d He now rebuked disease, and diffused around Him
life and health and peace.
As the crowd continued to increase, the people pressed close
about Christ until there was no room to receive them. Then, speaking
a word to the men in their fishing boats, He stepped into the boat that
was waiting to take Him across the lake, and bidding His disciples
push off a little from the land, He spoke to the multitude upon the
shore.
Beside the sea lay the beautiful plain of Gennesaret, beyond rose
the hills, and upon hillside and plain both sowers and reapers were
busy, the one casting seed and the other harvesting the early grain.
Looking upon the scene, Christ said—
“Behold, the sower went forth to sow; and as he sowed, some
seeds fell by the wayside, and the birds came and devoured them”
(R.V.); “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. And some fell among thorns; and the
thorns sprung up, and choked them: but other fell into good ground,
and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some
thirtyfold.”
Christ’s mission was not understood by the people of His
time. The manner of His coming was not in accordance with their
expectations. The Lord Jesus was the foundation of the whole Jewish
economy. Its imposing services were of divine appointment. They
were designed to teach the people that at the time appointed One
would come to whom those ceremonies pointed. But the Jews had
exalted the forms and ceremonies and had lost sight of their object.
The traditions, maxims, and enactments of men hid from them the
lessons which God intended to
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convey. These maxims and traditions became an obstacle to their
understanding and practice of true religion. And when the Reality
came, in the person of Christ, they did not recognize in Him the
fulfillment of all their types, the substance of all their shadows. They
rejected the antitype, and clung to their types and useless ceremonies.
The Son of God had come, but they continued to ask for a sign. The
message, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” they
answered by demands for a miracle. Matthew 3:2. The gospel of
Christ was a stumbling block to them because they demanded signs
instead of a Saviour. They expected the Messiah to prove His claims
by mighty deeds of conquest, to establish His empire on the ruins of
earthly kingdoms. This expectation Christ answered in the parable of
the sower. Not by force of arms, not by violent interpositions, was the
kingdom of God to prevail, but by the implanting of a new principle
in the hearts of men.
“He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man.” Matthew 13:37.
Christ had come, not as a king, but as a sower; not for the overthrow of
kingdoms, but for the scattering of seed; not to point His followers to
earthly triumphs and national greatness, but to a harvest to be gathered
after patient toil and through losses and disappointments.
The Pharisees perceived the meaning of Christ’s parable, but to
them its lesson was unwelcome. They affected not to understand it.
To the multitude it involved in still greater mystery the purpose of the
new teacher, whose words had so strangely moved their hearts and so
bitterly disappointed their ambitions. The disciples themselves had
not understood the parable, but their interest was awakened. They
came to Jesus privately and asked for an explanation.
This was the desire which Christ wished to arouse, that He might
give them more definite instruction. He
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explained the parable to them, as He will make plain His word to all
who seek Him in sincerity of heart. Those who study the word of
God with hearts open to the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, will not
remain in darkness as to the meaning of the word. “If any man willeth
to do His will,” Christ said, “he shall know of the teaching whether it
be of God, or whether I speak from Myself.” John 7:17, R.V. All who
come to Christ for a clearer knowledge of the truth will receive it. He
will unfold to them the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and these
mysteries will be understood by the heart that longs to know the truth.
A heavenly light will shine into the soul temple, and will be revealed
to others as the bright shining of a lamp on a dark path.
“The sower went forth to sow” (R.V.). In the East the state of
affairs was so unsettled, and there was so great danger from violence
that the people dwelt chiefly in walled towns, and the husbandmen
went forth daily to their labor outside the walls. So Christ, the
heavenly Sower, went forth to sow. He left His home of security
and peace, left the glory that He had with the Father before the world
was, left His position upon the throne of the universe. He went forth,
a suffering, tempted man; went forth in solitude, to sow in tears, to
water with His blood, the seed of life for a world lost.
His servants in like manner must go forth to sow. When called
to become a sower of the seed of truth, Abraham was bidden, “Get
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s
house, unto a land that I will show thee.” Genesis 12:1. “And he
went out, not knowing whither he went.” Hebrews 11:8. So to the
apostle Paul, praying in the temple at Jerusalem, came the message
from God, “Depart; for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.”
Acts 22:21. So those who are called
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to unite with Christ must leave all, in order to follow Him. Old
associations must be broken up, plans of life relinquished, earthly
hopes surrendered. In toil and tears, in solitude, and through sacrifice,
must the seed be sown.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
“The sower soweth the word.” Christ came to sow the world with
truth. Ever since the fall of man, Satan has been sowing the seeds of
error. It was by a lie that he first gained control over men, and thus he
still works to overthrow God’s kingdom in the earth and to bring
