Matthew 13:5-30
In the second case, the seed falls upon stony places, “where they had not much earth.” The real condition of the soil is thus hidden. “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.” The one who hears the word in this case may be occupied with something else than its real worth, yet he sees something in it which attracts him. There is a professed joy in receiving it, but it is only a shallow work, with little or no sense of sin. When there arises persecution for the name of Christ, they which are not born again cannot take it, so they give it up and continue on in their old way. Such is the heart of the natural man, whose nature remains unchanged.
“And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.” So there is no fruit produced here. It is not persecution in this case, but the effect of the influence of the world. The world, with all its attractions, the deceitfulness of its riches, is arranged by Satan, its prince, and comes in to choke the word. Neither was the word allowed to produce any sense of need in the soul. The love of God, in giving His Son as a ransom for the lost is neither appreciated nor desired.
But last of all there was that which “fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.” Here there had been a previous work of the Spirit of God in preparing the ground for the sower. The amount of fruit is not the same everywhere in this field but it is all called good ground. The class represented here is said to have heard the word and understood it. They receive it as a treasure and consider it a privilege to be entrusted with it. We learn from Romans 2:4 that the hard lessons of life, which we are passed through, are after all the riches of God’s goodness, His forbearance and longsuffering to us, to lead us to repentance. The deep heart searchings which He passes the children of men through on earth are for our eternal welfare that we might become the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Mixed Multitude
In verses 24-30 we have another parable of a sower. “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.” Later the Lord explains that He as the Son of Man is the sower, but He has turned it over to men, His servants, to watch over His field in His absence.
“But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” The tares are a useless weed resembling wheat. “The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one.”
When the wheat came up, the tares appeared also. The servants are at a loss to know where the tares came from, but the master says unto them, “An enemy hath done this.” The servants wish to know then if they should go out and gather up the tares, but He says to them, “Nay; lest ... ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn.”
Further Meditation
1. How was the ground prepared for the good seed?
2. What part of this passage shows that we can expect some professing Christians to be real and some to be pretenders?
3. For more on the subject of hard lessons, you might read The Purpose of Trials by B. Anstey.