Matthew 13 - He Spake Many Things Unto Them in Parables

Who Hath Ears to Hear, Let Him Hear
One of the greatest manifestations of Christ's love is His use of parables to teach. Parables perfectly balance our level of understanding with our level of preparedness to accept greater accountability. We only understand what we are ready to know and act on. Parables possess nuance, complexity, and multiple layers of meaning. In order to understand parables, we must go through a process of seeking, enjoy a moment of discovery, and rely on the revelatory power of the Spirit. By studying and seeking to overcome our initial confusion when exposed to a new parable, we demonstrate faith and pay the price of admission for increased understanding and responsibility. When new understanding is granted, it is a gift from the Spirit. We remember things to which we attach emotional meaning, and the moment of clarity and discovery we experience when we finally crack the riddle of a parable, accented by feelings of the spirit, serves as an emotional marker that makes new learning more lasting.  

Many heard Christ's parables during His time on earth, but did not understand them. He revealed the meaning of some of these parables to His disciples explaining, "Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given" (Matthew 13:11). Why was this understanding not given? Surely Christ loved all the people he taught equally. I used to think that the reason the disciples understood parables that were not decoded for others who heard them was that the disciples were somehow more worthy or prepared for that additional knowledge, or that they had paid the price of understanding through their own study. But if that were the case, why would Christ have to explicitly decode the parables for them? Part of the answer may be that the Spirit was not active on the earth during the ministry of Christ in the way that it is now, so the only way to understand the parables was to be told explicitly by the Savior what they meant. 

Ultimately, there were two criteria for understanding the parables: to 1.) have ears to hear (Matthew 13:9) and 2.) to have it given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 13:11). The parables were simultaneously available to everyone, and reserved only for those who were prepared to receive. One criteria was up to the listener, and the other criteria was up to God. We can prepare ourselves to be receive the deeper meaning that parables hold, but God chooses when and to whom He reveals himself. When gifts of spiritual understanding are sought and granted, they trigger a virtuous cycle of incremental learning, "for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance" (Matthew 13:11-12).

A Sower Went Forth to Sow
I had never really noticed this before, but the parable of the sower does not address those who do not hear the gospel in this life. Such a group would have been represented as soil in which no seeds were sowed. This is a significant omission considering those who do not hear the gospel in this life constitute the largest group of God's children. This parable is intended primarily for those familiar with the gospel, and illustrates different conditions of the heart that those who hear the gospel might present. 

The Wayside: Christ presents conditions of the heart in a hierarchy from least receptive to most receptive. In the first group, "when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up" (Matthew 13:4). This kind of soil is a metaphor for those who hear the gospel, but "understandeth it not"(Matthew 13:19). It is not that they did not hear the gospel, but that they did not understand it. In other words, they heard it, but never felt the enlightening and confirming witness of the Spirit. Only the Holy Ghost can grant spiritual understanding, and without this spiritual witness, "then cometh the wicked one" kernels of truth are robbed from our minds and hearts by Satan (Matthew 13:19). 

While not a perfect parallel, there are interesting similarities between the parable of the sower and the vision of the tree of life that the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi witnessed. In Lehi's vision, following the word of God was compared to holding to a handrail or iron rod that led to a tree filled with delicious white fruit. Like the seeds that never took root, Lehi saw people who never really caught hold of the iron rod: "And he also saw other multitudes feeling their way towards that great and spacious building. And it came to pass that many were drowned in the depths of the fountain; and many were lost from his view, wandering in strange roads" (Matthew 13:31-32). While those who never feel a witness of the Spirit and "understand" the gospel might not bear full accountability for their bad choices, they might still suffer or miss out on blessings in this life. Because they never understood and embraced the word of God, those who wandered in Lehi's vision experienced hardships, buffetings, and spiritual death they might have otherwise avoided.

Stony Places: "Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away" (Matthew 13:5-6). Having insufficient earth is not a lack of belief or intellectual acceptance of the gospel, but a lack of personal faith. Stony places with no deepness of earth represent those who "hath not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended" (Matthew 13:21). The implication is that if their soil could have been deepened and developed "roots in himself" by exercising faith, they might have weathered otherwise insurmountable trials. While trials in excess are like a scorching sun, the sun is also the source of life, energy and growth. The point is not to avoid the sun, but to ensure that stretching experiences and trials are balanced with a corresponding depth of roots and amount of water. 


Thorns: The seeds that fell in stony places were scorched by trials, but those that fell among thorns died for entirely different reasons. "And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them" (Matthew 13:7). As Christ explained, the thorns or weeds represented "the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches," which "choke the word," and cause the seeds to "becometh unfruitful" (Matthew 13:22). This group didn't lack faith, they succumbed to worldliness. Lehi saw a representation of this group when he saw those who "after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost" (1 Nephi 8:28).  This group fell away not because they rejected the fruit, but because they wanted other things more. The thorns did not kill because they were inherently destructive, but because they were competing. 

Good Ground: The last group of seeds "fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold" (Matthew 13:23). Good soil represents those "that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit" (Matthew 13:23). In Lehi's vision, this group was represented by those who "came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree" (1 Nephi 8:30).

This parable was intended to be instructive, not comprehensive. There are as many types of soil as there are humans on earth. We are all somewhat receptive to the gospel, and we all have thorns and stones and birds to deal with in guarding our faith. Parables are fairly easy to apply to other people, but are only useful when turned inward to help us identify the areas where we can better understand the gospel, deepen the roots of our faith, weed out worldly concerns, and strive to produce fruit. 





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