Read Matthew 13:1–23
Questions from the Scripture text: When does Matthew 13:1 occur? Where does Jesus go? Who gather to Him (Matthew 13:2)? How does He speak to them (Matthew 13:3)? About what does He tell them a story? Where did the first batch land (Matthew 13:4)? What happened to it? And the second (Matthew 13:5-6)? The third (Matthew 13:7)? The last (Matthew 13:8)? Whom does Jesus command to do what (Matthew 13:9)? But who ask Him what in Matthew 13:10? What does He say they have been given (Matthew 13:11)? What will they then receive (Matthew 13:12)? But who have not been given this (Matthew 13:11)? And what will further happen to them (Matthew 13:12)? How is this a motivation for Jesus preaching to them in parables (Matthew 13:13)? What does their blindness, deafness, and hardness prove true (Matthew 13:14-15)? How are the disciples a contrast to this (Matthew 13:16)? Who else wished to be in their place (Matthew 13:17)? What does Jesus now command them to do (Matthew 13:18)? Who receive the seed like the wayside (Matthew 13:19)? And who receive it like the stony places (Matthew 13:20-21)? And who like the thorns (Matthew 13:22)? What are all of these examples of (cf. Matthew 13:12-15)? But who are like the good ground (Matthew 13:23)? And what will they produce?
What is an indicator of spiritual life? Matthew 13:1–23 prepares us for the sermon in the morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these twenty-three verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that spiritual life responds to the Word by hearing it, taking it in, prioritizing it, and multiplying it.
In this passage, the Lord Jesus explains the reasons for parables. The simple teaching exposes that the problem in hearing the gospel is not in the difficulty of the material but the hardness of heart of the hearers (Matthew 13:10-15). In fact, He uses a parable to teach them about the parables (Matthew 13:1-9)!
It is important to note that He does not explain to the multitudes, but only to the disciples, what the parable is about. In fact, the disciples do not understand it at first, but because “to them it is given” (Matthew 13:11), the Lord Jesus patiently explains it to them. It “being given” does not have to do with their “ability” to hear so much as the Lord’s persistence in explaining to them. He will give them more and more (Matthew 13:12), because He desires to do so.
Consider how many things the Lord must overcome by His grace to make us good soil. There are those who don’t listen attentively in the first place (Matthew 13:19). Others are enthusiastic sermon hearers (Matthew 13:20), but not sermon meditators (Matthew 13:21a), and the slightest thing can uproot the effect in the heart (verse 21b). Still others meditate upon the Word well enough, but the cares of the world or the pleasures/riches of the world are rooted just as deeply in the heart (Matthew 13:22). What is given by the Spirit (and pursued by the Christian) is to listen attentively and enthusiastically, to meditate upon the Word and take it in deeply, and to digest it in a way that makes worldly cares or pleasures small by comparison.
Finally, let us consider how the evidence of receiving the Word is multiplying/spreading the Word (Matthew 13:23). This ought to be the desire, prayer, and practice of every believer (cf. Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 4:6; 1 Peter 3:15). If it is not, we would do well to ask whether the Scripture is genuinely penetrating us.
How do you listen to sermons? Meditate upon them? With whom do you ordinarily discuss or tell what you are learning from the Word of God? Which do you struggle against more, cares or pleasures? What are you doing about it?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for the extent to which we are blind, deaf, or hard-hearted. Be patient with us, as Christ was with the disciples, and persist with us by Your Spirit until Your Word has produced its fruit through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP16B “I’ll Bless the LORD Who Counsels Me” or TPH16A “Preserve Me, O My God”
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