Parables and Understanding
While Jesus taught more than thirty parables, only two of them are explained. He used these earthly stories to convey heavenly truths, and the message of each of these stories becomes obvious to those who seek to understand them. These two parables both deal with the planting of the seed (the word of God) in the hearts of men. After Jesus told the parable of the sower, He said, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?” (Mark 4:13).
There is a danger as one studies the parables of trying to find truths beyond the primary message the Lord had in mind when He taught them. However, since Jesus revealed the meaning of some of the details, we must not overlook their meaning.
In God’s divine plan, the seed of the kingdom (the gospel) was to be deeply planted in the hearts of those who heard it. The emphasis in the parable of the sower is to reveal that those who heard the gospel would respond in different ways. The seed was always the same but the soils determined the outcome of the seed planted. When that seed was planted, most of the seed failed to produce fruit, but in the right soil it produced amazing fruit. The fruit is described in the second parable as “the sons of the kingdom” (Matt. 13:38).
The application in our lives is that we have become the children of God because when we heard the message, we understood it and began to produce fruit (Matt. 13:23). Now contrast this with the failure of that seed when it was planted on stony ground. They heard, but they had no root (Matt. 13:6, 21). Think of what this implies about the “root” of those who are in that kingdom of heaven planted by Jesus.
Christians have deep roots. Solomon said, “The root of the righteous cannot be moved” and “the root of the righteous yields fruit” (Prov. 12:3, 12). Paul told the Ephesians that Christ dwelt in them and that they were “…rooted and grounded in love” (Eph. 3:17). He also reminded the Colossians that they were “…rooted and built upon Him and established in the faith” (Col. 2:7).
Notice that those in Colosse had their roots established in the faith. There are no deep roots which are not founded in the faith, the word of God. He also urged them to “…continue in the faith” and to not be “…moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard” (Col. 1:23).
What does this have to do with each of us? We will be fruitful children of the kingdom as we continue to read His word and let it sink deep within our hearts. Our deep roots are from Him who is described as the Root of David (Rev. 5:5; 22:16). Stay grounded in His teaching! Bear much fruit!