Stories: The Sower

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. -- Matthew 7:7 NIV

One my favorite things about Jesus was the way He taught lessons. He would tell these awesome stories that were designed to make you think. At the end of a bunch of these stories He would say 'Whoever has ears, let them hear.' I always kind of wondered why He did it that way. Wouldn't it have been easier to just tell the people plainly?

In the story of the sower (Matthew 13:1-9), Jesus talks about a farmer who scatters a bunch of seed. Some of it hits the path and is quickly eaten by birds, some falls amongst the rocks or thorns and gets burned up or choked out, and some of it landed in good soil where it was supposed to land. Those last seeds produced crops many times greater than amount of seed that was sown. Read Matthew 13:18-23 for the explanation of this story.

Right after telling this story, Jesus was asked the same question I posed above. Why would he teach using these stories? The key to that answer is in the verse from Matthew 7 that I quoted above. Matthew 13:13 says this: This is why I speak to them in parables: “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

Jesus was smart enough to know that people aren't going to learn what they aren't interested in learning! You can see and hear but not really comprehend what you are seeing and hearing. But when you really get interested in learning more about what Jesus has to teach and what God wants you to know, then you are mentally and spiritually equipped to read the teaching and seek the answers. Jesus very plainly tells all of us that we'll receive when we ask and we'll find when we seek. If you've never done more than gloss through the Gospels, now is a wonderful time to begin your search!