Parables Based On Agriculture
All the parables of Jesus were based on the simple things in life, so, as we should naturally expect, agriculture forms the basis of many of them. Two of the earliest were ‘The Sower’ and ‘The Wheat and the Tares’. Some of the lesser ones were ‘The Mustard Seed’, ‘The Seed Growing Secretly’.
Of all the parables Jesus gave, perhaps the one best known is that of the sower. While it had a specific application when Jesus gave it, the principles involved are quite timeless, they are common to all ages, and all classes. They embody experiences which most of us have undergone at one time or another.
Jesus explains the immediate reason why the parable was given, and it concerned himself. The scene was a usual one. The land was divided out, not with walls, fences or even hedges, but by means of the stones located on the edge of the portion of ground. It was a comparatively easy matter to move these stones, and hence the stringent punishments under the Mosaic Law for so doing. The paths were there, hard trodden by many feet. The thorns had often found a foot-hold, and the birds were ever in attendance.
The sower was Jesus himself. He proclaimed the good news — the gospel — of the kingdom of God, going from city to city, from town to town and from village to village in so doing. Usually “the common people heard him gladly” as “to the poor the gospel was preached”. So convincing was his teaching that those sent to arrest him returned empty-handed, and their only excuse was “Never man spake like this man”. Often the crowds were big — 4,000 or 5,000 — and they had often come quite a distance to hear this marvellous teacher.
He “taught as one having authority, and not as the scribes”. They taught by reference to their predecessors — “Rabbi Ben Joseph says . . . whereas Rabbi Ben Joseph says .. .” but Jesus said, ” . .. but I say unto you … “
How totally different!
The seed that he sowed was the good news he proclaimed. But even good news receives a very mixed reception.
Some of the seed fell on the hard-trodden paths where it had no chance of germinating and growing up. Such is comparable to the reception the truth receives from the ordinary man of the world. All his interests are in the things of this life — things temporal, but he has neither time nor inclination for the things eternal. He is impervious to them. The birds of the air can have them for all he cares.
The seed is perfect; it is in the reception of the seed that failure lies. This type of man is present in all ages, he comes and he goes, and the place thereof shall know him no more.
All men are not like that. Some have some appreciation for things eternal, but their mind is shallow, things come easily, but alas! they go equally easily.
Applying them to our own day, sometimes we discuss the truth with someone, and we have heard it said, “Isn’t that marvellous! I’m sure that you have been sent to me specially! Just what I was waiting for” and for two or three weeks the growth is marvellous, and then comes the realisation that the truth has responsibilities as well as privileges.
If we receive the light we have to walk as children of light, we have to set our affection on things above, our walk has to be in newness of life, and while we have to render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, we have to render to God the things which are God’s, and never, no never, render to Caesar the things which are God’s.
We must give Caesar his place, but equally we must keep him there!
So, although they might have received the word with joy, when they realise what is involved their enthusiasm rapidly disappears, and what appeared to be a healthy growth rapidly withers away.
In nearly every plot of ground was also a thorn patch. This would not be apparent when the seed was sown, but when the better weather came and all nature burst into life, it was a very unequal competition which resulted. The good grain stood a very poor chance against the hardy, well established thorns. The thorns soon choked the other out of existence and in the battle of life the grain was the loser!
It is so in life.
Social position, worldly possessions, a fat bank balance, and all the things that go with it, it may even be the position held in the local place of worship, these are all things which detract against the acceptance and practice of the truth. The hearers are not prepared to “give things up”. They are not prepared to leave their luxuries and become members of a small, and probably despised society; weighed in the balance the things of this world go down with a bang, and the things of the Kingdom are hoisted high in the air. Yes, the thorns choke them.
But lastly. Here is a change! Some seed fell on good ground and brought forth varying yields, and again this is in keeping with life’s experiences. We get someone interested in “the truth” and after (usually) much patient work they finally embrace the truth, with varying results, dependent upon many circumstances such as age, health, home circumstances, intelligence and the depth of their conviction.
With some it is a repetition of Jeremiah — it is a burning fire shut up in their bones and it effervesces over whoever they meet. They have found a good thing, and they must tell others about it. Usually their initial efforts are on their own family, and no doubt we all have had experience where a whole family has embraced the truth. Their new convictions are immediately manifested in their daily lives, and often this is the most emphatic and important way of preaching the truth. Why are you different? What has wrought the change? And then comes the opportunity to tell “why”.
In all cases, the seed sown is the word of God (and apart from those conditions where the soil is trodden down hard) it germinates and some results are produced.
Sometimes the results are short-lived — other interests crowd the truth out — but where the word is sown in “good and honest hearts” then the results are abiding. A harvest is produced, again with varying results, comparable to the 30 fold at the low end and up to 100 fold at the upper end.
Let us always remember, we may plant and water, but it is always God who gives the increase, of whatever sort or volume it may be.
The Wheat And The Tares
Jesus followed this with a second parable in which again good seed was sown. “But while men slept” and vigilance was low, an enemy came and sowed darnel (tares) with the usual disastrous results — both germinated and began to grow up. It soon became evident that this evil work had been done, and, bewildered, the servants went to their Lord. “Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field . . . wherefore then hath it tares (darnel)?” “An enemy hath done this.” “Shall we go and pull up the darnel?”
That would have been ruinous, for inevitably they would have pulled up much good seed along with the darnel. “No, let both grow together until the harvest, and then I will instruct the reapers, gather the weeds first, bind them in bundles, ready to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
In explanation, Jesus said, “The field is the world … ” and this has resulted in much searching to find out what Jesus meant. The good seed is obviously the truth, and equally obviously the darnel is representative of heresy. But why the reference to “the world”?
Before Jesus was crucified the offer of salvation was restricted to Israel. “You only have I known” says the prophet. But Jesus warned them that the Kingdom should be removed from them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. He told them they should see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom and themselves thrust out. He also told them, “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold … ” The reference to _”the world” then is a further indication that their exclusive position would be such no longer.
After his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples “go into all the world .. . ” Gentiles, equally with Jews, were invited, and later Paul said, with regard to the preachers of the gospel, “Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth”. So then, while it was inevitable that heresy would develop, that heresy was to manifest itself in the ecclesias, but they were “in the world” and not restricted to the Jewish synagogues.
It had to be confessed that even while the apostles still lived “the mystery of iniquity doth already work”. Concerning the resurrection “some had erred already”. The Hymenaeus and Philetus class were in evidence, as was also the cult of Diotrophes “who loved to have the pre-eminence”. Some denied Jesus had come in the flesh, and John gave instructions regarding any who brought this heretical doctrine, “Receive him not into your houses, neither bid him God speed”.
All the way down the centuries the tares have been there, growing along with the wheat — in the true ecclesias that is. Many of the chapels and churches have been 100% apostate, with none of the true believers in their midst.
The harvest will take place at the return of the Lord. Exactly what part the angels will play is difficult to say. Certain it is they will play a big part. In the judgment scene in Daniel 7, their number is described as ten thousand times ten thousand. Jesus said he would send forth his angels and gather his elect, and this will apply to both natural and spiritual Israel, although their destinations will be different. Again we are told “The son of man will come and all his holy angels with him”.
One part of the angels’ work will be to remove all things that offend — resulting in the weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. On the other side of the picture, they will help the approved to “shine forth in the Kingdom of their Father”. While the initial application was to the days of the apostles, the wider application is to (amongst others) our own day, for Jesus concluded his explanation by saying, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”.
Jesus also taught by means of shorter parables. In Matt. 13:31 he gives the parable of the Mustard Seed, and it is profitable to look at the structure of the parables in Matt. 13 so as to realise what is probably the real meaning of the various parables. We would suggest the following:
| The good seed | The “tares” |
|---|---|
| The Sower | The Wheat and the Tares |
| The Pearl Merchant | The Mustard Seed |
| The Hid Treasure | The Woman and Leaven |
| The Net | The Net |
With this suggestion before us, let us now examine in detail the parable of the Mustard Seed. Initially the language is not dissimilar to that of Dan. 4, describing the Babylonish Tree, and Babylon was the origin of the major heresies. The birds revert back to the parable of the Sower, in which parable they ate up the good seed which ought to have germinated and brought forth a good crop. The fruit is anything but pleasant, being burning and blistering.
The seed is the smallest of all seeds. Heresy is often very innocuous in its beginnings, but it can grow very rapidly. When railway lines diverge for a branch line, the divergence is hardly noticeable at first, but before long the branch line can be at right angles to the parent line.
The greatest of all herbs, the Roman Catholic apostacy, is the greatest of all apostacies, and is described as the mother of all the others. The details of this short parable describe very accurately the outstanding features of the growth of apostacy.
There is one further small parable which must be included in this section. It is only recorded in Mark’s gospel, in chapter 4, vv. 26-29. This reads: “And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”
In view of the fact that the good seed requires much attention to (so far as possible) guarantee good results, we feel that this describes the growth of apostacy rather than good seed, especially in view of the immediate context of the parable of the Mustard Seed. Certain it is that apostacy grows secretly, until suddenly it is realised how far it has developed. “He knoweth not how”. When the harvest is come he putteth in the sickle.
Again it is significant that in Rev. 14 two angels are commanded “Thrust in thy sickle”, first to reap the harvest of the earth, and the second to reap the vintage of the earth, both being described as ‘ripe’, as is the harvest in Mark 4:29. This harvest, as in the other parables, will take place when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth, and as in the parable of the Net, separation will take place, the good into vessels and the bad cast away. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay