Keep On Keepin’ On!
As we continue our progressive readings in the Gospel of Matthew, we have reached chapter 13. Which—although it will take us several weeks to complete—actually describes a single day of Jesus’ teaching. And of Jesus’ teaching by way of using parables.
The placement of chapter 13 in Matthew’s gospel is not accidental. The reason Jesus spends an entire day teaching in parables is so that he can respond to what has been happening to him in recent weeks.
Which is this! Two absolutely clear and distinct trends and reactions to Jesus have been emerging recently.
On the one hand, Jesus’ success and popularity (and effectiveness!) are growing astronomically!
Hooray! In fact, as today’s passage opens, so many people are crowding to hear Jesus teach, the only way for him to accommodate them (and be heard!) is for him to climb into a boat and row out to where they can both see him and, because of the amplifying effect of sound reflecting off a lake, they can hear him as well.
Hooray!
But that isn’t all that has been happening! Along with Jesus’ increasing success and popularity, there has been a vehement, impassioned, and violent rejection of Jesus by some, most notably the Pharisees.
Only a day before, most notably, a man had been brought to Jesus who could neither speak, see, nor hear. With no fuss and without breaking a sweat, Jesus immediately heals him, giving him sight, speech, and sound.
The crowd is ecstatic! Aware of what had long ago been prophesied by Isaiah, that a day would come when “the eyes of the blind shall see” and “the tongue of the speechless sing for joy,” the crowd puts two and two together and asks, “Can this be the Son of David?”
Greek grammar, by the way, makes clear that people expect one another to answer, “It sure must be! Jesus must be the Son of David!” Hooray!
But not everyone agrees with them! Acknowledging that, yes, Jesus has indeed given sight, speech, and sound to the poor man, some claim Jesus must have accomplished this feat by using demonic powers.
“It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons,” they spew.
Even some thirty or forty years later, at the time that Matthew was writing his gospel, evidently this was still a claim being made against Jesus! “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.”
For instance, we know that, in Matthew’s day, some claimed that Jesus was no more or less than a master magician. He may not have pulled a rabbit out of his hat, but he could use dark powers to cast out demons and bring about healing. Or so they claimed!
Isn’t that wild? Jesus could give speech, sight, and sound to someone and—while a vast majority, see the hand of God at work—there was still a group who were convinced that Jesus’ powers were demonic!
And that brings us to today! It was this phenomenon—where some see God at work in Jesus while others see the devil—that leads Jesus to devote a full day of teaching in parables that begins today.
Leading off this day of teaching—as of first importance—is what Jesus later today calls The Parable of the Sower, though, at first, we might hear it as describing four types of soil.
You’re probably already familiar with it. A farmer—a sower—goes out to plant seeds. And, in his scattering, some seed falls on the path where birds eat it. Some falls on rocky soil, which, at first, takes root but then can’t sink its roots deep enough to be sustained. Some falls among the weeds, which eventually overtake the crop. But—thank God—some seed falls on good soil. And it produces a truly bumper crop!
So much for the parable. Later that day, during a break, Jesus’ disciples ask him to please explain the parable to them. And this brings us back to what’s been happening to Jesus over the last couple of days.
How can some people see things like Jesus giving someone sight, sound, and speech and attribute it to God, while others—seeing the exact same thing—attribute it to the devil? How can some see Jesus at work in the world—even in a world like ours today—while others can’t see God at all?
Jesus’ answer—given in his explanation of the parable of the sower—is that not all soil—not all people—are ready or able to receive the seed—God’s Word—right now.
Some are like hard-trodden ground, not soft enough to take it in. Some aren’t yet able to take it in deeply enough to sustain right now. And some take it in but the cares and concerns that swamp them choke it out for now. But, says Jesus, for those of you who can take it in, tremendous growth and fruitfulness results. Hooray!
I’m calling this message Keep on Keepin’ On because I think there are a couple of messages Jesus wants us to take in today. The first is about the farmer or sower.
Notice that the farmer is extravagant—perhaps even wasteful—in spreading the seed! He throws it on the hard-packed ground. He throws it on shallow soil and in weedy patches. He throws it on fruitful soil.
From that, there are two things I think Jesus wants us to hear and know. For us, Jesus is, of course, the model of the sower, or farmer. He spreads God’s Word to one and all. To those who approve of him and see God at work in him. And he spreads God’s Word to those who cannot—or cannot yet—see or hear God at work in him.
Resistance or seeming failure doesn’t stop Jesus. And it shouldn’t stop us either! We, too, are to Keep on keepin’ on!
For the last several weeks Jesus has been trying to make clear to us that we are to do the work that he does. That we are his real presence in the world. And that such work—since it’s the same as his—is controversial. It will not be accepted or agreed to by all. Some will reject or object to it.
Keep on keepin’ on! the parable of the sower says to us! Fearlessly and extravagantly spread kindness, love, forgiveness, and blessing to one and all! Pray for—and forgive—your enemies. Offer extravagant support and help to any and all in need.
After all, you are not only the salt of the earth and a light to those in darkness. You are also good soil!
So Keep on keepin’ on!
In Jesus' name. Amen.
