October 15, 2009
The reading appointed for today in Treasury of Daily Prayer is Matthew 13:1-23, the parable of the sower. It is so well known that one can scarcely begin to think anew of its meaning and application. In the context of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus uses the parable of the sower to explain what He has been doing as He has been going from town to town preaching, teaching, and healing.
Jesus of course is the sower. He is casting the seed all around and it has not taken root in a great many cases for many different reasons. I think this is a needed corrective in our own church today. The emphasis by so many has been on growing the Church by any possible means but we must remember that Jesus Himself was not all that successful at growing the Church. He has twelve somewhat dimwhitted disciples and others who followed Him wherever He went but the vast majoirty of people dismissed Jesus or just plain denied His claims to be the Messiah altogether.
Moreover Jesus Himself explains that this will be the case. After He finished speaking the parable His disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables to the people. Jesus response is "because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." It is almost as if Jesus doesn't want everyone to hear His Word and come to the knowledge of the truth, but we know that this cannot be the case. Jesus came to give His life for the salvation of all people.
Why then was Jesus so unsuccessful? He explains in the following section that various things get in the way of the seed taking root, whether that be the devil, tribulation, persecution, the cares of the world, etc. There are any number of obstacles that people face on their way to faith in Jesus Christ. Any one of them can keep someone from trusting in Christ. Is it any wonder that the Church has problems getting and retaining members?
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