1Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea. 2He taught them many things in parables, and told them in his teaching, 3“Listen! Behold, the farmer went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seed fell by the road, and the birds came and devoured it. 5Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 6When the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8Others fell into the good ground and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some produced thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.” 9He said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, 12that ‘seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’”
13He said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How will you understand all of the parables? 14The farmer sows the word. 15The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 16These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. 18Others are those who are sown among the thorns. These are those who have heard the word, 19and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 20Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”
21He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand? 22For there is nothing hidden except that it should be made known, neither was anything made secret but that it should come to light. 23If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”
24He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you; and more will be given to you who hear. 25For whoever has, to him more will be given; and he who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.”
26He said, “God’s Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth, 27and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, though he doesn’t know how. 28For the earth bears fruit by itself: first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29But when the fruit is ripe, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30He said, “How will we liken God’s Kingdom? Or with what parable will we illustrate it? 31It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, 32yet when it is sown, grows up and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”
33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it. 34Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
35On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him. 37A big wind storm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled. 38He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and asked him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?”
39He awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? How is it that you have no faith?”
41They were greatly afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Make Disciples
16 These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.17 They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble.
As a pastor, I have seen more than one instance of the person described in this parable. The recipient of the word gladly and quickly receives it, but sometimes, almost with immediacy, they stumble. The worst case I remember was a young lady about 14 years old. She visited our congregation several times with one of our youth group members. After maybe her third visit, she approached me and asked if she could speak with me. I met with her, and she told me that over the past few weeks, she had heard the message of Jesus dying for her sins on the cross, and she wanted to believe in Him; in fact, she had already believed. She was joyful at the opportunity to experience a reboot of her troubled life. She asked me if she could be baptized and share her decision with the whole church. Well, I did what any other gospel preacher would do. I congratulated her, hugged her, and arranged for her baptism during our next Sunday service. Well, Sunday came, and she showed up, and I baptized her early in the service. She then returned to her seat to sit with her friends.
After the service, I was approached by several of the youth group who were very upset. More than one told me that near the end of the service, when the offering plate was being passed around, she had helped herself to all the bills lying there. Wow! I was stunned. She had already left, so I wasn’t able to find her to confront her about this. I wasn’t too worried about the money because very few people leave loose bills in the plate. Most use giving envelopes in which they place a check in the plate. Wednesday night came, and she wasn’t there. The following Sunday morning, she didn’t come either. I never saw her again. As Jesus said, “Some receive it with joy. They have no root in themselves.” She immediately stumbled. I would have loved to have met with her and told a penitent person that she was forgiven, but as Jesus summed it up, she was “short-lived.”
I don’t really know if I could have done anything to prevent such an odd thing from happening, but I think we should understand that some will receive the gospel with joy and then head for the door. Don’t be discouraged, keep sharing Jesus. As we share the gospel with others, we should also do our best to ensure a safety net of follow-up. Some have no root in themselves. We should take the time to flesh out this new faith for them and help them find a root within themselves. Discipleship-making is a little different from just “getting people saved.” It entails gently and carefully leading those who come to Him in a path of obedience. It includes teaching them who they are in Christ and how to learn to be Christ followers. Jesus’ last words on earth included, “19 Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-19a WEB)Let’s get involved in making disciples.