The parable of the sower was Jesus’ response to his growing popularity. Lots of people were coming out to listen to him but few were really willing to hear. The disciples did not understand his parable, so Jesus explained it to them. He told them that the message of the Kingdom is like a seed. Most Christians think that the seed in this parable is the Word of God. This is correct, but it is too general. In our age of information people can tend to think that the message is a bit of abstract information that we must believe in order to get to heaven. The seed is the message of the Kingdom which was not just a theological proposition for people to agree with but a summons for people to obey. God was calling people to come into the Kingdom of Heaven, that is, to come under his rule and centre their lives around his agenda. He was not telling them how they could get to heaven when they died but how they could enter the Kingdom of Heaven NOW. Of course, when you enter the Kingdom of Heaven now, you enter it for all eternity, but the transition does not happen in the ‘afterlife,’ it happens in this life. Are you willing to come under God’s purpose? Are you willing to enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Heaven is not just future. Jesus’ message was that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The good news is that you can enter now, no matter who you are or what you have done. You can enter, but will you?
Give yourself over to live under God’s rule now.
Read Matthew 13:18-23
