Do you ever feel like no one is listening to you? I think every parent, from time to time, feels like they aren’t being listened to. After the twenty-seventh time of asking your kids to stop hiding their dirty socks in the cushions of the couch you start to feel like your kids aren’t listening to you. I suppose it is possible that children feel like they aren’t being listened to by their parents but who has time to hear what they have to say. Occasionally a spouse might feel like they aren’t being listened to especially if the other spouse is holding a cell phone in their hand. At work, employers feel like they aren’t being listened to when employees don’t do as they are asked, and employees don’t feel like they are being listened to when their cares and concerns are ignored. Unless you are E.F. Hutton chances are, at work, you have felt like no one is listening to you. Even when you are among friends you can feel like you aren’t being listened to, especially when they don’t reply to your text message, emails, and Facebook posts.
It is frustrating to feel like no one is listening to you. It makes you feel like your directions, corrections and communications are a waste of your breath. Sometimes don’t you just want to grab people by their earlobes and ask, “do your ears hear?”
This morning our God asks us the same question. God knows how frustrating it is to feel like no one is listening to you. That is why in Matthew 13, Jesus tells a parable that asks, “do your ears hear?”
It is not difficult for to imagine the setting for this parable. Jesus has had an emotionally stressful day. He has spent most of the day speaking to a large crowd that gathered around Him, but it must have felt like no one was really listening to Him. Most of the people in the crowd were more interested in the miracles He performed than the lessons He taught. The pharisees in the crowd were too busy trying to find ways to discredit Him to listen to what He had to say. Even His own family who tried to break up the crowd wouldn’t listen to Him, they thought He was out of His mind and were trying to take Him home.
I imagine Jesus was rather frustrated with these people, He had to feel like no one was listening to Him. I would have probably called it a day, gone home early, and poured myself a brown drink. But Jesus being the “work while it is day” kind of guy that He is, goes to the shore of the lake and allows an even larger crowd to gather around Him. Matthew tells us, “2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore.” Here in this lakeside classroom, Jesus speaks to the people in parables.
Jesus liked to speak in parables about earthly things that taught heavenly truths. The parable that is before us today is known as the parable of the sower. But the name we give this parable is misleading. The main focus of this parable is not on the sower or his seed. (If you want to learn more about sower or seed I might suggest the parables of the weeds among the wheat and the mustard seed.) The main focus of this parable is the soil.
In this parable, Jesus speaks of four different types of soil. We learn about the first type of soil in verse 4. There Jesus tells us some of the seed that the farmer sowed “4 fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.” In verse 19 Jesus explains what this type of soil represents. Jesus says, “19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” It is easy for us to imagine the kind of people Jesus was describing with this type of soil. The image of a hard-hearted pharisee quickly comes to mind. They have seen the miracles Jesus has performed, but they dismiss them as demonic deeds. They have listened to Jesus teach and preach as one who has authority, but they listened not in order to learn from Jesus but so that they might discredit Jesus. When Jesus speaks of the compacted soil along a path, it is easy for us to imagine the pharisee hardening their hearts against the Word of God.
The second type of soil in Jesus’ parable is described for us in verses 5-6. There Jesus tells us some of the seed “5 fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.” In verses 20-21 Jesus explains what this type of soil represents. Jesus says, “20 The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.” This type of soil makes us think of a recent convert or new confirmand. At first, they eagerly attend instruction classes, faithfully attend worship service, and are quick to volunteer around the church. At first they are on fire for Jesus, but then their instruction comes to an end and they do not continue to study God’s Word on their own. Soon enough the recent convert and new confirmand are exposed to the scorching heat of persecution and peer pressure. But since they were content with only a shallow understanding of the faith, they are ill equipped to handle the heat and as a result they wither and fall away.
The third type of soil in Jesus’ parable is described for us in verse 7. There Jesus tells us some of the seed “fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.” In verse 22 Jesus explains what this type of soil represents. Jesus says, “22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” Here we imagine people on two opposite extremes. They both have taken the time to allow the Word of God sink in and take root in their lives. They are not recent converts or new confirmands, rather they are seasoned Christians. But the one worries about how they will get the things that they want and need, while the other finds security in safety in the wealth that they already have. These seasoned Christians spend so much time tending to their worry and wealth that they have little to no time to tend to their faith. This lack of time and attention causes their faith grows weaker and weaker, to the point that it becomes unfruitful.
The fourth and final type of soil in Jesus’ parable is described for us in verse 8. There Jesus tells us some of the “8 seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” In verse 23 Jesus explains what this type of soil represents. There Jesus says, “23 But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” I know who you are thinking this type of soil represents. You are thinking this soil represents you. After all you are here listening to the Word of God. Many of you, when we were allowed to do so, attended bible study. Some of you have continued to study and have devotions with your families in your homes. I have seen your faith produce fruits. I’m not going to stand here today and tell you that you aren’t good soil. But I am going to ask you if you are only and always good soil.
You see, it would be easy for us to listen to this parable about different types of soil and imagine the different types of people that soil represents. It is easy to imagine the hard-hearted person who rejects God’s word. It is easy for us to imagine the shallow person who neglects God’s Word. It is easy for us to imagine the worldly person who infests God’s Word. It is easy for us to apply Jesus’ parable to others, but do you really think that is why Jesus told this parable? Do you think He has preserved it in the pages of Scripture so that you can determine what type of soil other people are? In verse 9 Jesus says to you and to me, “9 He who has ears, let him hear.” Do your ears hear? Do you hear what Jesus is saying to you in this parable? Jesus is warning us that all these types of soil can be found inside of us. Hard hearts that refuse to listen to the things that contrast with our personal world view can be found inside of us. Our lack of bible study and personal devotion reveal a soil inside of us that is content to have a shallow understanding and superficial obedience to God’s Word. We don’t have to look that close before we see that the weeds of worry and wealth have infested the soil of our soul. Again, I am not going to stand here and tell you that you aren’t good soil, but are you only and always good soil?
You want to know what kind of soil you are because a heart that rejects God’s Word, neglects God’s Word, or infests God’s Word is a heart that is in danger of losing God’s Word. Jesus did not want the crowd of people who were standing along the lake shore to loss God’s Word; He didn’t want His family to loss God’s Word, He didn’t want the pharisees to loss God’s Word, He didn’t want the miracle chasers to lose God’s Word, and He does not want you to loss God’s Word. That is why Jesus cried out to the crowd from the boat and cries out to us form the pages of Scripture, “9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
Jesus taught a parable about hearing the Word of God because He wants you to hear about the love of God the Father who from the beginning of time had a plan for you, who in time formed and fashioned you and continues to provide, preserve, and protect you. Jesus wants you to hear about His own love for you that caused Him to step down from His throne in heaven and embrace the humility of humanity, who then endured the punishment of the cross to pay for your sins and sacrificed His life to purchase your salvation. Jesus wants you to hear about the love of The Holy Spirit who calls you through the Word, claims you through water, and cleanses you through wine, who then equips you to overcome temptation and do the good works He has prepared in advance for you to do. Jesus wants you to hear the Word of God because Jesus wants you to know God loves you. “9 He who has ears, let him hear.”
It is frustrating to feel like no one is listening to you. Can you imagine how frustrating it must have been for Jesus? He was trying to tell people how much God loved them, but they wouldn’t listen. Finally, He grabbed them by the earlobes and asked if the ears could hear. Today, Jesus has grabbed us by the earlobes. So, let us not frustrate our God. Rather, let us use our ears to hear. Amen.