“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)
These days many people, children as well as adults, seem to be suffering from a diminished span of attention. We might attribute it in part to COVID and the pandemic lockdowns with its enforced isolation. Yet the major reason for this diminishment can be the result of the extensive role that computers and modern technology play in our lives. We expect computers and the Internet to work flawlessly and speedily to supply us with quick answers to our questions, prompt responses to our needs and wants, rapid solutions to all our problems and ills, and immediate knowledge of all events as they happen. We all seem to lack the patience that comes from waiting. We cannot focus on one thing for more than a few minutes, a few sound bites before we jump to the next thing, before we flip from this tweet to the next.
Nevertheless, compelling and graphic stories can grab our attention and hold it for a long time. Jesus knew this back when He walked the Earth 2000 years ago. Jesus told stories with common images or parables to convey truth. This worked well with many people then because most of them could not read. Stories were easily remembered and retold. Today some people tend to learn more readily from stories with graphic or common images rather than from straightforward lectures and didactic teaching. Such stories, at least those that are noble, disquieting, or comforting, or tragic, contain items that catch our attention and so are easy to remember.
The parable of the farmer sowing seed is one of those stories, a parable about parables. Jesus used it to explain why not all those who heard His parables understood the truth He was speaking. Not all who heard His words believed in Him. They heard the truth but did not heed it. Their eyes, ears and hearts were closed to it. Jesus interpreted the parable of the farmer sowing seed so that His disciples (including us) might learn the reasons why people do not believe the gospel, and why many baptized Christians who were brought up in the church fall away from the truth later in life. Some ignore the truth because they are spiritually dull, too enamored of worldly allures and values, too sold out to the lies of Satan to recognize it. Some are attracted by Jesus at first, yet when they find out that the cost of discipleship is self-sacrifice and persecution, they refuse to pay that price. Finally some people are initially attracted to the gospel but then the desires of the flesh, the allure of worldly possessions, peer pressure or the cares of life take away their joy. Since the gospel never had any root, they too hear but do not heed or obey. All these all stand condemned, without excuse for they have heard the word but have chosen to reject it. For many others who do believe, that word of God promises the joy of eternal life in Christ.