Matthew 13:1-23
A. INTRODUCTION
Living outside of a big city, can seem a bit remote from the evangelistic crusades. Crusades like Billy Graham, Bill Newman, and Franklin Graham. But if we lived closer, we might be aware of all the preparations: The months, if not years, of work involving different churches working together; the huge tent to be erected for the whole city to see; the advertising of some big-name evangelist; and the personal invitations to family and friends to come and hear the message of the gospel.
Yes, if we lived closer, we might be aware of the meetings themselves: Night after night for a week—the singers, the music, and the messages of hope; the altar calls—the challenges for a commitment to God; and each night great numbers of people going forward giving themselves to the Lord.
And then the aftermath: the names and addresses of people given to the local churches of people who had made some sort of commitment at one or more of the meetings, so they could be followed up.
And of course, even with all of the positives that the crusades stand for, we might also be aware of the detractors. After all, wasn’t it the same people who got up night after night and gave themselves to the Lord? Wasn’t it a fact that many of the people who went forward were already regular worshipers at a church somewhere? And, when the final wash up comes, weren’t there many churches who just didn’t benefit from any change in their membership at all. As a consequence, some wonder whether it was all worth the effort, and whether the time and money spent would not have been better used elsewhere.
Crusades! Well, I don’t know if that all sounds familiar, but whether you are into large scale evangelism or not, I’m going to suggest that the basics of all that they stand for—warts and all—is the subject of this passage from Matthew’s gospel. Because in this gospel passage, we find Jesus doing much the same things as we can experience in those local crusades, gathering huge crowds to listen to the message of the gospel.
And there are four points of which I think we need to take particular note:
B. A PORTRAIT OF AN EVANGELIST
1. A Change of Venue (1-2)
And the first point relates to the location of Jesus. Because in our gospel we find that he had not only set up shop on the beach, but he was among the common people.
Now significantly, up to this point in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’s main place of teaching had been in the synagogue. As a consequence, teaching on the beach, and among the common people, would have been a major shift in emphasis in the ministry of Jesus.
However, without a doubt, this was a deliberate shift. Because we’re told that when Jesus got to the beach, he sat down. In other words, Jesus adopted the traditional posture of a teacher and indicated he was ready to teach. And so, the crowds gathered around to listen. And then, because the size of the crowd was so big, he retreated into a boat—indicating that not only was his ministry on the beach deliberate, but that he had much to teach and that people needed to be comfortable to listen, further demonstrating the deliberate policy of Jesus to get away from the synagogue and mix with the common people. A trend that Jesus increasingly continued to practice for the remainder of his ministry.
2. A Change of Approach (3-9)
The second point is that with the change in venue, and with the consequent different background of his audience, his whole approach to teaching changed. Yes, Jesus had told a parable or two before, but, according to Matthew’s gospel, nothing like what he started to do from then on. And even the disciples noticed the difference.
The disciples themselves would have been used to the religious talk. However, Jesus was now mixing with people who may not have been used to going to a synagogue. So, his whole approach changed. He adopted an approach, which conveyed vividly his teaching, with the clear intention of stimulating his hearers to think. He recognised the need to appeal to people using things they knew from ordinary life.
As a consequence, the Parable of the Sower is a good example of using a process in the agriculture of the day to illustrate his message. A process which would have been very well known to his hearers.
3. The Message (11,19a)
But while the venue and the style of his message changed, the third point is that his message remained the same. The content of the message was still the kingdom of God and Jesus’s place within it. It was a mystery, he knew, that people couldn’t work out for themselves. They needed the revelation of God. And it was his role to help bring the message and the revelation of God to the people. They needed to put their faith in him to secure any kind of relationship with God.
4. Being Realistic About The Response (10-23)
But Jesus wasn’t naive about the response he would get. And, as a consequence, the fourth point is that Jesus was realistic about the response he would get from his hearers.
a) Discussion with the Disciples (10-17)
He discussed with the disciples, in private, his expectations of his listeners And in that discussion, he told them in no uncertain terms that he did not expect the crowd to commit themselves to his cause He appreciated the fact that while parables were a good way of teaching, any approach required some sort of commitment by its hearers if they were really to understand what he was saying. And if people rejected him and set themselves in opposition to God, how could they possibly understand the teaching that came from God through the Messiah?
b) Interpretation of the Parable (18-23)
But he wasn’t just realistic about those who would reject his message outright, he was also realistic about those who in some way actually made a profession of faith. And in his interpretation of the Parable of the Sower, he indicated to the disciples some of the expected outcomes:
There would be the careless hearers (4, 19)—people who heard the message but were unable to perceive the spiritual truth it conveyed. People who would not be hostile to the message and would know that there was something in it for them, but they would be people who wouldn’t act on it—and as a consequence whatever was heard would be lost.
There would be the shallow hearers (5-6, 20-21)—people who were attracted by the gospel, but with no depth of commitment. So that when a difficult time came—as it comes to all—the profession of loyalty would be exposed to be a sham.
There would be the preoccupied hearers (7, 22)—those who were so caught up with the affairs of life, that they couldn’t take the gospel any further.
And that would leave only a small group of healthy listeners (8, 23)—people who would receive the word with an intelligent appreciation of it and would act on it.
5. The Persistence of Jesus
The response that Jesus expected from the crowd was therefore pretty negative. And in many ways, it may well reflect, our own observations in terms of those crusades.
But there is one more factor, I believe, that is most significant about this story. And that is that although Jesus knew what to do, and he knew what sort of response he would get—and this is where the crunch comes—he went out and did it anyway. He knew it was important to share the message, whether people responded or not. He knew it was important to at least give them the opportunity to respond in a positive way to his message.
And that is a significant factor that we should bear in mind when we consider the success or failure of those large tent-style crusades.
C. COMMENT
And it is this point that is surely what the story is all about. Because even though this story of Jesus and the Parable of the Sower can teach us much about how to run large tent-style crusades, that was not the original intention of this story.
No! Remember Jesus told this story for the benefit of his disciples who were not educated men. They were not great orators (who you would expect to gather large crowds around them). And, after all, the disciples would have been well used to seeing the reactions of the crowds for themselves.
No! The purpose of the parable, and the circumstances behind it, would have been important for the disciples, for two reasons: The first, to let the disciples know that Jesus was well aware of what he was doing and the responses he was getting. He had to demonstrate to the disciples the importance to carry on the mission anyway.
And the second is because Jesus knew that when it was time to send the disciples out, they needed to be prepared for the same responses too.
Any negative responses, then, were not necessarily to be seen as a reflection on their ministry, because they needed to be encouraged to continue to share the message of the kingdom anyway.
D. IMPLICATIONS
And that means, whether we see the message of today’s gospel in terms of large-scale tent evangelism, or in terms of our own need to share the faith, we have some very important implications to apply.
1. Changing The Venue
Because, firstly, Jesus made the deliberate step to remove himself from his normal place of worship in order to share his message with the people. And that raises the question about our involvement with the world outside the four walls of our churches.
And the question is, ‘Do we simply expect people to come to us? Or are we a much more missionary orientated people, prepared to leave the relative safety and security of this church in order to take the gospel to the people?’
2. Adapting the Message
Secondly, Jesus adapted the style of his message, into a way that the people could understand, using the common things and common images of the day.
Now I know some churches where you really need to have a degree in religious gobbledygook. But when we are talking to others about religious matters, do we confuse them with language that’s incomprehensible, or do we use the language and images of the day?
3. The Message Itself
Thirdly, despite that, Jesus didn’t change the content of the message. He didn’t water it down to make it more palatable. And neither should we. The message is the same—the kingdom of God and the place of Jesus within it, and the need to have faith and what having faith means.
4. Being Realistic About The Response
Fourthly, Jesus was only too aware of the response that he would get. He knew for some he would get flat out rejection. He knew that others would profess faith but bit by bit fall away. And he knew that a few, a small number, would respond, but even then their response would be varied.
And if Jesus acknowledged the responses he was going to get, then it would be silly for us to think that we could expect anything different.
5. The Persistence of Jesus
And fifthly, despite expecting a poor response, Jesus wasn’t about to get discouraged and give up. And neither should we. For sure it can be difficult, frustrating, and there are a number of other adjectives you could use to describe what it feels like hitting your head against a brick wall. But the message from Jesus is that we shouldn’t take it personally. It is God who is ultimately being rejected (or not). All God is asking us to do is to continue the task of at least giving others the opportunity to respond to Jesus anyway.
E. CONCLUSION
Now, as I said at the beginning, not living in a big city can seem to be a bit remote when it comes to big evangelistic crusades. And some might say, ‘That’s a good thing.’ And people often say that because of unrealistic expectations of the end result. However, in the Parable of the Sower we have a powerful image of Jesus, who (effectively) put up a tent on the beach and conducted something like a crusade, knowing full well, what sort of response he would get.
Today’s gospel story, then, is not an instruction on how to run a crusade—although the principles are sound—it’s the story of Jesus, giving an example to his followers of what to do and what to expect in the work he has given us all to do.
Now, in order to share the faith, we too need to have times away from our normal place of worship, where we can share with people where they live. We too need to use images and language with which people are familiar, and not use language that is incomprehensible. At the same time, we too need to stick firmly to the message of the kingdom, and not change it in any way at all.
However, we also need to be realistic about the response—expecting mostly rejection with even those who accept the gospel to be varied in their response. And we should not be easily put off or get discouraged but stick to the task anyway.
And if we do that, then we truly will have learnt the lesson that Jesus tried to teach—the message directed to his faithful followers—about not being discouraged by the results, but to continue to go out and share the good news of the gospel anyway.
Posted: 16th August 2022
© 2022, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
