INTRODUCTION
I watched the news recently. Little of it surprised me. There were stories about conflicts between nations. Invasions across borders and refugees fleeing for their lives. Political leaders facing trial for corruption and fraud. Promises to voters about how wonderful things would be if they would vote for a particular political party. The nature of the kingdoms of this world was plain to see.
As Christians we live as citizens of those nations and kingdoms. But we are also citizens of the kingdom of God—an altogether different kingdom, according to the Gospels. It is Matthew who gives us the richest exposition of Christ’s teaching on the kingdom of God. John uses the term only twice. Mark and Luke have only two parables each on the kingdom of God. Matthew, by contrast, recalls eleven parables of the kingdom. And in chapter 13, he provides us with a summary of Jesus’ teaching by bringing together seven of those parables.
So, according to Jesus, what is His kingdom like? Well, it is like a sower; like wheat and weeds growing together; like a tiny mustard seed growing into a large plant; like a Jewish housewife kneading dough in her kitchen; like a laborer discovering hidden treasure; like a pearl merchant discovering a pearl beyond his wildest dreams; like fishermen pulling in the net after a day of labor. None of these images exhausts the kingdom, but each illustrates a significant aspect.
Did you notice that Jesus never uses images taken from the kingdoms of His time? He never says, “Now the kingdom of God is like a Roman legion; it’s like Caesar sitting on his throne.” He never says, “Now the kingdom of God is like the CocaCola Corporation.” The images He uses are completely different because His kingdom is completely different. The kingdom of God is not a human empire or business. And we have to get that right, because if we get the kingdom wrong, we will inevitably get the church wrong.
Let’s look at Christ’s first parable (Matt 13:3–9). As Adventists, we like the parable of the sower, for we are a taskoriented church—to preach the gospel to the world. And in this parable of the sower, we have often seen an image of ourselves, sowing the seed of the gospel in the world.
But what, exactly, does the parable of the sower tell us about the kingdom of God? Let’s take a closer look. We’re used to reading, “Behold, a sower went out to sow” (Matt 13:3, NKJV). Most versions translate it that way. But the text actually says, “Now the sower went out to sow.” Not just any sower, but one in particular. And who might that be? Well, in the next parable of the wheat and weeds, Jesus says explicitly, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man” (Matt 13:37, NRSV). Almost certainly, therefore, in the parable of the sower, the sower is Jesus Himself. This is a parable showing how Jesus sowed the seed of the kingdom of God, how Jesus spread the good news of the kingdom.
But what, exactly, is that harvest? The harvest is clearly important to the sower. It’s why he went out to sow in the first place. He sowed seed so that there would be a harvest. And what a harvest! Each of the seeds that fell on good ground yielded a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred-fold. Absolutely unbelievable. Yes, unbelievable—because even a thirtyfold return would be generous, let alone the mind-boggling sixty-fold or the utterly fantastical hundred-fold. The average yield on a Near Eastern farm was about 7.5- fold, or in a good year, ten-fold. But that’s Christ’s way in these parables. He deliberately exaggerates to make His point. In other parables, a mustard seed grows into a tree—when it’s only a shrub about three meters high. A Jewish housewife kneads dough that weighs about 110 pounds (50 kg). Imagine it! A woman wrestling with a ball of dough weighing 110 pounds. He exaggerates because the kingdom of God exceeds our wildest dreams.
But again, what exactly is the harvest of the kingdom? Frequently, we simply assume the harvest is baptisms. Obviously, baptisms are important, and we rejoice for every one of them. But this parable has its eye not simply on baptisms. We can count baptisms. But evangelism also results in matters of the heart and soul that are of primary importance, but which can’t be counted so easily. When the Pharisees asked Jesus what was the greatest of all the commandments, He replied that it was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind (Matt 22:37). And it seems that this type of spiritual harvest, in which a person’s whole being is reshaped and realigned with God’s purpose, is the focus of Jesus’ parable of the sower. We see that in the words He uses.
What Jesus says, literally, is that the seed sown in good ground produced “fruit.” That’s a favorite word in Matthew’s Gospel. To the Pharisees Jesus said, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” (3:8, NRSV); concerning prophets, He said, “You will know them by their fruits” (7:16, 20, NRSV); He talks about the fruits of the kingdom (21:43). In Matthew’s Gospel, “fruit” often describes spiritual maturity. The fruit of the kingdom of God is spiritual fruit (see Luke 8:15). The harvest of the kingdom of God is faith, love, joy, peace, compassion, sacrifice. Let’s ask ourselves this question: In twelve months from now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could report a thirty-fold, sixty-fold, or hundred-fold increase in those gospel virtues? And that harvest begins when the sower sows seed haphazardly and indiscriminately on all types of soil and waits for God to produce the harvest.
CONCLUSION
What Jesus sets out in the parables of Matthew 13 in general, and in the parable of the sower in particular, is the general theory of the kingdom. It is not His strategy for church growth in Sweden, Kenya, or Papua New Guinea in the twenty-first century. It is the theory of the kingdom. In this first parable of the kingdom in Matthew 13, He sets out some principles of His kingdom theory: like the sower, preach the gospel indiscriminately. Do not simply target good soil. Give every type of soil the opportunity to produce a spiritual harvest. That is the theory.
Theory has a bad name in some quarters. In fact, perhaps you have said, “Don’t waste my time with theory. I’m a practical person.” Well, let me tell you something. There is nothing so practical as a good theory. Without a good theory, we can tick boxes to give the illusion that we are busy. Without a good theory we will aim at the wrong target. Successful practice is applied theory. In our witnessing and evangelism, how about applying Christ’s theory—otherwise known as the parable of the sower!
Laurence A. Turner, PhD, is a principal lecturer emeritus in Old Testament at Newbold College of Higher Education, Bracknell, UK, and adjunct external higher degree research supervisor at Avondale University, Cooranbong, NSW, Australia.
