Seed and the Good Soil

Matthew 13:18-19 & 23

Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom . . .

As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.

Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1)

That’s why the word is so important as a theme in Jesus’ ministry and in the early church. Jesus speaks God’s word, the word which announces the kingdom. As Isaiah saw, the word goes out and does its own work in people’s hearts and lives. That’s what some kinds of words do: they change the way people are, inside. . . . [T]he way to that is by hearing and understanding (166).

A. Orendorff

Three things must happen for the “word” of kingdom to be received in “good soil.”

First, we must hear. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). At the risk of sounding trite and unspectacular, this means beginning with Scripture. To hear from God, we first have to make ourselves available to God by listening to his word.

Second, we must understand. The Bible is not a talisman; it is not (as some treat it) a magical book of mysterious God-talk. Rather, the Bible is a story. More accurately, the Bible is a collection of stories (as well as various other literary styles and forms) all of which combine to tell one great, cosmic Story. Therefore, to understand God’s word we must know God’s story (and vice-versa). This means giving ourselves to the hard, laborious task of interpreting the Bible on its own terms. This means reading and re-reading and re-reading again until we finally being to understand what it's really all about.

Third, and this is perhaps the most neglected element of “good soil,” the word must bear fruit. It is not enough to hear. Nor to hear and understand. The whole point of the seed is to bear fruit. We may know everything there is to know about the seed, but until we plant it, water it, feed it and watch it grow, it has not fulfilled its purpose.

Hear. Understand. Bear fruit.