seed distributed over four types of soil. The seed represents the word of God and the soil represents the one who hears. The devil immediately snatches away the seed that falls along the hardened and trampled path. Persecution withers the growth of the seed deprived of moisture among the rocks. The cares and riches and pleasures of life choke the seed that falls among thorns. Any fruit growing from these plants struggles and fails to reach maturity. The good soil, however, represents those who, upon hearing the word (please read this slowly) “hold it fast in an honest and good heart.”
What does that mean? What is our role in seeing this happen?
The person who may hear this parable and not think much else about it could be like any of the first three soils. Perhaps one is beaten down and hardened, jaded by an unloving world. Maybe another lacks understanding, or is confused by a false gospel. A third person might even be distracted into obliviousness by mind-numbing entertainment. Jesus describes these people as seeing but not seeing, and hearing but not understanding.
However, it is a really good sign if the parable haunts us, if we stop and think about it and are troubled and convicted about how we hear and take in the word of God. God disciplines those he loves. Looking at it from that standpoint, it would seem that even genuine believers experience all four types of soil.
There are times we pick up the word of God to read or hear a sermon and it simply bounces off. We don’t take it in. Though we hear it, it does us no good. There are other times when we take in a passage of scripture and are excited about it. We seek to live according to what we have learned, but life gets hard and we give up. Furthermore, our fruit bearing can be stunted by worldly distractions: the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life.
The good news is, each soil can be made fertile by the Sower! The trampled ground may be tilled, the rocks removed, the weeds pulled. This is not something the soil does for itself. The Sower prepares the soil! By the blood of Jesus, we have access to the Sower and we can ask Him to prepare our soil.
May we learn to pray: “Father, please make my heart into good soil. Help me to hear your word well. Help me to hold your word fast in an honest and good heart. Let me increasingly grow in my understanding of what that means. Father, may I then, because of your word growing in me, patiently bear fruit, knowing this can only happen as I remain connected to you.”
-Gene Cornett