Last time, in our series of our mysteries on the kingdom, we saw that the Lord would spread His word, His gospel, His good news among people. He likened those people to soils. Some soils, He talked about four different types of soils, some soils, in Matthew 13:19 for example, were unresponsive. They heard the gospel and it just bounced off them. They had no response in a positive way at all. The second group, in Matthew 13:20, seems to have, for just a moment, received the gospel very well and very quickly. They impulsively receive it, even with joy. They might get involved with the church for a short time or whatever, then their enthusiasm dries up and they are gone because Matthew 13:21 says they have no roots.
Let’s go one to the other two kinds of soil today. We have a distracted soil in Matthew 13:22, which says, “And the one on whom seed was among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful. Here is a person that seems to have gone a little further with things, but it would appear they still did not receive the good news, the real message. Because although they heard it at first, the worries of this world, it says, the deceitfulness of wealth, and other things begin to choke out the Word. It becomes something they no longer respond to. They are distracted by the world. They are distracted by wealth. They are distracted by worry. They are distracted by various struggles, and it simply doesn’t go anywhere in their lives. So, although they have all the appearance, at first, of people who are following Christ, apparently, they do not.
There is a fourth kind of soil though. We are sure glad Jesus kept talking, because we now have in Matthew 13:23 this fruitful soil. He says, “And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” We have a final soil. Notice there is nothing wrong with the message. The Word that goes out is the same message. There is nothing wrong with the messenger. This could be, in this case, the messenger could be Christ Himself as it is in the next parable, or it could be those that spread the good news of Christ’s Word and Christ’s gospel. Either way, what we have here is that there is nothing particularly wrong with the messenger, especially if it is Christ, and there is nothing wrong with the message. The issue is the place of the soils. The receptivity of the soils . . .
